Cheryl Cole: Her Story - the Unauthorized Biography (17 page)

With a great year behind them, there was much talk of the girls potentially being nominated for a handful of gongs at the 2006 BRIT Awards. Theoretically they were shoo-in to scoop the Best Pop Act. After all, as Cheryl pointed out: ‘We’re keeping pop alive.’

In some ways this was true. Over the past few months, more and more pop bands had fallen by the wayside in favour of singer-songwriters such as the foppish James Blunt.
CD:UK
had been axed, BBC’s
Top of the Pops’
future was hanging by a thread and
Smash Hits
magazine had folded after almost thirty years. McFly were still seen as pop but they tried their hardest to compete with the likes of the Arctic Monkeys. Girls Aloud were what they were: pure pop with a kooky twist. Even trendy bands of the moment such as Franz Ferdinand rated the girls: ‘There is some good songwriting there,’ their frontman Alex Kapranos was reported as saying on MTV.co.uk. ‘Out of all the pop acts out there they are by far the best.’

Surely with a testimonial like that, there’d be no question about them winning a gong at this year’s ceremony? Wrong! When, in early January, the nominations were announced, the girls were stunned to hear that they hadn’t been nominated for a single award. Instead, Kelly Clarkson and Madonna were among the lucky few. The girls were not happy, claiming on ITV2’s BRIT Awards show that, ‘It’s all very American, it doesn’t give British pop acts a chance.’

But Girls Aloud didn’t have time to wallow for too long because they had to prepare for a trip down under to promote the single. It would be their first time jetting over to the other side of the world and they were very excited about it; although
Cheryl, who wasn’t a keen flyer, was not looking forward to the long-haul flight.

When they arrived in Sydney, complete with a documentary crew filming their new UK TV show
Off the Record
, an exclusive, behind-the-scenes, six-part documentary series on Girls Aloud for E4, they were pleased to discover that there were barely any paparazzi waiting for them with cameras poised. In fact, when just one snapper approached to take a picture of the girls as they struggled towards their car with their luggage, their faces totally free of make-up, Cheryl asked him politely if he could not take any pictures, and he obliged. ‘The paps seem more friendly over here than they are at home,’ Cheryl would later say during an interview on morning TV.

Life in Australia was strange for the girls because it felt as if they were back at square one again. A single had been released a few months back, but because they hadn’t come out to perform any promotional duties at the time, not many people in Australia really knew who they were. And that meant the girls could hit the town without fear of being snapped by some devilish pap. And that’s just what they did, although poor Cheryl found out to her cost that mixing wine and three different kinds of cocktails in one night was not a good idea. The next morning she woke up with more than a headache and was sick outside their hotel. ‘I’m not drinking again,’ she swore on camera at the time.

Despite their lack of profile, the girls were thrilled when they turned up to morning TV show
Sunrise
to find a gaggle of eager, cheering fans waiting for them and waving banners. ‘I never thought anyone would turn up to see us, so it was a
welcome surprise,’ Cheryl said. ‘It’s weird to know that people across the world know who we are.’

While their schedule was packed with meet and greets, TV appearances and mini gigs, the girls did get some time off – the highlight of which was visiting the set of
Neighbours
in Melbourne. Stepping onto the famous street they’d grown up watching on TV was surreal for the girls and it made them realize just how far they’d come.

Life was great for Cheryl, as she soaked up the sun and was ferried around Australia like a queen. Work was going brilliantly and she had her wedding to look forward to. What could possibly go wrong?

It was a lazy Saturday evening, after her return from Australia. Cheryl was at band rehearsals, and Ashley was lying on the sofa watching TV when his phone sprang into life. It was Ashley’s mum, and she sounded anxious.

She said a taxi driver had told her that he’d just picked someone up from the
News of the World
who had told him that there was going to be a ‘gay premiership footballer story breaking tomorrow’. Two names had been mentioned and she thought she should give him the heads up so he could tell his fellow players. Knowing the players who had been named, Ashley got in touch with them straight away to warn them about the story. However, their lawyers had been in touch already. Although his name hadn’t been mentioned, Ashley was half convinced that he might actually be one of the footballers named in the scandal: weeks before, his lawyer had been informed that a newspaper was planning to ‘do a number on Ashley Cole’.

