Cheryl Cole appears at Brits without wedding ring

Cheryl Cole appeared at the Brit Awards without her wedding ring. The Girls Aloud singer, whose footballer husband Ashley is at the centre of lurid newspaper allegations, gave a slightly chaotic performance of her hit solo song Fight For This Love when she faced the crowds on Tuesday night. The X Factor star, who has maintained a dignified silence amid intense media interest in her marriage, received enthusiastic applause and said simply: "Thank you, thank you." After her performance, host Peter Kay quipped: "Fight For This Love, never a truer word spoken." The song - in which Cheryl performed a change halfway through, stripping off a white coat and sunglasses before returning to continue her performance in a black sparkly hooded leotard and baseball cap in a mash-up with the 1993 house hit Show Me Love - has been interpreted as a stark message to her husband. Over the past few days the England and Chelsea player has faced a plethora of newspaper reports about his private life. Cheryl, 26, had previously been pictured minus her wedding ring following reports about her husband. But the defiant star insisted on that occasion that the decision was 'a fashion statement' rather than a reflection of the status of her marriage.