Cheryl is reportedly set for a career comeback, as she’s being eyed up for a mentoring role on the next series of The Voice, following years of heartache.
The former Girls Aloud star last appeared on TV as a dance captain on The Greatest Dancer back in 2019.
Yet, in recent years she has faced a raft of tragedy – suffering the loss of loved ones – most recently, her ex-boyfriend Liam Payne, with whom she shared son Bear, eight.
The Call The Shots hitmaker, died aged 31 in October, after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires following a drink-drug binge.
In the six years between Liam’s split from Cheryl and the singer’s untimely death in Argentina, he became engaged to model Maya Henry and was reportedly talking marriage with his girlfriend of two years, Kate Cassidy, before he died.
But, despite moving on romantically from the Girls Aloud singer, Liam made his feelings very clear, hailing her as ‘the most important person’ in his life, and praising her for always being there for him, despite their split.
Cheryl is reportedly set for a career comeback, as she’s being eyed up for a mentoring role on the next series of The Voice, following years of heartache (pictured at Liam Payne’s funeral)
In recent years she has faced a raft of tragedy – suffering the loss of loved ones – most recently, her ex-boyfriend Liam, with whom she shared son Bear, eight
Cheryl could also be set for a TV role, making her talent show return alongside her longtime pal Will.i.am as a guest mentor mentor on The Voice (pictured in 2010)
It’s a move that would leave fans of the singer delighted
The former couple lived just minutes away from each other and before his death Liam revealed their relationship was stronger than ever, describing Cheryl as ‘the best mum in the world’ to co-parent with.
Cheryl was later revealed to have the heartbreaking task of raising her son without his father, but a new dimension to that task emerged when it was revealed that Liam died without leaving a will.
It meant that his £24million fortune will go to Bear, and Cheryl has been named administrator, meaning she will be entrusted with protecting the money for her son.
Before his untimely death, Liam Payne filmed new Netflix series Building The Band, and will make a posthumous appearance as a judge in the talent show.
The 10-part series will see talented singers vie for a chance to form the next great band, unseen in a similar vein to The Voice.
Contestants will audition each other to form their own band while all sat in individual Love Is Blind-esque booths so they can’t see each other.
Joining Liam on the judging panel is Pussycat Dolls’ Nicole Scherzinger and Destiny’s Child star Kelly Rowland, while Backstreet Boys’ AJ McLean will host.
Now it’s been reported that Cheryl could also be set for a TV role, making her talent show return alongside her longtime pal Will.i.am as a guest mentor mentor on The Voice.
It’s a move that would leave fans of the singer delighted.
Cheryl has been blighted by tragedy of late, most recently being targeted by stalker Daniel Bannister, 50, (pictured) who left her ‘fearing for her life’
The 14th series is reportedly set to see a return of the Battle Rounds and Cheryl is said to be in talks to mentor Will.i.am’s team.
A source told The Sun: ‘Will.i.am and Cheryl first worked together 16 years ago and have remained good friends ever since.
‘She was the obvious choice to mentor his team when the Battle Rounds return four years after being axed.
‘A lot has happened in Cheryl’s personal life since she was last working on a talent show — BBC’s The Greatest Dancer — so she’s taking baby steps to put herself back out there.
‘Teaming up with will.i.am as a guest mentor seems the perfect way to kick-start her comeback.’
The series will reportedly air next year and the source said there are hopes Cheryl will agree to sign on permanently.
Cheryl has been blighted by tragedy of late, most recently being targeted by a stalker who left her ‘fearing for her life’.
Last week, it was reported that convicted killer Daniel Bannister, 50, flouted his restraining order and turned up to try to see her again.
It is understood he was arrested in a swoop on his bail hostel in Brixton, south London, The Sun reported.
It came at a time of unthinkable heartbreak for Cheryl, who was mourning the loss of Liam (pictured together in 2016)
Bannister appeared at Reading Magistrates’ Court last week to plead guilty to one count of breaching his restraining order.
District judge Davinder Sandhu remanded him in custody and sent the case to the town’s crown court for sentencing on September 23.
Bannister was jailed for just 16 weeks in March for showing up at Cheryl’s property, which she shares with her son Bear.
Bannister, who served a two-and-a-half-year sentence for manslaughter after kicking and punching a neighbour to death in 2012, has repeatedly tried to contact Cheryl.
He was said to have become ‘fixated’ with the former X Factor judge who was left ‘fearing for her life’ by his obsessive behaviour.
