Why Cheryl’s feeling torn over Ashley’s ‘apologetic’ message
As Ashley Cole reflects on his marriage to Cheryl in an interview – and takes responsibility for his mistakes – Closer’s Emma Kenny believes it will leave the singer with ‘mixed emotions’
❛ ASHLEY SPEAKING OUT ABOUT HER COULD MAKE HER REFLECT ON WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN ❜
The beginning of this month marked ten years since her divorce from Ashley Cole – with sources telling Closer how the anniversary “stung” Cheryl as it dredged up memories of her heartbreak after he’d cheated on her several times.
And while she has clearly tried to move on from her first husband – including a second failed two-year marriage to Frenchman Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini in 2016, and having a baby with her now-ex, Liam Payne, in 2017 – Cheryl, 37, was again reminded of her four-year first marriage after the ex-footballer spoke about her publicly last week.
Talking to interviewer and ex-footballer Jamie Redknapp, Ashley, 39, insisted he’d been a “shy, quiet, polite kid” but that events in his personal and professional life had meant the public perceived him as “the devil.”
When Jamie – who was married to Eternal singer Louise Redknapp from 1998 to 2017 – suggested the pair had “made it harder for [themselves] by marrying popstars,” Ashley confessed he had been a “kid” at that age, but had realised he had “made mistakes”, seemingly hinting at his infidelity. He said, “You don’t marry a girl because she’s a popstar; you want to be with her because you like her. You like her company. Everyone says I was supposed to be a role model [but] I was a kid, I [didn’t] understand life!
“Did I make mistakes when I was younger? Of course, and I understand that now. I understand right from wrong. I’ve lived through life – the good, the bad, the ugly and the unbelievable.”
GOLDEN COUPLE
The interview was shared
16k times, provoking a storm among Cheryl’s fans, many of whom lashed out at him for his scandals during their marriage, saying, “He is the only one that Cheryl loved”, and “Didn’t he cheat on his wife?” Another football fan called him “Mr Dependable” on the pitch, but added, “Just not to Cheryl.”
Cheryl and Ashley became a showbiz golden couple when they started dating in 2004, while Cheryl was enjoying a successful pop career as onefifth of Girls Aloud and Ashley was one of the biggest football stars in the country.
They married in a £1 million star-studded wedding in 2006 but, less than two years later, Cheryl’s world came crashing down when Ashley was accused of sleeping with hairdresser Aimee Walton during a drunken night out.
The singer gave him a second chance, but their reconciliation was short-lived and she filed for divorce in 2010 amid claims he’d slept with another four women.
She said she attacked him like a “lunatic” after discovering he’d been unfaithful – and confessed that the “sadness, physical pain, sickness and fury was like I’d never experienced”. She later admitted she had been left feeling “numb” and was on the verge of a nervous breakdown following the split.
While earlier this month sources told Closer their ten-year anniversary on 3 September was a “reminder of how it [the marriage] ended still hurt” Cheryl, Closer’s psychological therapist, Emma Kenny, agrees that having Ashley reflect on their marriage will also stir up past emotions for Cheryl – especially as he seemed to be sending her a message that he is sorry for what went wrong.
Emma says, “I get the feeling that Cheryl not only loved Ashley, but she hero-worshipped him to some extent. He was her first love, and probably the deepest love she has felt – she has said before how he always made her feel like a complete princess, which is why his infidelity was such a shock to her.
“I think the message Ashley
is giving out here is, ‘I am now a really decent guy and I’m sorry for what I did’. He is showing he cared and still cares by saying he wanted to spend time with her.
“So having him reflect on the love they had – and doing so in a nice way, in which he speaks about wanting to be with her and realising his mistakes – may even stir up emotions and thoughts of ‘what if?’ in her, especially now as he is coming across as a decent person. It will remind her of what they had and how happy she was.
“But she may well be feeling torn as she is likely to be angry, too – hearing him talk of his cheating will bring up those past feelings of hurt and betrayal – and the immense pain she went through – all over again.”
Speaking to Piers Morgan after their divorce, Cheryl broke down in tears as she sobbed, “I thought [Ashley] was great… Sensitive. A good person. Just a nice guy. We were meant for each other. There’s part of us that’ll always love him, of course. Big part of me life. And I love his family.
And I love what we had [sic].”
While Cheryl – who has been single since her split from Liam in 2018 and who earlier this year admitted she had been looking into surrogacy to give their son Bear, three, siblings – has been branded unlucky in love, Ashley has proved he’s changed his cheating ways. He’s now engaged to Italian model Sharon Canu, who he’s been dating since 2014 and with whom he shares four-year-old son Jaxon and three-year-old daughter Grace.
REGRET
However, despite separating a decade ago, Cheryl can’t seem to completely escape Ashley. She was said to be feeling “unsettled” last year after learning he had been looking at houses just two miles from her home, which she shares with Bear.
And he even got involved in her 2016 marriage to JB – by retweeting a mocked-up picture of him standing behind the pair shortly after their shock wedding.
Meanwhile, his former teammate Jermaine Pennant said in 2018 that he believed Cheryl was “still caught up over Ash” and that her relationships since had “struggled” because of it. His ex-girlfriend, Pascal Craymer – who Ashley briefly dated in 2014 – insisted the former X Factor judge still harboured feelings for her first husband, saying, “I know Cheryl loves Ash and always will.”
Emma says, “While it won’t hold Cheryl back from meeting someone else, Ashley speaking about her again could – especially at times like now, when she’s more alone than usual due to the pandemic – make her reflect on what might have been. They could have had a family – that’s what she wanted with him – but it’s what he has with another woman. I feel like there are bound to be feelings of regret and compassion on both sides.
“It does seem like there’s some unfinished words between them. Maybe this is his way of reaching out to her to apologise and seek her forgiveness.”
By Daisy McLure