Cole was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England and lived on an estate which lies between the inner city districts of Heaton and Byker. She is one of five children – one younger brother, Garry, and two half-brothers – Andrew and Joseph, and one half-sister Gillian. Interested in dancing from an early age, Cole joined the Royal Ballet's summer school at the age of nine. In addition to dancing, Cole won many modelling competitions, including Boots Group's bonniest baby, Mothercare Happy Faces Portrait competition, Best Looking Girl of Newcastle, The Evening Chronicle "Little Miss and Mister", and "Most Attractive Girl" at the MetroCentre. She also appeared in two British Gas adverts, an SCS advert, and an Eldon Square Christmas advert with younger brother Garry. Cole also appeared in dance recitals on some television shows. Cole's first foray into a solo music career occurred when she featured on will.i.am's "Heartbreaker". After taking streetdancing classes during the filming of Passions of Girls Aloud series, Cole was picked to appear in the song's music video. She was later asked to sing additional vocals on the track. In April 2009, it was confirmed that Cole was working on solo material. Her debut album, 3 Words, was released in the UK on 26 October 2009. Cole reunited with will.i.am for a majority of the album, in addition to collaborating with Fraser T. Smith, Syience, Danish production team Soulshock & Karlin, singer-songwriter Taio Cruz, and Wayne Wilkins. The album spent two weeks at number one. On 6 November 2009, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified the album Platinum denoting shipments of 300,000+ units. The first single from the album, "Fight for This Love", was written by Andre Merritt and produced by Steve Kipner and Wilkins. According to Cole it was released as the lead single because she "connected with the song so well". Following a performance on The X Factor live results show, "Fight for This Love" became the fourth fastest-selling single of 2009 in the UK up to that point. It charted at number one on both the Irish and UK Singles Chart. Cole's second single "3 Words", which features will.i.am, was a top five hit. Cole contributed to the book Dreams that Glitter - Our Story, an autobiography with her Girls Aloud bandmates, in October 2008. The book was written with a ghostwriter and published by the Transworld imprint Bantam Press. The book featured unseen photographs and included insights into the members' personal lives, their success together, style tips, and "everything we've learned about life, love and music." The book was previewed and serialised by OK! prior to its release. Girls Aloud held a book signing at Waterstones in Piccadilly, London to promote the release. The title Dreams that Glitter comes from a line in the group's 2007 single "Call the Shots". On 11 January 2003, Cole was involved in an altercation with a nightclub toilet attendant, Sophie Amogbokpa, in "The Drink" nightclub in Guildford (later "Harper's" and now called "The Casino"). Cole was subsequently charged with racially aggravated assault (she had allegedly called Amogbokpa a "Caribbean jigaboo" and a "black bitch") and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. During her trial, Cole claimed she acted in self-defence (claiming she had been punched first) and denied using racially abusive language. The jury found her guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, but cleared her of racially aggravated assault. The judge sentenced her to 120 hours of community service and ordered her to pay her victim £500 in compensation, as well as £3,000 prosecution costs. In a rare interview on topic of the subject Cole went on to speak about the incident as something she "regrets" however she stated that from her point of view she didn't "attack" the woman but was defending herself. In an interview with Q magazine she said: "As much as I regret that situation, I didn't attack someone. I defended myself. My brothers taught me: if someone hits you, you hit them back. That's still how I view it and that's what I'll teach my kids." At the time of the incident Cole (then Tweedy) admitted she called Amogbokpa a "fucking bitch" but denied calling her a "black fucking bitch". The police report also showed that Amogbokpa had not made claims of racism in her first statement while being treated in hospital. It was only after she had returned to the club and met the PR agent and then spoken to the Sunday Mirror later in the day that allegations of racism in the attack emerged. Cole began dating England and Chelsea footballer Ashley Cole in 2004, announcing their engagement after he proposed in Dubai in June 2005. The couple were married at a ceremony at Barnet, North West London on 15 July 2006. They signed an exclusive deal with OK!, reportedly worth £1 million, regarding the rights of the photographs. In January 2008, a hairdresser named Aimee Walton alleged that she had engaged in drunken extramarital sex with Ashley Cole in a kiss-and-tell interview with The Sun. Glamour model Brooke Healy claimed that she had spent the night and had sexual relations with Ashley Cole in December 2006. Promotion for Girls Aloud's "Can't Speak French" was put on hold, and Cole also stopped wearing her wedding ring. The couple, however, reconciled. Following tabloid reports of marital issues in November 2009, Cole posted a picture with her wedding ring in plain sight on Twitter, with the message "3 words. Diamonds Are Forever." In early February 2010, news broke that her husband had cheated on her with another five women. On 23 February, Cole announced she was separating from her husband and asked the media to respect the separation.