He may be recovering from a broken back after a near-fatal bike accident in August, but that hasn’t stopped multi-millionaire businessman Simon Cowell from planning his next work project.
Reports surfaced last week that Simon – who parted ways with his record label, Syco, earlier this year to focus on TV projects – has set his sights on working with the “world’s most famous couple”, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who last month signed a multimillion-pound Netflix deal. According to reports, Simon is thought to be helping the couple on a “casual basis” with their foray into TV.
While there are mixed reports about the speed of his recovery, his fellow Britain’s Got Talent judge, Amanda Holden, recently revealed he’ll be back to work next year, saying, “His will to get better is extraordinary. He is a fighter, we know that…there’s just no way that he will want to be seen to be failing or to not be getting better as quickly as he possibly can.” And last week, he was all smiles as he celebrated his 61st birthday alongside his six-year-old son, Eric.
But as Simon plots his next move, insiders reveal his friend Cheryl has been left disappointed and a little worried. Closer previously reported that he had promised to join forces with her to work on her TV comeback, after her latest on-screen gig, BBC talent show The Greatest Dancer – which Simon produced – was axed earlier this year.
Check out: a look back at Cheryl's feuds
CLOSER Cheryl's feuds - slider
1 of 10Sarah Harding
There's been reports for years that there's a secret feud between Cheryl and former Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding. It probably doesn't help that neither of them have publicly supported each other. During Cheryl's stint on The X Factor, Sarah apparently said: "X Factor. What X Factor? Who knows if I'll tune in."When Sarah took part in Celebrity Big Brother, Cheryl didn't publicly wish her luck and it quickly became clear why when the CBB star admitted she hadn't spoken to Chezza in three years. A few weeks later she made a sly 'dig' over how private Chezza was during her pregnancy with Bear.
2 of 10Lily Allen
Cheryl and Lily's tension began back in 2006 when Lily wrote a song named Cheryl Tweedy (that went alongside her song Smile and Absolutely Nothing). In the song that discussed women attempting to reach unattainable beauty standards, Lily sings: "I wish I looked just like Cheryl Tweedy". Chez took it as a compliment and gushed: "I'm really flattered Lily's written a track about me. But I don't know why she sings about wanting to be as pretty as me as she looks stunning."Unfortunately things got awkward when Lily hit back and said she doesn't want to look like Cheryl: "It's tongue in cheek, it's meant to be ironic."I don't have anything against her as a human being but I think the portrayal of her being the right thing for kids to look up to is wrong." She even added that "nobody really wants to look like Cheryl, they just think they do."Then during a chat with Gordon Ramsay, Cheryl bit back and said: "Because everyone wants to look like her".Lily then wrote an open letter and said: "At least I write and sing my own songs without the aid of Auto-Tune."I must say, taking your clothes off, doing sexy dancing and marrying a rich footballer must be very gratifying, your mother must be so proud."In 2014 Lily had a dramatic U-turn and confessedshe regretted their feud and her olive branch appeared to work out because in 2015 they were pictured together.
3 of 10Louis Walsh
Despite appearing on The X Factor together in 2008 – 2010 and again in 2014, Cheryl and Louis Walsh weren't the best of friends. It all began when Louis was Girls Aloud's manager and reportedly called them "fat". Years later Louis threw shade at Chez by saying working alongside her on The X Factor "was never great". He then slammed her career, adding: "She won a competition, married a footballer and now she's in a hair advert. "Nadine Coyle was the voice of Girls Aloud. Cheryl made herself the face and best of luck to her."It was then reported that Chez felt "humiliated and hurt" by Louis' words. Bless her. Not long after, Louis gushed that Nicole Scherzinger was the "best female [X Factor judge] – by a mile". Things took an awkward turn in 2016 when Liam Payne publicly defended his then pregnant-girlfriend. After Louis made it clear there's no need for Cheryl to return to The X Factor, the former One Direction star slammed him and said: "Shut the f—k up for once".
