Cheryl Cole is fuming that Simon Cowell was too gutless to sack her from the American X Factor himself, the Mirror reports.
Cowell apparently left the dirty work of breaking the bad news to the former Girls Aloud star to one of the other shows execs.
Cole was left humiliated after being dumped as a judge from the show amid concerns by producers that Americans would struggle to understand her Northern accent and because she lacked chemistry with fellow judge Paula Abdul.
“Cheryl is very much her own person and she hated the circus that the X Factor had become,” a source told the Mirror. “She was annoyed that when the bad news came, Simon did not even have the guts to tell her himself and left it to another exec.“But she was even more upset that the discussions over her contract became open season for everyone. It was shoddy to say the least.”
The source also said Cole texted Cowell saying she was “no one’s puppet” amid reports he was trying to lure her back to the show.
On Monday Cole was officially replaced by former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger.
Just to rub salt into Cole’s wounds Cowell said in another interview with the Mirror : “I think Nicole will be fantastic. And by all accounts the new UK judges are brilliant.”
He went on to say that that Cheryl should have had a thicker skin “to cope with this”, before adding: “I never wished her to be embarrassed. I care for her greatly as a friend.”
“It wasn’t vindictive. It was meant with the best intentions. But nobody was dumped, nobody was not paid.”
