When Cheryl Cole fainted during a photo shoot in July and then became ill with malaria Simon Cowell thought it was a hangover at first that the gorgeous Brit was suffering:

“We didn’t know what was going on. I remember saying funnily enough that she had gone to Africa for a trip and had come back for filming and I thought she was a bit off-colour, but more personality than physically.

“And then the day it kicked off we actually thought she had a hangover, so we were winding her up all day, and she was sleeping it off or whatever.

“And then of course we realised that it was serious a couple of days later. I got the call from her manager who told me just how serious this really was.

“In that situation you are not even thinking about the show at that point. You are just thinking, ‘I hope she is going to be OK.’

“I didn’t know much about it, but apparently it was a serious strain. We were very, very worried about her, she was seriously ill.”

Thankfully Cheryl has gone on to better health and divorcing douchebag ex-husband Ashley Cole.  I would say her year is really looking up.