Tears For Piers

The Piers Morgan interview with Cheryl Cole was grimly fascinating. It was a case study in how to extract a tabloid interview from a pop star. No point in discussing the music or any of the creative stuff. It was all about the degrees of pain, the paranoia, the death of the dream. The tears were gushing, geyser-like, as the singer was asked to recall the humiliating details of her husband's betrayal. Piers wanted to know if she still loved him. She wept some more. Malaria was discussed and the torrents continued.

I'm sure the timing of this TV special was carefully scheduled into Cheryl's record release campaign, a week ahead of her X Factor appearance and a day before the Sunday press stories. But what was the point of it all - other than to reveal her emotional incontinence, her damaged neurology? I understand that there's a vacant gig in society, the new Queen Of Hearts, full of empathetic hurt and tragic experience. But who would want it? And how might you ever escape, intact?