Louis Walsh stirred up old drama with Cheryl as he mentioned her past scuffle with a toilet attendant on Celebrity Big Brother on Tuesday night (March 19).
Louis chatted about Cheryl’s 2003 assault case during the show, admitting “It’s not forgotten” with regards to the incident. In Chery’s Girls Aloud days aged 19, she got into a fight with nightclub toilet worker, Sophie Amogbokpa, and ended up in court in January 2003.
She was later charged with hitting Amogbokpa and making racist comments. Fight For This Love singer Cheryl, who is now 40 years old, was found to have struck the worker, but was found not guilty of racism in her in October 2003 trial.
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The judge told Cheryl at the time she had to complete 120 hours community service, pay damages of £500 to Amogbokpa, and pay £3,000 in court costs. Judge Richard Howard told her: “This was an unpleasant piece of drunken violence which caused Sophie Amogbokpa pain and suffering.”
(Image: ITV)
Louis, who was managing Girls Aloud when Cheryl got into trouble, discussed the incident while speaking with Marisha Wallace and Zeze Millz in Celebrity Big Brother house. It was ZeZe who first mentioned Cheryl’s trouble, telling American Marisha: “Cheryl Cole had that big incident where she beat up the toilet attendant. She gave [the victim] a black eye, it was a big thing in the papers,” she said, reports the Mirror.
“I was her manager. It’s true,” 71 year old Louis added, prompting Broadway star Marisha to ask how Cheryl landed in hot water just months after her band’s debut number one with Sound Of The Underground. “She was unprepared. Unprepared,” Louis stated. “She hit that woman, a big black eye. Oh it was huge, a big story.”
(Image: PA)
He continued, “It’s not forgotten, it’s not forgotten” before crediting Cheryl’s PR team with “saving” her career. “She had very good PR,” Louis told Zeze and Marisha. “Very good PR and a great record company. They did their best.”
Cheryl famously almost lost her spot in Girls Aloud after the assault charge resulted in a conviction – with many demanding the Geordie singer be replaced. Cheryl had been out with her bandmate Nicola Roberts at The Drink nightclub in Guildford, Surrey, when the incident occurred in January 2003.
(Image: Getty Images)
Accused of racially aggravated assault and assault causing actual bodily harm for punching a toilet attendant, the mum-of-one – who shares son Bear with One Direction singer Liam Payne – claimed self-defence and denied the racism allegations.
Cheryl later apologised on the band’s web site. “Thank U so much 4 everything,” she wrote. “I really appreciate it: loadsa love hugs and kisses”. She also said sorry on the radio after doing community service: “I’m sorry to the fans and to my family and the other girls that it ever happened. I’m sorry that I went out that night.”
In her book from 2012 called My Story, Cheryl talked about what she says happened: “Completely out of nowhere, I was hit in the face. I swear on my mother’s life that’s what happened. As the months went on and I prepared for the trial, I started to see that it was not acceptable to have hit her under any circumstances, even in self-defence.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
