Published Sunday, 07 October 2012
The Girls Aloud star left the judging panel of the British show to move Stateside for its debut season, but her appearance was not well received.
In her new book, Cheryl: My Story, which has been serialised in The Sun newspaper, Cole confesses she felt "not one spark of excitement" about her new US job, but was stunned when TV executives revealed they wanted to move her back to the UK version.
She rejected their offer, and took aim at Cowell for not telling her face-to-face about the situation.
The Fight for This Love hitmaker recalls she told her personal manager Lily England: "I can't get over the fact that 'big man' Simon, the same guy that told me I had the job... couldn't tell me I didn't have the job! The coward didn't even have the guts to phone or send a message warning me what was coming."
She adds: "I was furious with Simon for letting it happen like this. I believed we had a good friendship and I couldn't understand why he just hadn't been straight with me.
"I wrote the longest text ever. I apologise about the bad language, but this is how he made me feel. 'F*** you. F*** Britain's Got Talent. F*** the orange and purple outfit. F*** big hair. F*** the UK X Factor. F*** you all. I hate you. I understand you're a businessman, and what I've learned from this is that business means more to you than friendship. I'm sad it's got like this and I wish you the best of luck, but count me out.'
"Simon texted back: 'Can I talk to you?' I ignored him. Then I switched the phone off and didn't speak to anyone unless it went through Lily."
Cole was replaced by Nicole Scherzinger, and later in 2011 she got her revenge on her former boss by announcing his 52nd birthday to the world, by hiring a plane to send her own backhanded birthday wishes.
The joke helped soften relations between the pair, and the 29 year old reveals that after the prank: "Another text arrived soon afterwards, saying: 'I.am.going.to.kill.you' - and then my phone rang.
"'It's good to talk to you', Simon said. 'I wasn't in the right frame of mind in L.A., because of all the expectation on the American show. Taking you off it was the worst mistake I ever made and if I could have my time back, I wouldn't do it again', he said. 'I'm sorry.'
"It was October 2011 now, and I felt like I was healing more and more all the time. Breaking the ice with Simon was part of the process. I didn't want to work with him any time soon - but to be in touch again felt like a cloud had been blown away from my life."