In a previous statement provided to the Crown Prosecution Service, Cheryl said Bannister’s repeated attempts to contact her left her feeling ‘violated’.
She also said she feared for the safety of her son.
It came at a time of unthinkable heartbreak for Cheryl, who was mourning the loss of Liam.
For Cheryl, drugs have impacted several of her loved ones, including friend and budding footballer John Courtney (pictured), who passed away from a heroin overdose in 2005
Her ex-partner’s death no doubt also brought up pain from the past.
For Cheryl, drugs have impacted several of her loved ones – including her older brother Andrew Tweedy, who was found living in a tent on the streets in 2021, and her elder sister, Gillian, with the singer claiming her sibling was a teen drug user.
Meanwhile, Cheryl’s childhood friend and budding footballer John Courtney passed away from a heroin overdose in 2005.
The Newcastle youth was one of Cheryl’s closest friends and his death turned her into a staunch anti-drugs crusader.
The former X Factor star said: ‘It put me off drugs for life. That nightmare devastated all John’s family and friends.’
Cheryl met Courtney at school when they were teenagers. The talented footballer was at 17 tipped to follow in the footsteps of Newcastle hero Alan Shearer, but his dreams collapsed when he first tried heroin.
He soon developed a £90-a-day habit that led to his imprisonment for stealing.
Cheryl, already a member of Girls Aloud, visited his home and pleaded with him to kick the drugs.
In the book Cheryl Cole: The Unauthorised Biography, John’s mother Angie revealed that the former pop star wrote him a letter begging him not to destroy his life.
‘He kept the note on the wall to remind him he had to keep battling,’ she said.
Footballer Courtney’s tragic death wasn’t the first time Cheryl saw someone suffer at the hands of drugs. She is believed to have dated furniture salesman Jason Mack (pictured) for 18 months fbefore she was picked to be part of Girls Aloud.
But on April 2, 2005, John’s body was found curled up on the floor. He had passed away. Cheryl, who has always been anti-drugs, sent flowers to his family, who released the photo, taken by police, to warn others about the dangers of taking heroin.
‘Cheryl’s were among the first to arrive. This just shows how down to earth she is and how she’ll never forget her roots,’ said Mrs Courtney.
However, the singer’s previously admitted to The Times magazine: ‘I don’t have any sympathy for addicts. That might sound harsh, but I don’t give a f***.
‘If they’re in pain because of drugs, it’s self-inflicted. You know what you’re doing when you take it.
‘Heroin was there for the taking. I could easily have taken that route. Where I come from everyone is exposed to drugs. I was strong enough to resist it.’
But footballer Courtney’s tragic death wasn’t the first time Cheryl saw someone suffer at the hands of drugs.
She is believed to have dated furniture salesman Jason Mack for 18 months from 2000 to 2002, before she was picked to be part of Girls Aloud.
Jason, who was 27 at the time, has previously confessed that he put his then girlfriend ‘through hell’ due to his drug addictions.
‘When I first met her I was doing a lot of cocaine,’ he told the Daily Mirror. ‘Some days I’d blow £200 on the stuff, and I’d be drinking bottles of Bud from 8am until I crashed out at God knows when.’
But drugs have also impacted even closer to home for Cheryl; in her book My Story (2012), the Girls Aloud star claimed her elder sister, Gillian, allegedly turned to drugs aged 15 to block out the shock of learning another man was her real father, reported Chronicle Live. It was not suggested that Gillian had continued using drugs.
Cheryl’s brother, meanwhile, Andrew Tweedy, was found living in a tent on the streets and begging for money and surviving on handouts in 2021.
Speaking to The Sun at the time, Cheryl’s embattled brother said the singer- who has made numerous attempts to get him clean, including funding a £20,000 stint in rehab to tackle his drug problems – probably has no idea he’s homeless.
Cheryl claimed her elder sister, Gillian, allegedly turned to drugs aged 15. Her brother Andrew Tweedy, was found living in a tent on the streets in 2021 (pictured leaving Newcastle Magistrates Court in 2003)
Andrew said: ‘This is what I’m f***ing living like. I’ve been begging here for more than three months and it’s something that has really broken my heart.
‘I’ve got so much f***ing pride. With the family I’ve got, I shouldn’t be here. It’s horrible.
‘None of them have contacted me. Even though Cheryl’s not helping me, she’s still my family. She probably won’t even know I’m on the streets, I don’t blame her at all. This is the lowest I’ve ever been.’
