Cowell says fallout with Cheryl ‘a nightmare’

TV mogul Simon Cowell has described his fallout with Cheryl Fernandez-Versini as a "nightmare" and admitted that "there was something not quite right" about US X Factor.

The duo’s friendship came to an abrupt end when Cowell, 54, fired the singer from the US show just weeks into her high-profile job.

Cowell said that the judge, 31, who had “put on a bit of weight” and whose confidence had plummeted following the end of her marriage to Ashley Cole, had become unrecognisable.