Paula renting Cheryl's Hollywood home

Cheryl Cole lets her Hollywood home out to Paula Abdul.

The Girls Aloud singer – who was axed from the US ‘X Factor’ after just four audition rounds – bought a property when music mogul Simon Cowell first signed her up for a judging role on the show, but now her fellow panellist lives in the plush abode.

Following a recent dinner with the 28-year-old star, chat show host Piers Morgan said: “It’s true that she bought a luxury apartment in Hollywood, but she doesn’t live in it. Paula Abdul does.

“It’s one of the many weird knock-on effects of Cheryl’s dramatically premature exit from the US version of ‘The X Factor’.

“One thing’s for sure – forget all the stuff you’ve read about Cheryl being down, out and miserable. She’s back on top form and raring to go again.”

However, this wasn’t the only secret Piers learned about the brunette beauty during their dinner together, as he also admitted she “eats like a horse”.

Writing in his column for Live magazine, he added: “Over a delightful two hours, Cheryl dispelled many a myth. She eats like a horse. Seriously, I’ve never seen so much food go down such a slim neck since I part-owned a young stallion called Ledham.

“We knocked back platefuls of yellow-fin tuna, blackened cod filet mignon with asparagus, baked crab handrolls … and then we ordered most of is all over again. ’I do love me food’, she purred contentedly.”