According to The Sun, a tearful Andrew was discovered sleeping alongside bottles of urine and empty cans of beer in his makeshift home in northern England. He also shared the tent with a homeless friend.
Andrew – who has a son – revealed he was forced to live on the streets when his relationship broke down earlier that year.
Cheryl’s troubled brother has had a history with crime and has appeared in court more than 50 times.
He took part in his first robbery aged 13 and in 2005, he was sentenced for four years over the brutal mugging of a teenager, a crime which he jumped bail for and spent five weeks on the run.
In 1996, he was placed in a Young Offender Institution for the stabbing of two students in a street fight. He served three years before getting out on parole.
He was jailed once more in 2011 for six years, for his involvement in an armed robbery at a Post Office.
A local officer reportedly said they do not have any ‘real right’ to move Andrew from the plot where his tent was erected, as the land was owned by the council. He was said to be awaiting temporary accommodation.
Cheryl also lost her Girls Aloud bandmate Sarah Harding to breast cancer in 2021 (pictured together in 2012)
The former labourer became hooked on glue at a young age, after growing up on a heroin-ravaged estate in Newcastle.
Andrew long continued to battle drug and alcohol addiction, despite numerous help attempts by his younger sister Cheryl. It’s unclear what Andrew’s circumstances are currently.
The Girls Aloud star has never publicly mentioned her heartache regarding Andrew, but he has acknowledged her unquestionable support on multiple occasions.
Speaking from his jail cell in 2008, he told the Sunday Mirror: ‘Cheryl wants to help me – but I’m too far gone. I know I’m breaking her heart, but I’m not strong enough to sort myself out.’
‘It tears me up to think I’m causing my little sister so much pain. I’ve told Cheryl she should be ashamed of me, but she says she loves me and she’ll never give up on me.’
She was said to have been ‘crippled by worry’ about her older brother and was spotted making covert jail visits as he served time for a violent robbery.
‘She came on her own,’ said Andrew. ‘She looked so sad and so tired, totally different to how she looks on TV or singing on stage… It broke my heart to see her so cut up.’
According to reports at the time, Cheryl held her brother’s hand during a prison visit and begged him to let her and former husband Ashley Cole pay for his rehab.
But the Newcastle native rejected the offer. He acknowledged that she was behind him ‘every step of the way’ but refused the help because he was scared of letting her down.
Girls Aloud catapulted to fame in 2002 when they took part in the ITV reality show Popstars: The Rivals (L-R Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle, Cheryl, Sarah and Nicola Roberts in 2005)
While brutally honest about his own failings, he said in 2008 that he hopes one day be able to get his life back on track and repay Cheryl for all of her kindness.
The tragedy of Liam’s death followed on from Cheryl’s Girls Aloud bandmate Sarah Harding, who passed away from breast cancer in 2021.
Speaking in a special two-hour show for Radio 2 in May 2024, Cheryl opened up about missing her friend.
She said: ‘There are little moments that you would share with her individually on stage on tour. Where there’s no more Sarah than in that moment and I can’t describe… like, nobody else would know her that way, other than us four.’
The girl band, which now consists of Cheryl, Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle and Nicola Roberts – returned for a tour this year for the first time since 2013 and, during each show, they paid tribute to their dear friend Sarah.
The remaining four singers decided to reunite and go on tour in a bid to pay tribute to their late friend, admitting they are ‘doing it for Sarah’.
Girls Aloud catapulted to fame in 2002 when they took part in the ITV reality show Popstars: The Rivals.
They competed for a place in a girl band and were then pitted against a boy band from the show named One True Voice in the hope that their song would become Christmas number one.
Cheryl went on to become a judge on the UK version of the television talent show The X Factor in 2008 – winning the show twice (pictured in 2010(
Cheryl next served as a judge on the television dance competition The Greatest Dancer from 2019 to 2020
Girls Aloud won with their single Sound Of The Underground and they went on to have three more number ones and 20 top ten hits. Sarah also won Celebrity Big Brother in 2017.
Cheryl went on to become a judge on the UK version of the television talent show The X Factor in 2008.
She proved to be a popular addition to the show and mentored two of the eventual winners of the competition (Alexandra Burke in series five and Joe McElderry in series six), before resigning in 2011 after series seven.
Cheryl went on to join the panel of the US version of the series, which she left during the auditions stage. She returned to judge series eleven and twelve of the UK series in 2014 and 2015.
Cheryl next served as a judge on the television dance competition The Greatest Dancer from 2019 to 2020.
In 2023, she made her stage debut in the West End play 2:22 A Ghost Story.
