Amanda Holden: 'Cheryl doesn't need a man'

Amanda Holden: 'Cheryl doesn't need a man' (Image credit: PA Wire/Press Association Images)

Amanda Holden has revealed her close friend Cheryl Cole "doesn't need a man". The Britain's Got Talent judge said she has just returned from America where she caught up with Cheryl who was recently taken to hospital after contracting malaria. "I had some drinks with her. She's fabulous. I think people should stop seeing her as as this little hard done-by girl," Amanda said. "She's a feisty, strong girl from Newcastle and she isn't who she is through being airy fairy. She's strong and she's good. She's absolutely fine and she doesn't need a man." X Factor judge Cheryl is now officially divorced from England footballer Ashley Cole following a final hearing this month and has recently been linked to dancer Derek Hough. Amanda was talking at the GQ Men of the Year 2010 awards where she was dressed in a one-shoulder blue dress from fellow reality TV judge Dannii Minogue's new fashion line Project D.

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.