OK!: You started divorce proceedings. Why did you finally decide it was over?
C: (pauses for a while) Ashley didn’t just cheat on me the once – the press only caught him that one time, but I know there were others. I know of two girls who were paid off around the same time, so it never leaked to the press. He told me that he hadn’t actually slept with them, but paid them off to protect his image. Deep down I didn’t believe him, but I wanted to believe him. This year the press got hold of another affair and he thought he’d tell me before I found out in a phone call from a tabloid.
OK:! So that’s when you left him?
C: (Cheryl nods). That’s when I realised that our vows meant nothing to him… and that Kimberley meant so much more than I’d let myself accept.
OK!: And luckily for you, Kimberley felt the same?
K: (Kimberley nods). It felt like a dream, like it couldn’t really be happening. In fact it still does. I actually find myself wondering if I’m dreaming sometimes. But I’m not, I’m just really happy.
OK!: Ashley has recently been in the press claiming that you two were in a relationship long before he ever cheated on you, Cheryl. In fact, he claims that your marriage started to fall down because of your infidelity. What do you want to say to that?
C: (Cheryl is silent for a few seconds). I fell in love with Kimberley while I was still married, yes. But I did not act on it – I didn’t even realise at first – I tried so hard to make my marriage work. I was crushed when I first found out Ashley had cheated on me. Kimberley helped me so much to get through that, but we were not in a relationship then.
OK!: We did our research. This other affair – it was about to leak to the press in Spring – when you girls were on tour?
C: Yes, right at the end of the tour.
OK!: And that’s when your relationship began? Around that time?
K: During the last few days of the tour we did a lot of talking – a lot of heart to hearts – that’s when it all happened.
OK!: That’s over a year since Ashley’s first affair was revealed.
C: Exactly. What Ashley has said doesn’t make any sense. Kimberley and me – we were only friends until this year. Before anything happened between me and Kimberley I told Ashley how I felt and I filed for divorce. I know what it’s like to be cheated on, the public saw what it did to me - I wouldn’t even wish that on my worst enemy.
OK!: Do you hate Ashley for what he’s saying now?
C: No. I used to love him. But I hate what he’s doing. I’m happy now, happier than I’ve ever been, he needs to do whatever he needs to do to be happy too. Upsetting me and Kimberley isn’t going to make him happy, it’s just making life hard for both of us. We both want this divorce, so I don’t understand why he’s insisting on dragging it out.
OK!: Do you think he’s bitter?
C: He’s trying to make me suffer for leaving him. But in fact, if he thinks about it – he couldn’t just be with me – he needed to have his affairs. By leaving him I gave him his freedom. If I’d stayed with him and insisted he be faithful, it wouldn’t have worked. And when I found out this year that he’d cheated again, I remember wondering how he could put me through it all again, and I felt worthless. But then I saw Kimberley on stage that night and I remember thinking that if she ever did anything to hurt me so much, that I wouldn’t be able to cope with that. That’s when I kind of put everything into perspective.
Chapter: 31-32
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