Cheryl Cole says her divorce of Ashley Cole left the Chelsea star depressed.

The Girls Aloud star had been told that the Chelsea full back was on the brink after their tearful split that the club offered to send him to counselling.

"If I thought I was cracking up, people were telling me that Ashley was in an even worse state," she wrote in her book 'Cheryl: My Story', which is being serialised by the Daily Star.

"'Cheryl, it's terrifying,' one friend said, and what she described made it sound like Ashley was going through a mental breakdown.

"'He's literally talking nonsense, he's got a beard and he's smoking and drinking loads.'

"Somebody else told me that Ashley had said something like: 'I don't want to be here any more.'

"I didn't believe he was seriously suicidal, but I was relieved to also hear that the club was trying to get him some help."