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Cheryl Cole is practically a household name in England, (seriously, she's like their Angelina), and the announcement made a couple weeks ago that she's set to be a judge on "American Idol" impresario Simon Cowell's new American version of "The X Factor" means she's about to be absolutely everywhere here in U.S. The U.S. "X Factor" is set to debut in September 2011, but we, the tastemakers that we are here at MTV Buzzworthy decided we'd wrangle up 10 things you need to know about Cheryl Cole so you can be totally prepared.
1.) She's HUGE in England: Like, Beyoncé + the "LOST" finale = Cheryl Cole. She's regularly on the cover of magazines (and tabloids) in the U.K..
2.) She's gorgeous: She was voted by FHM as the Sexiest Woman In The World (think Maxim's Hot 100) in both 2009 and 2010, and has been winning prizes left and right since she first came onto the scene in 2002. Which brings us to...
3.) She's hardly a newcomer: Cheryl was a member of post-Spice-Girls all-girl pop outfit Girls Aloud, who had a string of No. 1 hits back in the early 2000s and sold 10 million albums. In 2009 the group disbanded to pursue solo projects, but according to MTV UK, it looks like Girls Aloud are on their way to reuniting.
4.) She almost single-handedly outdid The Black Eyed Peas: Cheryl was picked to open for The Black Eyed Peas on their 2010 European tour, but according to British newspaper The Daily Mail she became the main event, nearly outshining the Peas.
5.) She was married to a sports player: Which is a whole other story. Here's what happened in a nutshell. She was married to Chelsea player Ashley Cole, who (allegedly) (although it's kinda well-documented) cheated on her (I know, right?). This, along with her great singing, won her over in the hearts and minds in a lot of the British public.
6.) She has one helluva accent.
Seriously. If you think British accents are all Hugh Grant, get ready for this. If you're not used to a Northern English accent, you will be by the time...
7.) She'll be a judge on The X Factor: Cheryl was picked by Simon Cowell to be a judge on the U.S. version of "The X Factor," set to air in September.
8.) She's single right now: Which is awesome for me, because that means we're totally going to go on like a million dates because she totally goes for bloggers who work from home in their sweatpants, right? Right.
9.) She's the face of L'Oreal: No joke. Remember when I said she was super-famous? She's super famous.
10.) She's down to earth. I know it's de rigueur to say that a star is "down to earth" to make them seem more appealing, but Cheryl is widely known to donate a lot to charities, even opening up her own to give money to the impoverished in her hometown of Newcastle.