Cheryl can hold down a man, insists her Girls Aloud BFF Nicola...

NICOLA Roberts insists that her friend and former Girls Aloud bandmate Cheryl is on the road to recovery after her split from fellow singer Liam Payne.

Nicola told Loose Women on ITV: ‘She’s good, she’s good. She’s on the mend.’

The 32-year-old red-head, pictured, also wondered why some people questioned why the Geordie can’t hold a man down.

But she said: ‘It’s misogynistic. It should be more like, why can’t a man hold her down?’

Liam and Cheryl announced they had split by posting identical messages on Twitter on Monday, following a two-and-a-half-year relationship.

The singers announced they were ‘going our separate ways’ in nearlyidentical posts to their 40million Twitter followers.

The former Girls Aloud star, who turned 35 on Saturday, and the One Direction member, 24, have a oneyear-old son, Bear.

The parents said separating had been ‘a tough decision for us to make’.

The statement added: ‘We still have so much love for each other as a family. Bear is our world and we ask that you respect his privacy as we navigate our way through this together.’

Cheryl and Payne first met on The X Factor in 2008, when she was a judge and he auditioned as a solo contestant, then 14 years old.

They welcomed their son in March last year after being an item since 2016.

Nicola was also asked about the possibility of a Girls Aloud reunion but she wasn’t sounding like it was likely. Not really being drawn on the subject, she said: ‘It’s actually lovely that we’re still continuously asked.

‘At the moment I am halfway through my record, I’ve been helping Cheryl with her record over the last six months.’

Nicola also touched upon her charity work while on the show.

She said: ‘I’ve been working for Barnardos for the last eight years, visiting projects, social workers, victims and police.

‘I’m trying to get a documentary commissioned, so every child who is age appropriate learns about sex education, mental health, what’s healthy in a relationship and what is not.

‘I’m campaigning with the government to make it happen. They are dragging their feet, which is annoying, but it’s politics.

‘All of the kids, parents and teachers are screaming for this attention, but it isn’t passing the line.

‘If it gets commissioned and backed we can shape a new era of kids to be less anxious.’