“Growing up was tough”: Cheryl Fernandez-Versini speaks about her hard life growing up

Cheryl Fernandez-Versini has written an inspirational post for students who got their GCSE results today – talking about her tough upbringing, and how she battled hard to become successful.

“I grew up in a tough area in Newcastle. I saw drug and alcohol abuse, crime and poverty. I also saw how the lack of role models meant that many of my friends felt they had nowhere to turn,” she wrote on the Huffington Post.

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Cheryl then explained that many of the people she knew at school ended up “heading down the wrong path to a life of unemployment and sometimes even drugs” due to, in her opinion, a lack of role models.

She talks about needing that “one role model” in life and how she was “lucky” to have parents who worked “extremely hard” to afford the singing and dancing classes that were to shape her life – despite being from a family with very little money indeed.

Cheryl congratulates the students who have done well with their results, but reminds us that not to forget those who haven’t done as well.

“These young people are also about to start a new chapter of their lives, but sadly, with it will come anxiety, uncertainty and in some cases even depression,” she writes.”

Cheryl then explains her new foundation, Cheryl’s Trust, which partnered with the Prince’s Trust will aim to raise £2million to help disadvantaged kids turn their lives around.

Good on you, Cheryl – we love to see a celebrity who wants to give back.

We love Cheryl's hair