4 of 10Cher Lloyd
Cher Lloyd and Cheryl seemed like the perfect duo in 2010 during their time on The X Factor but things took a turn for the worse when the show ended.In 2012 Cher threw shade at Cheryl and hinted that she "doesn't sing live". Cheryl then tweeted: "Be Careful who you kick on your way up... They kick you twice as hard on your way back down… #UnappreciationIsUgly".Before admitting Cher's words were "like a slap in the face", she told GQ magazine: "She's new. She needs to learn a lot. I went through hell to get her on that programme. "Everyone says stuff at the beginning of their career that they will learn to regret. Maybe I didn't teach her as well as I thought I had."Cher then hinted that they'd put the past behind them after she congratulated her former mentor on her second marriage to Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini. In 2016 the X Factor star confessed that they'd "made up ages ago" and even said she "never would have guessed" Cheryl dating and having a child with Liam Payne.
5 of 10Simon Cowell
One of Cheryl's biggest celebrity rows was definitely with Simon Cowell. They appeared to have a great friendship during their time on The X Factor but it all changed when they took the talent show to America. Chez was apparently sacked because of her accent; according to reports the American audience couldn't understand her so she was replaced by Nicole Scherzinger. Cheryl then hit out at the music mogul in her book autobiography saying: "F--k you. F--k Britain's Got Talent. F--k the orange and purple outfit. F--k big hair. F--k the UK X Factor. "F--k you all. I hate you. I understand you're a businessman, and what I've learned from this is that business means more to you than friendship."Fast forward three years and they kissed and made it and Cheryl even returned to ITV show despite saying "F—k the UK X Factor".However there was another hiccup in their friendship when Simon claimed the Geordie had "put on a bit of weight" during her X Factor US stint. She hit back at him and told him to stop bringing up the past. He has also said he "didn't recognise her" when The X Factor flew stateside and claimed "she'd lost her confidence".The pair are apparently on good terms now; Simon reportedly "comforted" her during her second divorce and he set her and Liam Payne up.
6 of 10Nadine Coyle
Cheryl and Nadine Coyle found fame together in Girls Aloud and even after the girl band split it appeared that they were still friends withChez congratulating her bandmate on her pregnancy.However a year later it appeared that Nadine made a dig at Cheryl shortly after her wedding to Jean-Bernard by telling her to "join the baby club". Then in 2018 during an appearance on Celebrity Juice, Nadine revealed she was never friends with Chez despite being a bridesmaid at her wedding to Ashley Cole."There was no falling out, there was just no friendship to begin with," she said.
7 of 10Alan Sugar
Cheryl has appeared on a celebrity version of the Apprentice and attended Alan Sugar's 60th birthday but that didn't stop him from skinny shaming her.In 2015, shortly before the end of her second marriage, Alan tweeted: "Catching up on X-Factor. Cheryl is now too thin".The then-X Factor judge hit back and said: "I've got nothing to say to stupidity. How do you answer stupidity? With intelligence? If I cared I would be bothered."
8 of 10Charlotte Church
One of Cheryl's first feuds began way back in 2005 when she accused Charlotte Church off copying the sound of one of Girls Aloud's songs.Charlotte bit back and said: "Girls Aloud wouldn't be able to sing Crazy Chick if they possibly tried. They just don't have the range, darling. "And when they've sold as many records as me, then they can comment … Maybe Cheryl is bitter."Their rows continued with Charlotte branding the girl band as "five dogs without balls" and claiming Chez has "no backbone" for taking [Ashley Cole back following cheating allegations.](https://closeronline.co.uk/celebrity/news/celebrities-who-cheating/ allegations)However Cheryl isn't one to take things lightly and she called Charlotte "a nasty little piece of work with a fat head" before describing Charlotte's then boyfriend Gavin Henson as "scabby" and calling him "a posing idiot who looks like a girl".She also threw shade at Charlotte's Walkers advert, by saying: "The one where she's stuffing her face? I think that's very appropriate!"Fast forward to 2013 and Charlotte said Chez was "really good" on The X Factor. Does this mean they've put the past behind them?
