Published Tuesday, 03 April 2012
The British singer found fame on talent show Pop Stars: The Rivals in 2002, when she and four fellow female singers were put together as a group and mentored by Walsh.
Their career took off after the show and Girls Aloud went on to become one of Britain's most successful female bands - but Cole is adamant Walsh had little to do with their triumph.
She tells Marie Claire: "We never had management. Louis claimed to be our manager but he never did it... We didn't talk to him or anything like that. He just took a cheque. Oh yeah, he took the cheques."
Cole, who frequently clashed with Walsh when they both became judges on The X Factor, also alleged record company bosses put the band on a strict workout regimen, adding: "The label sent us for training. We thought they were doing us a favour. We were so deluded."