Cheryl: My Story (46 page)

With newly formed Girls Aloud, just after we’d won the second part of the
Popstars
competition by beating the boy band, One True Voice, to the Christmas number one.

This picture was taken on our ‘What Will the Neighbours Say? Live’ tour in 2005, our first ever concert tour. I was twenty-one and I loved every minute.

Ashley forgot his shorts when we went on holiday to Dubai and had to buy these, and of course the paparazzi caught us off-guard ...

Here I am with Victoria Beckham at the World Cup in Germany in 2006, enjoying supporting our men together.

Smiling with Ashley after our wedding in July 2006, with me dressed in a Roberto Cavalli gown at Wrotham Park in Hertfordshire. I was twenty-three, and felt like a princess.

At
The X Factor
final in December 2008, when winner Alexandra Burke got to perform with Beyoncé. This was
amazing
– Beyoncé is one of the people who inspired me to do what I do today.

The girls performing ‘The Promise’ at the 2009 BRIT Awards. We were all very nervous performing in front of music industry bigwigs, but we won Best British Single.

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief with Kimberley in March 2009. I had no idea what I was letting myself in for, and it was unbelievably testing.

Performing ‘Fight For This Love’ on
The X Factor
in 2009. The military-themed costume really caught on with the fans, who we now refer to as soldiers.

A victory for Geordies! In 2009 I got the boys category in
The X Factor,
and when Joe McElderry won he jumped all over with excitement.

Dancing Latin ballroom with Derek on the TV special
Cheryl Cole’s Night In,
December 2009. This is how we met and became really good friends.

Trying to escape LAX airport after the second revelations about Ashley in 2010. It was a terrifying experience.

Derek was photographed leaving the London Hotel in West Hollywood. He’d brought his friend’s dog to cheer me up, and we had a good laugh about this picture afterwards.