The singer - who has made her comeback to the UK version of the show this year - opened up about the incident, which saw her replaced with Nicole Scherzinger before the series went on air.

Speaking to Elle Magazine, she said: "I can talk about this because I'm OK about it now. But I went through hell and it literally drove me mad. I became so desensitised, you could

say terrible things to me and I wouldn't even think about it. "I'd read awful stuff about myself and not blink. I shut down because I didn't know what else to do."

However, she added: "Now I can say that Simon was right to get rid of me. "I wasn't well in the head when that was going on, so it wasn't going to work. But he

she told the publication's August issue. "I didn't know what I thought or felt about anything, couldn't make decisions - I didn't even know what to eat or drink.

Something was seriously wrong: it felt like a nervous breakdown. I had to stop, get out of my life I'd been living and find myself again. The consequences if I didn't were just too

frightening." She added that she is a stronger woman today following her heartbreak when she divorced footballer husband Ashley Cole following a string of cheating allegations. "I

thought I had every box ticked, career and personal. I was the first to get married. I was the one everyone thought would be the first to have a baby and then the rug got pulled out from

under me," she said. "I've learned that there is no such thing as a plan. You can't make them." She added: "I'm just enjoying finding out who I am.

That's good enough right now... I know I'm really lucky because none of what I've been through broke me. "It actually taught me everything I'm going to need for the

rest of my life. I love feeling that I'm strong because I have good women at my side. And I don't give a f**k what people think any more." _The August issue of Elle UK is on

sale from today._