Cheryl and Ashley Cole: relationship in pictures

Singer Cheryl Cole (centre in hat) is helped into a waiting car by minders as she leaves Heathrow airport yesterday after flying in from Los Angeles
Photograph: AP

A much younger and far less polished Cheryl Tweedy (her maiden name) walks with boyfriend Ashley at Bluewater shopping centre in Kent in 2004
Photograph: Polydor Records

Cheryl and Ashley arrive at a central London cinema for a screening of Rhythm City Volume 1: Money, Power, Respect, in January 2005
Photograph: Ian West/PA

Frolicking in Marbella – Ashley and Cheryl soak up some rays on a beach holiday in 2005, back when the sun seemed to shine on everything they did
Photograph: Marbella Photo/Rex Features

A golden couple apparently enjoying the spotlight: Ashley and Cheryl at a Smash Hits Poll Winners' party at Wembley in 2005
Photograph: Brian Rasic/Rex Features

Big smiles, hand-holding and positive body language from Cheryl and Ashley as they enter a London nightclub in 2005
Photograph: Rex Features

Schoolteacher chic from Cheryl and a school jumper for Ashley as the pair attend a London fashion show in 2006, observed by Meg Mathews, the former Mrs Noel Gallagher
Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Ashley and the now ultra-glamorous Ms Tweedy attend a 2006 film premiere of Alien Autopsy
Photograph: Ian West/PA

Ashley and Cheryl's sporty look gets a big thumbs-up as England players and wags gather in Baden-Baden, Germany, for the 2006 football World Cup
Photograph: Mark Large/Rex Features

The wags – including Cheryl and Victoria Beckham – cheer wildly as their other halves do their work on the pitch at the World Cup
Photograph: Sipa Press/Rex Features

Ashley appears as pure as the driven snow as he steps out in white alongside Cheryl in Baden-Baden
Photograph: Andrew Parsons/PA

A convertible Roller and a look they will never be allowed to forget: Cheryl and Ashley get dolled up to promote the National Lottery's Dream Number in 2006
Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Wedding bells at last: Cheryl Tweedy occupies a horse-drawn carriage with blacked-out windows as she heads off to her wedding to Ashley in July 2006
Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Newlyweds Cheryl and Ashley look happy as they attend a Girls Aloud private party in Sloane Square, London, in 2007
Photograph: Rex Features

Cheryl Cole takes a call (but forgets to check the texts) as she watches husband Ashley play for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in 2007
Photograph: Rex Features/Rex Features

Cheryl and Ashley get a beefy escort as they prepare to celebrate her 25th birthday after X Factor auditions in Manchester in 2008
Photograph: Mark Campbell / Rex Features

Cheryl on the catwalk at the Natural History Museum for the Fashion for Relief show during London Fashion Week in September 2008
Photograph: David Fisher/Rex Features

Cheryl and fellow diva Alexandra Burke – winner of the X Factor in 2008 – strike a pose after the show in which her victory was confirmed
Photograph: Ken McKay/Rex Features

Stern-faced Cheryl walks through Heathrow sans wedding ring yesterday after flying in from Los Angeles amid reports that she is to divorce the errant Ashley
Photograph: AP