9 of 10Katie Price
Okay so they didn't have a row per se but shortly after Cheryl tied the knot with Jean-Bernard after dating for three months, Katie Price warned her against shotgun weddings.In her Now magazine column, she said: "My warning to Cheryl… I don't think you can ever know what a person's really like after just three months."I'd be a hypocrite to say Cheryl shouldn't have rushed in - I've done it myself a few times. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't."Then when Cheryl returned to The X Factor in 2014, Katie said the judge had "lost her sparkle".However it appears that there's no harsh feeling between the pair because Katie shared a clip on Instagram of her cameo in Girls Aloud's reality show Off The Record.In the clip Chez called the mum-of-five a "f—king cow" because of her figure. She said: "I think she looks fantastic. Her legs are amazing, f--king cow. Not one smidgen of cellulite, believe me, I was looking. "There is no way those boobs have anything to do with the minuteness of that woman. They are just f--king huge. She's making me sick."Katie captioned the clip on social media: "A massive compliment from the beautiful women @cherylofficial." [sic]
10 of 10Munroe Bergdorf
One of Cheryl's most recent feuds was with Munroe Bergdorf. In 2017 Munroe was hired as the first transgender model in L'Oreal's diversity campaign however she was fired for comments she made about white supremacism following shocking events in Charlottesville, USA. During an appearance on Victoria Derbyshire's show she pointed out that Cheryl was part of the campaign despite punching a black woman in the face.Chez's management hit back in a statement, saying: "More than 14 years ago Cheryl was unanimously acquitted of a charge of racially aggravated assault."She is disappointed to find her name involved in Munroe Bergdorf's media interview."
A source says, “Cheryl knows Simon needs to put his health first and sent him her best wishes. She also told him not to think about working on their venture while he recovers, so she was a bit surprised to hear about the potential projects with Harry and Meghan.
“While it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll drop his plans to collaborate with her, Cheryl knows how business-savvy Simon is and how big a deal it would be for him to work with the Sussexes. She’s worried this could overshadow anything pitched for her and suspects that he could end up throwing himself into things with Meghan, which could threaten her future plans with him. She knows he’s a perfectionist and dedicated to every project he takes on – and that would be no different with Meghan and Harry.”
BGT boss Simon has known Harry, 35, for years, and is close to Harry’s so-called “father figure” in LA, music producer David Foster – whose wife Katharine McPhee is close pals with Meghan.
Simon is said to have been offering advice to the couple, who recently moved to a new £11m estate in Montecito, California, with their one-year-old son Archie – just an hour’s drive from Simon’s Malibu mansion. Last month, Meghan even made a surprise appearance on Simon’s show, America’s Got Talent, in support of finalist Archie Williams.
It wouldn’t be the first time Simon has appeared to sideline Cheryl for a more globally recognised star. He replaced her with Pussycat Dolls star Nicole Scherzinger, 42, after axing Cheryl from the US X Factor in 2011, which he later described as “the worst mistake” of his life.
It’s been a tricky time for Cheryl as, last week, Closer revealed how she’d wanted to leak an old track she’d collaborated on with her ex Liam Payne – with whom she has a three-year-old son, Bear. But following his rumoured engagement to model Maya Henry, 19, he didn’t think it was the right time. And insiders say Cheryl’s feeling a bit raw after Liam and Simon appear to have stepped back.
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The source adds, “Cheryl’s in limbo and feels things are at a standstill. She doesn’t know what to do next, personally or professionally, which is making her feel a bit unsettled. It’s not as if she is relying on anyone else to make things happen for her, she just wanted to have some certainty over future plans.
“She’s understandably a little sensitive about the possibility of being let down by Simon, and can’t help but feel upset that he’s moved on from their project to one with Meghan. It’s served as a reminder to not put all her eggs in one basket. While she’d still love to work with Simon and Liam, she’s determined to keep their friendships and think of a new plan.”
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