He regaled us with showbiz gossip in the Celebrity Big Brother house, but Louis Walsh left everyone shocked when he spoke about Cheryl and her infamous court case.
The Irish music mogul discussed the 2003 incident – in which Cheryl was convicted of assaulting a nightclub toilet attendant – with West End star Marisha Wallace and presenter Zeze Millz.
“She hit that woman, a big black eye. It’s not forgotten,” he told his housemates. He credited her press team for “saving” her career, saying, “She had very good PR… and a great record company. They did their best.”
Now, an insider says Cheryl – who first met Louis way back in 2001, when she starred in Popstars: The Rivals – is furious with Girls Aloud’s ex-manager for dragging it all up again. The star was sentenced to 120 hours of community service and a fine after being found guilty of ABH. Although she wrote about the incident in her 2012 autobiography – claiming it was self-defence – in 2019, it was reported that she was seeking to prevent the media from reporting her conviction.
“Cheryl was absolutely mortified when she heard Louis talk about the court case. It haunts her to this day,” a source tells heat.
“It was one of the worst times in her life. It almost ended her career, and it’s something that she prayed would never surface again, so to have Louis chat about it so casually on national TV was not only humiliating, but extremely triggering.”
Cheryl, 40, and Louis, 71, have famously clashed over the years after first falling out when he called Girls Aloud “fat” while he was their manager. Relations remained strained when they appeared on The X Factor judging panel together, with Cheryl once calling Louis “a silly old man looking for attention”. In another heated exchange, she said he only “took the cheques” when he managed the girl group.
“I am a much better manager than she is a singer. She seems to be in the fashion business now, selling fake hairpieces, fake eyelashes, fake everything,” he retorted.
Louis also made reference to their X Factor rivalry, saying, “I wanted to beat her”, and lamenting that show boss Simon Cowell had booked Beyoncé to sing with Cheryl’s act Alexandra Burke in the 2008 final, which trumped Louis booking Westlife for his band JLS.
But just after gossiping about Cheryl, Louis was quick to claim that he did, in fact, like her, saying, “She’s not perfect, but she’s nice. She’s a good girl… She’s had a lot of negativity, but I like her. She doesn’t know that. I like her more than she likes me.”
But, our source says, anything nice that Louis had to say was overshadowed by him bringing up the court case. “Cheryl was always worried Louis would use his platform on Celebrity Big Brother to have a pop at her, but she never expected him to bring up the worst moment in her career – especially having been there with her and seen how badly it affected her,” we’re told.
The source continues, “Watching all the media coverage of it has been incredibly difficult and it couldn’t have come at a worse time, with all the preparation for the Girls Aloud reunion tour. Her initial upset has turned into deep anger.
“Cheryl won’t take this lying down – she’s promised to get revenge. She feels he’s tried to ruin her career. She doesn’t want to make a bad situation worse, but she’s not going to let Louis say those things without some kind of response. She thinks he’ll just keep twisting the knife if she doesn’t stand up to him.”
But, while Cheryl may be intent on confronting Louis, our source says her bandmates are telling her to not react. “Kimberley [Walsh] and Nicola [Roberts] have urged her to rise above it all,” we’re told.
“She is doing her best to focus on the reunion, but she’s also determined not to let someone who she feels has held onto a bitter grudge for years destroy her big comeback.”