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By Simon Cable and Liz Thomas
A shoulder to cry on? Derek Hough arrives at Cheryl Cole's Los Angeles hotel in the early hours of Friday morning
Following his late night visit spent most of Friday in rehearsals with his new DWTS partner Jennifer Grey, with Cheryl expected to fly back to London to fulfil her X Factor judging duties this weekend.
A district judge granted the X Factor star a decree nisi from the footballer on the grounds of his unreasonable behaviour in less than a minute yesterday.
Cheryl Cole was comforted by 'close friend' Derek Hough at her Los Angeles hotel room just hours before her divorce from Ashley Cole came through.
The American dancer was spotted making a visit to her hotel in the early hours of Friday morning - as London's High Court was about to declare she was a single woman again.
After being granted a 'quickie' divorce from Chelsea footballer Cole, no doubt fans will be hoping she will finally clarify the nature of her relationship with Dancing With The Stars' professional Hough.
Divorce: Cheryl and Ashley Cole were granted a quickie divorce yesterdayThe pair now face a six-week 'cooling off period' before a decree absolute is issued, ending their marriage for good.
Neither Cole, 29, nor his 27-year-old wife was present at the High Court hearing in London.
The Chelsea defender was at the England team hotel in Watford preparing for last night's European Championship match against Bulgaria at Wembley.
Cheryl signed the divorce petition at the end of July, while still recuperating from malaria at the former marital home in Surrey. In it, she said Cole's unreasonable behaviour was still continuing.
In the pair's absence, the judge ordered Cole - who earns £82,000 a week at Chelsea - to pay Cheryl's divorce costs, which court papers said were £1,500.
However, the real cost of the split will be decided in the coming weeks when the pair decide how to divide their assets as well as their joint £22million fortune.
It remains unclear whether Cheryl will keep the £6million marital home in Surrey.
There is also a question mark over who will have custody of the couple's chihuahuas, Coco and Buster.
Cheryl was initially said to have told friends she wanted 'nothing' from Cole in the divorce.
Instead, she was said to be prepared to walk away from their marriage with just her own earnings - believed to be £8million. He is believed to have earned at least £18million while they were together.
The pair married in July 2006 at a lavish ceremony in St Albans, Hertfordshire.
Hearing: The case was heard in the High Court's Family Division this morningBut the marriage ran into trouble in January 2008 when Cheryl was left devastated by claims that her husband had slept with 22-year-old hairdresser Aimee Walton.
More lewd allegations came to light in February this year.
First it was reported that he had sent salacious text messages to glamour model Sonia Wild. It was further claimed he had slept with blonde football club secretary Vicki Gough.
Another woman, Alexandra Taylor, then came forward claiming to have slept with Cole soon after he began dating Cheryl in 2004. A fifth girl, Anne Corbitt, emerged saying she slept with him during Chelsea's tour of the U.S. in 2009
Separate countries: Cheryl is currently in Los Angeles, while Ashley is in LondonHis wife's legal team initiated divorce proceedings in May. She caught malaria the following month while on a four-day break to Tanzania with Hough. She spent two weeks in hospital.
Fellow X Factor judge Simon Cowell has told the Mail that being diagnosed with the disease in early July had been a 'wake- up call'.
Cowell said: 'We have spoken a lot. My feeling is that she is in a better place mentally. In a weird way this has made her life better. I think she had realised she had taken on an awful lot of commitments.
'I am not saying she wanted to go through it but she has definitely come out with a different perspective and I think you will see a sharp, focused Cheryl Cole when she returns [to work]. At the end of the day your health is the most important thing.'
source :dailymail
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