London, May 5 : Girls' Aloud singer Cheryl Cole believes that it will still take some time to recover from the two-timing ways of her husband and footballer Ashley, but said that she was there to support anyone having a hard time.

Describing herself as still being heartbroken over Ashley's affair with hairdresser Amy Walton, she said: "I felt like cracking up at times. But it's made me realise there are people a million times worse off than me."

According to The Sun, she was speaking after dedicating a cover of the Pretenders' hit I'll Stand By You to "anyone who is going through a hard time at the moment".

Cheryl, still not wearing her wedding ring, clearly had the support of the four other girls at the explosive start to their 24-show Tangled Up tour, in the Odyssey Arena in Belfast on Saturday - a gig that cost three million pounds to stage.

In a show of solidarity Nadine, Kimberley, Sarah and Nicola stood by a gaunt Cheryl, constantly holding her hand and patting her on the back.

Last month, Cheryl was voted as the top lesbian icon in a new poll.

She took away the title after receiving 43 per cent of the total votes in which lesbians were asked to name their dream WAG.

According to the gay dating website PARSHIP.co.uk, Cheryl beat the likes of Alex Curran, Louise Owen and Victoria Beckham to bag the crown.

Cole has also been secretly plotting her solo pop assault with top producer T2, who recently hit No2 with single Heartbroken.

According to reports, the two have synchronised their diaries to fit in studio time to work on her material.

The feisty star is so set on making it on her own that she went ahead by herself, when T2 postponed recording dates with her in favour of sessions with former Mis-Teeq star Alesha Dixon.

It would seem like everyone of the band's members are trying to do something on their own, with Sarah Harding also having gone for a solo trial last year with Faithless mastermind Rollo and Nadine Coyle advertising herself as being available for acting work.

ANI