Cheryl Cole: I tried faddy diets but they made me unhappy

Cheryl Cole has admitted she has tried faddy diets in the past - but they made her unhappy.

The Girls Aloud star has been at the centre of diet rumours for the last few years as her figure has become constantly slighter - and she is now rumoured to be on a weight gain diet after becoming concerned with her own appearance on the final of The X Factor last month.

Speaking to Vogue recently, she revealed that shortly after she joined the girl group, after winning a place in the band on PopStars: The Rivals, she went on a crash diet: “I remember being in Selfridges and taking these size 28s into the changing room and not being able to get them on, and then getting on the scales and crying because I was nine and a half stone. Nine and a half stone when I’m only 5ft 3in.

“Jennifer Aniston was doing something called the Atkins Diet at the time and I thought I’d give it a try.

“The record company had just moved us into this hotel called K West and I remember I ate the same thing from room service - chicken in cream sauce with a couple of carrots - every night, for weeks, and I just felt horrible. But I was on this mission.”

In the interview, which accompanies her photo cover shoot, she also discussed her marriage to footballer Ashley Cole - which nearly ended at the start of 2008 after another woman claimed she’d slept with Ashley during a night out.

Cheryl described the whole saga as “horrendous” but is keen for the pair of them to move on from it together: “Ashley’s young and he’s got a young mentality - for his age anyway.

“He’s learning. He has a beautiful soul, he’s a really nice guy and I’m not stupid, you know. I’m really not.

“I know what I’m doing. I’ve had enough knocks in the past to know what the circumstances are, and I’m happy. If other people aren’t, then that’s their problem.”