Cheryl Cole: 'Ashley's not an arrogant prick'
The couple started dating in 2004 and married two years later, before splitting following reports Ashley cheated on her.
The singer told Glamour magazine: "There's this perception that Ashley is an arrogant prick, but he's really not. We talk occasionally and I would say we are friends."
Cheryl also said that she had plans to have children with her ex before he cheated: "It's the broken plans you have made that are the hardest to get over. Ashley and I would talk all the time about starting a family - well I would anyway."
On her drastic weight loss at the time of the split, she said: "I first got very thin after Ashley. I felt like my stomach was doing backflips - like my emotions had taken over and made me full.
"I first experienced that when my granddad died and I couldn't understand what was going on.
"I said to my grandmother, 'The pasta just won't go into my mouth'."
Of being skinny, she added: "I liked it. But I was heartbroken. It's not like I look back and think, 'I was so fit and healthy'.
"I hate how conflicting it is. To have people saying, 'Oh she's so thin, she looks amazing', then, 'Oh, she's dis! gusting'.."
Cheryl wasn't inundated with offers of dates. She said: "Men just don't ask me out."
On touring with Girls Aloud next year, she said: "I'm sure I'll be arguing with every girl in the group, but there's such a comfort there with the girls. The pressure isn't on just you.
"But let's just say I don't know if I would still want to be singing 'I'm A Love Machine' in 20 years - if you know what I mean."
On her fame, she admitted she's sometimes ready to quit: "Nobody could ever have been ready for what happened to me.
"I came from a dance background - I'd been dancing since I was 3 years old - and although I loved the art of entertainment, I wasn't a fame person.
"For me, it was all about the lights and the stage, not fame. I hadn't realised it wasn't something I could switch on and off - that it would become my life.
"You don't know how many times I've said to my team, 'That's it - I'm out'."
On her sacking from The X Factor US after just three weeks, she said: "In fact, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved.
"I know Simon and I know what went down and I was relieved."