Cheryl Cole: "Leaving The X Factor USA Was Nothing To Do With My Newcastle Accent"

30 April 2012, 07:12 | Updated: 30 April 2012, 07:39

The '3 Words' singer claims she holds no grudge against Simon Cowell following her departure from the music reality series.

Cheryl Cole has denied that she was asked to leave her judges seat on The X Factor USA because of her Newcastle accent.

Reports at the time claimed executives on the show were worried the American audience would struggle to understand the Geordie star, however, the Girls Aloud singer told GQ magazine that the rumours are completely unfounded.

"Me leaving the show was nothing to do with my Newcastle accent. I work with Americans all the time," she confessed.

The singer also revealed details about an incident during a trip to Afghanistan where troops dressed a dummy as Simon Cowell, which caused the star to receive a call from the music mogul.

She admitted: "The troops in Afghanistan thought it would be funny to dress one of the test dummies as Simon and blow him up in front of me. It felt great, actually. When I landed back in England there was a message from Simon – 'Hello, Cheryl. So now that you've blown me up in Afghanistan can we talk?' – and we did."

She added: "I'm not one of those people who holds a grudge about anything and I know exactly what went down."

Following her departure from the show, rumours had been circulating that she would be making a return to the UK version of the show - something which Cheryl earlier this year publicly denied after she stated the series was now a part of her past.

Meanwhile, Cheryl will unveil the official music video to her new single 'Call My Name' this week following the release of a teaser clip of the promo last week.

The singer will also release her new studio album 'A Million Lights' this summer on 18th June, a week after her latest single drops.