Ryan Dunn

By JESSICA SATHERLEY

Fresh start: A happy Cheryl Cole pictured last week ahead

She was once just one fifth of a successful British girl group but now having found international solo stardom, Cheryl Cole says she’s slowly getting used to her new life.

‘It’s a very different feeling being out there on your own. Slowly but surely I’m finding my feet,’ she says in her new book Through My Eyes.

The 27-year-old is releasing her second solo album, Messy Little Raindrops, next month and as she moves on from her divorce from Ashley Cole, the newly single Cheryl found it the perfect time in her life to release her autobiography too.

In her book, which hits shelves on Thursday, she explains her excitement about starting a solo career, away from the security of her Girls Aloud bandmates Nicola Roberts, Kimberley Walsh, Sarah Harding and Nadine Coyle.

‘It was scary and exciting at the same time, but definitely felt the right thing to do,’ she’s says in the book, which was serialised in a special issue of Hello!
But since leaving her Girls Aloud pals behind for a shot at solo fame, she has developed a new close friendship with 25-year-old Derek Hough.

Their highly publicised relationship has never been clarified as to whether they are lovers or just friends but Cheryl has nothing but praise to say about the dancer.
‘Derek is a sweetheart, the kind of person who makes the day more enjoyable. And that’s really important when you’re on a set doing a video for 18,19 hours – maybe longer,’ she says.

And despite having battled through a divorce with philandering Chelsea and England footballer Ashley and fighting off malaria in 2010, she says she’s had ‘the best times of my life’ in the past two years.

Solo career: Cheryl Cole's second solo album, Messy Little Raindrops, comes out next month and here she dresses as a ballerina for her latest music video

X Factor: Cheryl is said to be quitting the British version of the show at the end of this year's series to move to the Stateside version

After conquering solo stardom in the UK, Cheryl is now set to take on the U.S and is apparently quitting The X Factor after this year’s series to move over to the Stateside version of the show.

She is expected to sign a £3million deal with Simon Cowell to become a judge on America’s X Factor, which will only raise her profile further.

But international superstardom won’t rattle the down-to-earth Geordie according to her mother Joan Callaghan, who is her biggest fan.

‘She’s the most grounded person.. I can be hysterical and she’s like ‘Calm down, what’s wrong with you?’ She’s absolutely brilliant if I’m feeling the pressure,’ Joan says.