Pals claim Girls Aloud's Cheryl is pregnant

Baby rumours: Cheryl Tweedy and footballer husband Ashley Cole may be expecting

Daily Mail sister paper London Lite were told: "Cheryl and Ashley have been wanting a family for ages now, it would be the seal on their relationship and Ashley's friends have been making it their business to talk about it.

"It is the talk among Ashley's football gang." And Cheryl hasn't exactly been doing much to keep things secret.

Apart from an appearance on GMTV to promote Comic Relief with her bandmate and best friend Nicola Roberts and Sugababe Keisha Buchanan, the 23-year-old Geordie beauty hasn't been seen out in public since her chart-topping band's Christmas Party at Mahiki in December.

She even failed to turn up at the early morning Comic Relief launch last month when bandmate Nicola claimed that she was poorly, and yesterday the gorgeous WAG didn't attend the Variety Club's Mr Men Tea Party at Harrods, leaving Nicola, Sarah Harding and Kimberley Walsh to represent the band.

Another strong indicator is that Cheryl pulled out of judging new reality show, Britain's Got Talent, at the eleventh hour last month. She was set to sit alongside media heavyweights Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan on the panel - but pulled out just three days before the cameras started rolling.

On 9 February she called Cowell to tell him she would be unable to take part. Amanda Holden was named as her replacement the next day and filming began on 12 February.

Maternity Pillows

Meanwhile, her bandmate Nadine Coyle, who is currently in Los Angeles with her boyfriend - star of Channel 4's Desperate Housewives, Jesse Metcalfe - hasn't been doing much to shun the rumours either.

A pal of the Irish beauty told us: "We had heard the rumours that Cheryl was pregnant, but when we asked Nadine she refused to confirm or deny it, but merely stood there with a wry smile on her face."

Fingers crossed Chez and Ash have huge grins on theirs too.