Cheryl Cole smashed up her mobile phone before escaping to Thailand to make sure her love-rat husband Ashley couldn’t contact her.

The Girls Aloud star is said to have spent two weeks in the twilight zone following revelations of the footballer’s cheating ways, before she eventually flew to Thailand with her bandmates Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh.

A friend tells The Mirror, “She fled to a rented apartment two weeks ago after realising the extent of Ashley's cheating.

"She did not leave the building once and wouldn't answer the door to anyone except her mum and her bandmates.

"She got herself in such a state she smashed up her mobile phone so no-one could get hold of her. She did not want to speak to Ashley and was getting sick of people calling with their advice.

"The flat has been in darkness most of the time and she didn't even want the TV on in case Ashley came on.”

Now Cheryl will fly on to Los Angeles following her stay in Thailand, where she will film an appearance in TV show Passions, before returning to Britain with a definitive decision about whether to divorce Ashley or not.

"By the time she returns from Los Angeles she will have made a decision about her future,"  the pal says.

“She knows that walking out on Ashley will be the making of her. She will get a huge divorce payout and can walk tall for standing up to a footballer.

"But she does love him - and you can't ignore emotions."