Cheryl hits back at 'relentless abuse' after X Factor performance sparked backlash

Cheryl has slammed the “relentless abuse” she received after performing her new single on The X Factor.

The Geordie singer returned to the ITV show on Sunday with her new track Love Made Me Do It, just a week after releasing her first song in four years.

But viewers were left less than impressed with her performance, branding it “painful” and hitting out at her “raunchy” dance moves.

And now Cheryl has broken her silence and addressed the “shocking” comments that had been made as well as thanking fans for their “lovely comments”.

Posting on Twitter, the 35-year-old wrote: “"I wanted to start by saying thank you all so much for your lovely comments and support for my performance on Sunday. You may not have read about them but I definitely saw and felt them!

"Having spent 16 years in the public eye I have always been accepting of people's opinions. Me personally, my music and performances are never going to be for everyone. And that's OK.”

Cheryl explained that she “lets a lot of things lie” but felt she needed to speak out against the “shocking negativity” directed at her in the past few days.

The statement continued: “This level of relentless abuse should not be tolerated in any walk of life. From my appearance, my body size and shape to my performance and even dragging innocent people into this like they did to Nile Rodgers simply for a clickbait headline is totally uncalled for. It also gives the trolls a bigger voice and platform.”

And the former Girls Aloud singer appeared to address one article in particular, which claimed she had been “devastated” when she watched her performance back “ten times”.

Concluding her post, Cheryl wrote: “Ps…I did watch my performance back and I LOVED IT!