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CHERYL'S CAREER IN CRISIS
CRAWLING into shot like a cat, arching backwards on her knees before licking her hand and rubbing her backside.
It’s fair to say Cheryl Tweedy’s first live TV performance in four years left millions of TV viewers baffled on Sunday night, sending social media into a meltdown.
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The 35-year-old singer’s routine finished with her collapsing in a heap on the X Factor stage, causing her concerned friend Simon Cowell to ask: “Is she all right?”
That question could also be raised about Cheryl’s pop career, which has seen her highly anticipated comeback anthem Love Made Me Do It — a reference to her series of failed relationships — slump to No45 in the official charts.
She has not been helped by the outrage over a car-crash interview when Cheryl branded her 2003 nightclub attack on a toilet attendant, which resulted in an assault verdict and 120 hours’ community service, as “irrelevant”, “not news” and “boring”. The court heard she used racist abuse but Cheryl denies any racism.
Top British comedian Kathy Burke summed up the mood when she wrote on Twitter: “Maybe if Cheryl hadn’t punched that toilet attendant more people would buy her records.”
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Even her ex-husband Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini joined in the criticism, furious with Cheryl’s claim in an interview he wasn’t faithful.
He told a friend: “She always wants to act like a victim, thinking that is going to make people buy her music. But really people would buy her music when it’s good.”
Cheryl is now relying on a make-or-break new TV opportunity as a judge on the upcoming BBC series The Greatest Dancer to deliver her a hit.
Sources close to her hope the Beeb series, which is being made by Simon Cowell, will show the public the warm side of Cheryl, rather than the more combative persona she has adopted online.
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Cheryl Tweedy hits back at critics AGAIN as she 'walks away' from negativity
So where did it all go so wrong for the nation’s former sweetheart?
In the four years since her last record, during which she gave birth to son Bear, now one, she has split with a series of key professional and personal advisers.
Gone is top management company Modest, which guided her career alongside acts such as One Direction, Olly Murs and the Spice Girls. In its place is her long-term PA Lily England.
Gone are her PR minders. Gone is record company Polydor, which had backed her solo career at its peak with hits including Fight For This Love and Call My Name.
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Gone is the lucrative X Factor job with Cowell and also high-profile One Direction boyfriend Liam Payne.
Instead, Cheryl is taking charge of the campaign herself, including hitting out on Twitter for speculation about “my appearance, my body size and my shape”.
In fact it was Cheryl herself who first drew attention to thousands of online comments about apparent changes to her face after she kicked off her comeback this month with an appearance on the Capital FM breakfast show.
Her puffy look sparked speculation from fans that she had used fillers or even gone under the knife.
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But she went online to address the comments, tweeting: “Still had a pillow crease on my face this morning.”
The odd response only triggered more speculation, but all this helped her in one key way.
The YouTube clip of the music video for her single saw views skyrocket to 2.3million, with speculation many were re-watching it to see Cheryl’s look for themselves.
That led to the single scraping into the Official UK Top 20 on Friday night at No19 — hardly a success in itself — but the streaming figures tell a different story.
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Yesterday’s Bizarre column in The Sun revealed the song had slumped to No45 in the midweek charts.
That is an awkward position for Cheryl, given her vow in an interview last weekend that she would quit music altogether if she did not have chart success.
She told Guide magazine: “If it goes in at 80, it’s time for me to move on with my life.
“I’m not going to jump around working hard and spending time away from my son for that.”
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Cheryl Tweedy swears off men and says she 'couldn't give a f---' about Liam Payne moving on with other women
Cheryl is now represented by tiny dance record label 3Beat, a subsidiary of Universal, whose roster includes DJs Sigma, Martin Jensen and Kungs. And her loyal best friend Lily England is now taking on the huge role of trying to keep Cheryl’s career afloat.
Although Lily is considered very competent and pleasant in music circles, showbiz industry insiders have questioned whether she has the ability for such a difficult job.
Speaking to Music Week in her first interview in the new role this month, Lily hardly screamed ambition when discussing plans for Cheryl’s new material.
She said: “Right now we’re not planning an album.
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“She doesn’t really have any streaming numbers because that all started after she’d finished releasing four years ago.
“So we’re going to go song by song and see how it goes.”
Cheryl’s hopes appear to rest with the BBC and The Greatest Dancer, where Cheryl will appear as a dance judge.
She will alongside Glee actor Matthew Morrison, 40, and Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse, 28.
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The show is hosted by Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon and Diversity dancer Ashley Banjo.
Meanwhile, Cheryl’s always-complicated personal life has been causing many of her friends to question her judgment too.
Her latest single includes the lyrics: “Oh my god, I’m such a sucker, I fall in love with every f*****.”
However, in a recent podcast with fellow singer Jessie Ware, Cheryl said: “I know what I want in life, but in the romantic area I am not as evolved. That area has stopped. It’s not happening any more. It’s the end. It’s the end.”
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Cheryl and Liam Payne split after two-and-a-half-years but vow to remain close to raise their son Bear together
But a friend responded and said: “Anyone who knows Cheryl will appreciate that’s a ridiculous thing to say.
“It’s now going to look really awkward when she starts dating her next boyfriend — who will no doubt be famous.”
Cheryl then raised eyebrows again by revealing she had “fallen” for Liam’s One Direction bandmate Louis Tomlinson while watching him as a judge on The X Factor.
She split from Liam secretly in February after admitting defeat on their two-and-a-half year romance.
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But she stayed with him officially until July, when The Sun revealed the news.
Cheryl, who admitted this month that Bear still sleeps in her bed, was forced to deny her mum Joan Callaghan was a factor in the split and was not permanently stationed in her family home.
But the Geordie did acknowledge recently that she would “like her to live with me”.
Cheryl’s exes still clearly weigh on her mind.
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Sources close to the singer say she still finds it tough seeing how love-rat ex-husband Ashley Cole, the former Chelsea and England footballer, has moved on.
They divorced in September 2010 and he is now loved up with Italian model Sharon Canu, the mother of his two children.
She envisaged spending her life and having kids of her own with Ashley before his infidelities ended their four-year marriage.
The same cannot be said of Frenchman Jean-Bernard, whose relationship with Cheryl is now toxic.
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As her second husband explained to a pal: “Her strategy is to be a victim. She is still upset at me for not having been able to control me at the time.
“And she still wants to hurt me and make me look bad. It’s always everybody’s else’s fault.”
The next few months will show if Cheryl takes responsibility for trying to get her career back on track.
Cheryl reveals she begged mum to move in with her and Liam Payne - but her mum refused
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