NEWS: Simon Cowell Speaks On Cheryl Being Axed From The X Factor

Simon Cowell has finally broken his silence over the Cheryl Cole situation with the X Factor.

According to the Mirror Simon said, 

"The hardest thing to accept is that everyone has painted me as a monster because I embarrassed her, but the truth was I was protecting her. I just want people to be in the best place at the right time."

Cheryl was among the original line up for the US show alongside Simon, L.A Reid and Paula Abdul. However, just 4 auditions into it, she was pulled from the line up and replaced with Nicole Scherzinger.

Cheryl then reportedly snubbed the opportunity to return to the UK version of the show, before being asked to go back to the US show.

"When she turned down the UK show, we got back in touch and said, well she is still under contract with the US show so we invited her back. Her position was still there.

“We had some heated conversations with her US manager Will.i.am and he inferred this wasn’t a genuine offer. They thought that if she didn’t turn up on Wednesday then we wouldn’t pay her.

“We made it clear that she was always going to be paid in full. We got to the point on Saturday when we genuinely thought she was going to accept the offer but again neither she nor they returned any calls. So we’ve announced Nicole."

So finally it seems to be set in stone, Cheryl Cole will not go back to the US version of the X Factor nor will she return to the UK show. Let's hope this is the last to be heard on this situation!