Ashley recalled in his autobiography how the next morning he and Cheryl dashed to the shop to get their copy of the
News
of the World
, to see who was in the frame. Flicking to page seven, they came across the story that was entitled ‘Gay As You Go’. Skimming through, the article alleged that two unnamed premiership footballers, referred to as Player A and Player B, were caught on camera indulging in a sexually explicit gay orgy with a friend who was well known in the music industry. According to the report, one of the players was seen putting a mobile phone into his boxer shorts and using it as a sex toy. As there had been talk that a story was about to break on Ashley, rumours circulated like wildfire that he was one of the players, and that his mate, DJ Masterstepz, a Choice FM DJ, was the ‘man in the music industry’.

Of course, Cheryl didn’t believe a word of it and she told her fiancé that she knew the rumours were rubbish. But still Ashley had been wronged, being singled out for something he had not done.

Things got worse when the
News of the World
’s sister paper, the
Sun
, ran two stories side by side in what Ashley’s lawyer claimed was ‘innuendo by juxtaposition’. One story, offensively headlined ‘Whobummit? Riddle of gay soccer stars’, reported that fans were trying to work out who the two players could be. The other was a fluff piece about Ashley and Cheryl, complete with a picture of the couple leaving the Embassy club. At first glance, readers could have assumed the picture went with the ‘Whobummit?’ story. Ashley wasn’t pleased, but Cheryl, upset to see her man so pained, reassured him that no one believed that he would be involved.

Three days later, on Valentine’s Day, Ashley and Cheryl were enjoying a romantic dinner. As they were leaving the restaurant, they noticed that there was a lot of paparazzi activity and
as they made their way to the car, the paps started shooting at them ferociously. Although Ashley began to grow frustrated with their persistence, Cheryl continued to flash them her brightest smile. In the safety of their car, they both let out a sigh of relief. Cheryl told him not to worry but Ashley recalled later in
My Defence
how he couldn’t help but wonder what had got into the paparazzi that night.

They found out the next morning. The
Sun
had written another story and this time, the insinuation was more explicit. ‘Ashley’s got a good taste in rings,’ the headline screamed. Reading further, there were numerous references to the word ring, mobile phones and vibrations.

Ashley recalled in his autobiography that he was so angry he could barely speak. Cheryl begged him to calm down, telling him his lawyers would sort out this sick mess. But Ashley wasn’t having any of it. ‘Why are they doing this to me?’ he yelled. Cheryl didn’t have an answer.

He reached for the phone to speak to his lawyer. But it was worse than he thought. The rumours about him and Masterstepz were all over the Internet and were spreading like a virus. All Ashley could think about was what his mum Sue must be thinking right now – or whether Cheryl would start doubting him.

Unfortunately things got worse for Ashley when the
News of the World
took the story one step further with a story headlined ‘Numbers up!’ Although the footballer and his music-industry pal remained nameless, the newspaper had used a picture that he instantly recognized of himself and DJ Masterstepz, with their faces blurred, out on the town. Ashley was livid and even Cheryl thought this was beyond the pale.

Cheryl stuck by him and Ashley thanked his lucky stars. He knew that some girlfriends would have doubted him straight away and walked out. But Cheryl was devoted to him and he knew she loved him and believed him. As he became more and more upset by the insinuations in the newspapers, Ashley considered giving up the game for good, moving away and living a quieter life with Cheryl.

Ashley’s lawyers issued legal proceedings against the newspapers involved, suing them for libel and breach of privacy. In his book, Ashley explained that the breach of privacy proceeding was related to the fact that he was forced to discuss his sexuality with his agent, his lawyer and their assistants. But the action did the trick and the newspapers in question had to issue an apology.

A year later when the dust had settled on the episode, Cheryl spoke to
OK!
magazine about their ordeal for the first time. ‘At first I laughed my head off because the suggestion that Ashley was gay was just ridiculous. But Ashley wasn’t laughing. It wasn’t very nice for any of us. There was a lot of insinuation. It wasn’t a good time for him. I just had to be there for him when people said things to him in the street or people asked him if he was gay.’

