Nicole Scherzinger blasted for enjoying night out with rival Cheryl's ex: 'Shady and mischievous'

Nicole Scherzinger has been slammed by her followers on Instagram for hanging out with Cheryl's ex-husband Jean Bernard Fernandez-Versini, who the Girls Aloud singer was married to from July 2014 and October 2016.

The former Pussycatt Doll singer has been called "shady and mischievous" after the French restaurateur posted photos of the two on a night out with their friends on the photo-and-video sharing application on Saturday (29 July).

In one of the images, Nicole is seen smiling and flashing the peace sign alongside Jean and their pals.

"@superheromovement making move on #venicefilmfestival ... a month to go," Jean wrote alongside the snap, which he shared with his 50,000 fans.

In the other image, the pair are seen glancing at each other as their pals stand in the background. "#Saturdays @superheromovement @nicolescherzy @blockettagram," he captioned the image.

However, the images of the two together did not go down well with some social media users, who blasted the songstress for being "mischievous" and "shady".

"You are so disrespectful and just rude and it makes sense why a lot of people dislike you but love Cheryl because she is real and not fake like you," one angry fan commented on the photos.

There has been friction between Liam Payne's girlfriend and Nicole ever since the latter was brought in to replace Cheryl in the US X Factor in 2011.

Cheryl has described their first "awkward" meeting in her 2012 autobiography, where she talked about how she felt about Nicole after the latter allegedly sang her hit Promise This back to her.

"I swear to God the woman sang the whole song, to my face. It was just so awkward," she wrote in her book.

"I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt and hope that she would only have spoken highly of me because I've not spoken poorly of her," Nicole later told Fabulous magazine.