The Ex Factor: Cheryl Cole splits with husband Ashley

Cheryl Cole has finally fallen into line with the tabloids and announced that she is separating from her husband Ashley Cole  following revelations that the Chelsea and England footballer has had affairs with five women.

The Girls Aloud singer and X-Factor judge returned to her Surrey mansion yesterday after a week in Los Angeles. Her spokesman said: "Cheryl Cole is separating from her husband Ashley Cole. Cheryl asks the media to respect her privacy during this difficult time. We have no further comment to make."

The Sun reports that Ashley had been bombarding his wife with phone calls in an attempt to save their marriage - even offering  to 'do a Tiger Woods' and seek therapy for what a 'friend' called his sex "problems".

The couple now face messy divorce proceedings to divide up their £22m fortune - and Cheryl faces painful surgery to remove the 'Mrs Cole' tattoo on the back of her neck. But with no pre-nup signed when they married four years ago, Cheryl is entitled to half of their assets.

Cheryl fled to Los Angeles following her appearance on stage at the Brit Awards sans wedding ring. Since then, more allegations about her husband's flings have been splashed across the tabloids, including the Seattle city council worker Ann Corbitt who decided to tell her story when she realised she was not the only woman with whom he had betrayed his wife.

While in LA to lay down new tracks, Cheryl, 26, reportedly broke up with Ashley by sending a text message saying: "Move out. It's over."

She is understood to have viewed a number of properties in Los Angeles. She had previously declined the chance to start a TV career in America for the sake of her marriage. Now, friends say there is nothing to stop her moving to America, possibly to become a judge on the American version of Simon Cowell's franchise, The X Factor. ·