Asked if she had ever doubted Ashley, Cheryl was adamant. ‘Oh God no! I know him. The thing is, the people who say all this negative stuff don’t know him at all. He’s such a nice, genuine person. He says it doesn’t hurt him when stuff is said and he pretends to me that it doesn’t bother him, but deep down it’s got to hurt him. He’s had to get his head around the fact that people will write stuff even if it’s not true.’

With the worst of it behind them, Cheryl and Ashley could
now relax and prepare for their upcoming wedding … But before that, there were the small matters of Ashley taking part in the World Cup, and Cheryl entertaining the nation with Girls Aloud once again.

With the press’s false allegations against Ashley behind them, and with just a few short weeks to go before the wedding of the millennium, nerves began to set in. Speaking at the premiere of
Alien Autopsy
in April 2006, Cheryl revealed that she was feeling really stressed as the big day approached. ‘If you ever get married, run away and do it somewhere else,’ she advised in the
Mirror. ‘I’ve
hired a wedding planner but all he ever does is call me and ask me to make more decisions. I feel like I’m living with a phone glued to my ear. Right now I’m starting to think I should jack it all in and Ashley and I should run off and elope somewhere. I just want it to be him and me, alone on a beach – but I know my mum would kill me if I did.’

Meanwhile, on the eve of Girls Aloud’s E4 documentary series,
Off the Record
, Cheryl revealed she had been helping Ashley keep in tip-top form in the lead-up to the World Cup by giving him a saucy bedroom workout. ‘I’ve been doing my best to help him keep fit,’ she told the
Sun.
‘We tackle each
other in the bedroom, and he loves me massaging his feet.’ She also said that she was definitely going to be in Germany to watch her man represent his country in the World Cup, which conveniently started just as the band’s
Chemistry
tour reached its climax: ‘I told the other girls at the start that it’s an important part of his life and I want to be there for him. I’d love it if he could be with us on tour, but obviously he can’t. I’ve got a couple of weeks off after the tour so I can go and support him at the World Cup.’

Cheryl also said in the
Mirror
that she had cut down on her booze intake. ‘I don’t really go out much any more – I can’t be bothered and I’m not a very good drinker,’ she said. ‘The other girls can drink me under the table. Sarah is … a great drinker and she still always manages to look amazing. If I get drunk at a nightclub I can’t bear the pictures of me in the paper the next day.’

Meanwhile, the girls released another single from
Chemistry
, a ballad called ‘Whole Lotta History’. Although the girls themselves loved the track and the luscious video, which was shot in gay Paree, the song divided the girls’ fanbase. Some believed it showed the most tender side of the band yet, while others thought it was just a bit too wishy-washy and ‘Westlife’ for Girls Aloud. Nevertheless, the song made the top five, although many believe it was boosted by the B-side track ‘Crazy Fool’, written by Cheryl with Xenomania, which had proved a hit with fans.

When
Off the Record
finally hit screens in April-May 2006, Cheryl was surprised by what she saw. Although the girls had had a degree of editorial control over what was screened in the show, when she saw it on TV herself she was shocked at the
way she came across in certain scenes, especially in one where she was seen swearing her way up a mountainside in Athens. She said on ITV’s
This Morning
: ‘People said I was complaining all the time, but a lot of it was the way they edited the footage. They make it look like you can only be bothered to climb five steps when you’ve actually climbed five thousand.’

Rumours of a split blew up again at the end of April when the girls announced that their next album would be their greatest hits. Was the end nigh, as Louis Walsh had previously predicted? Not likely. The girls assured their panicky fans that all was well and none of the girls had any intention of quitting the band for now. Better still, after their greatest hits they could expect another studio album.

But before a ‘best of’ album was unleashed, there was the small matter of the
Chemistry
arena tour. This was a big deal for the girls. It was going to be spectacular and lot more visual than their theatre tour of previous year, because more money had been ploughed into the staging of the show. And fans weren’t disappointed. The outfits were sexier, the routines raunchier and the girls’ hair bigger and better than ever.