Celebrities often take to Twitter to set the record straight on their personal lives, saying exactly what they want to say and speaking directly to their audience. But now it seems that autobiographies have well and truly replaced the popular social-networking site as the place to open up about all their drama. Hey – at least they get paid when people buy their book!

Cheryl Cole is the latest celeb to get in on the action, revealing snippets of her book, Cheryl: My Story, to the Daily Star.

After splitting from cheating hubby Ashley Cole in February 2010, Chezza admits that she suffered what she now believes to be a nervous breakdown.

She writes: “I just wanted to get out of the marriage and out of the house but as the day of the move got close I became more and more emotional.

“I hadn't anticipated this. I think I was actually going through a nervous breakdown.”

Cheryl explained that her time on the seventh series of The X Factor was clouded by her unhappy feelings – despite making it to the show's final with scouse singer Rebecca Ferguson.

“On the face of it, I was coping, but I was still close to tears all the time. It was like my nerves were always close to snapping and I felt permanently on edge.”

She added: “Inside I felt too stressed and anxious to enjoy the moment. Nobody could help me.”

Cheryl ended up spending much of Christmas 2010 on her own, finally breaking down when she received a nice text from Ashley's mum telling her that the family missed her. Cheryl “broke down completely” and “sobbed uncontrollably” after receiving the message.

“I'm sure I'd been having a nervous breakdown for months, I can see that now.”

“[I went away] for ten days and that's how I was the whole time, sad, paranoid and a shell of my normal self.”

The poor love. At least she now seems happily in love with new boyfriend Tre Holloway.

Images: Twitter/Cheryl Cole Words: Joel Cooper

Via: Cheryl reveals she had a nervous breakdown lasting months after divorcing Ashley Cole