Why was Cheryl keeping mum for such a long time?

WHAT a difference a year makes.

This time last year Cheryl was a bone-thin, hollow-cheeked, sad- looking waif fading away before our very eyes as a judge on The X Factor.

Many of us were seriously worried about her health and state of mind.

Fast forward 12 months and she is the picture of happiness, with sparkling eyes and a blooming pregnancy bump.

She has told close friends and family she is giving birth in the New Year, and looked positively radiant this week out on the town with her boyfriend, the One Direction singer Liam Payne.

I have, however, been a bit baffled about her reluctance to share the joyful news with the couple’s loyal and devoted fanbase and with the rest of the world.

I completely understand them not wanting to make an announcement until after four months had passed and all the usual scans and tests were done.

But by all accounts she is a bit further along than that.

Cheryl has also hinted at having to go through tough times in the past, which may be connected with her desire to have a baby.

Obviously, no one’s expecting her to divulge highly personal information and this might go some way to explain her reluctance to talk about the pregnancy.

Again, that is understandable but being seen out with a very visible bump will get everyone talking.

I know they both want their privacy, but not saying anything at all and refusing to make any sort of public announcement has had the opposite effect, and inflamed speculation to fever pitch.

I cannot imagine that maintaining their silence was a form of attention- seeking.

Both are so high- profile they do not need any extra exposure.

But they must know there is huge interest in their romance and that it has captured people’s imagination.

Whether she is comfortable with it or not, Cheryl is very, very famous, especially among young girls who hold her in such high esteem.

Whoever she was going to end up with after her second marriage imploded would have been subjected to a lot of attention.

But she just so happened to fall in love with a member of the most successful boyband on the planet and interest levels are off the scale.

Cheryl is canny enough to realise there is no way her relationship wasn’t going to be talked about, written about and endlessly discussed on talk shows.

She knows it is all part of the crazy rollercoaster of fame, especially for those “created” in reality shows and voted for by viewers who then feel a sense of ownership.

You have to hand it to her, Cheryl is a steel magnolia.

She battled through to the finals of Popstars: The Rivals 14 years ago to become part of Girls Aloud, and worked long and hard to consolidate the success of the band.

She launched a successful solo career and became a judge and mentor on Saturday night TV staple The X Factor.

Cheryl showed real strength of character, bouncing back from her first marriage to footballer Ashley Cole, whose behaviour must have broken her heart.

She then thought she had found her soulmate in the flamboyantly named Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini until that relationship broke down and turned toxic, leaving her looking so frail and fragile last year.

Cheryl also managed to pick herself up and dust herself down after being humiliatingly sacked as a judge on the US version of The X Factor five years ago.

Her hair, clothes and even her accent were maligned and criticised.

A lesser woman would have crumpled.

Those who chose to write off Cheryl could not have been more wrong.

After being persistently wooed by Simon Cowell to return to her perch on the British X Factor, she forgave him for wielding the axe in America, swallowed her pride and made a surprise comeback.

When you think about it, Simon has effectively played Cupid in this romance by being the brains behind the whole modern-day talent show phenomenon which resulted in both Girls Aloud and One Direction.

Cheryl famously was an X Factor judge almost a decade ago when a fresh-faced 14-year-old Liam made his bid for fame on the show, and now the two of them are head-over-heels in love.

Cheryl is ten years older than Liam, which seems to have raised eyebrows.

But this is horribly unfair.

If he was 20 years older than her, no one would turn a hair.

Ever the professional, we really didn’t have an idea of just how unhappy her marriage to Fernandez-Versini became.

But we could see Cheryl was stressed and the heavy toll that was taking on her health during last year’s X Factor.

I’m sure when she was smiling through her pain and tears and mentoring Reggie ’N’ Bollie she didn’t think 12 months later she’d be happily looking forward to starting a family.

I’m delighted for Cheryl and Liam.

It’s a really happy story and she deserves to be in a loving relationship.

I wish them all the very best for the future.

It would, however, be naive of them to think they won’t continue to be of huge worldwide interest, mainly thanks to Liam’s global success with One Direction.

When this baby is born there will be an undignified scuffle for the first photos and poor Cheryl will face the usual post-baby getting-back-into-shape nonsense.

It’s part of the price people have to pay for being lucky enough to have fame and fortune, and they really are both incredibly blessed.

We just all want the chance to “officially” send our congratulations.

Golden age of king kirk

THE legend that is Kirk Douglas turns 100 on Friday.

He is one of the few remaining superstars from the Golden Age of Hollywood and has appeared in classics Spartacus, and The Bad And The Beautiful.

His son Michael and daughter-in-law, our very own Catherine Zeta-Jones, will be hosting a special birthday party in his honour.

Kirk had quietly donated millions of dollars to charity over the years and he credits Anne, his wife of 63 years, for keeping him young at heart.

I was lucky enough to interview Kirk when I was a young, fresh-faced presenter on the TV-am sofa in the late Eighties.

He was on the show to promote a rather saucy novel he had written which was partly based on his observations of La La land.

l was utterly starstruck by this charming, energetic and charismatic man and to mark his 100th birthday, I’m downloading all his greatest movies and having a “Kirk-fest”.

I suggest you do the same.

Craig no phone-y

IT was my 57th birthday on St Andrew’s Day and among the many highlights was having Craig David sing Happy Birthday to me over the phone.

He’s rightfully back at the top of his game and cheerfully dealing with ludicrous rumours and conspiracy theories that he has been replaced by a body double.

He knows it’s only the hugely famous and successful who are subjected to such nonsense.

Domino-mad Bolt hits the spot as role model

I REALLY love that the fastest man in the world spends most of his “down time” playing dominoes and being told by his mum to get down to the shops for a pint of milk.
Usain Bolt might be the ultimate athlete and one of the coolest men on the planet but when he is not training or competing, he enjoys the simple things in life.

He relishes never-ending rounds of dominoes with close pals he has known for years, and also helping his mum out around the house in Jamaica, where the fiercely protective locals ensure he is left alone and can enjoy chilling out.

He told me that contrary to rumours, he isn’t engaged but his mum is giving him a hard time because she wants grand- children.

The great man, who currently stars in I Am Bolt, a remarkable documentary about his life and career, retires at the World Athletics Championships in London next year and although he knows it will be emotional, he is determined not to cry.

He’s going to devote the rest of his life to being a good role model, helping impoverished young athletes realise their potential and hopefully making some baby Bolts too.

He’s a top bloke and showed such patience with everyone who wanted “that” selfie.

Of course, I had to have one too.

Already missing, Missing

TAKE a bow everyone involved with the superlative BBC1 drama The Missing, which concluded this week in an incredible finale that had me in tears of joy, sorrow and rage.

It was superbly written, directed and acted, with stand-out performances from Roger Allam, as Brigadier Adrian Stone, who wasn’t nearly as badly affected by dementia as he wanted us all to believe.

Keeley Hawes as distraught and weary mum Gemma Webster was at her brilliant best, and special mentions to Derek Riddell for his portrayal of the creepy and loathsome monster Adam Gettrick, and of course to the incomparable Tcheky Karyo as Julien Baptiste, who I sincerely hope will live to sleuth another day.

JUST spotted a photo of the best job in the world – being Aidan Turner’s hot water bottle on the set of Poldark, where he smoulders as Captain Ross.

He’s currently filming the third series in very chilly weather.

Just imagine how tightly he has to squeeze that lucky hottie to his manly chest.