First Picture of Cheryl Cole After Contracting Malaria

At the beginning of this month, after passing out during a photoshoot, word got out that Cheryl Cole had been diagnosed with malaria, which she’d contracted on an earlier trip to Tanzania. Subsequent reports said the singer’s condition was recovering but remained critical. Now, Cheryl seems to have overcome what was worse, as she just stepped out for coffee and a walk, the Daily Mail reports.

She’s spent this month bedridden, but Cheryl is back to good health, judging by the photos snapped the other day. Flashing her trademark smile (adorable dimples included), Cheryl also seems to have gained some weight, says the Mail, which means reports making the rounds before the diagnosis that she was starving herself to be thin had no grounding in fact and that she was simply losing weight because she was sick.

“Cheryl Cole gave a clear indication she’s well on the road to recovery as she was pictured yesterday for the first time since contracting malaria. Wearing not a scrap of make-up with her hair hanging loose, the 27-year-old smiled at photographers as she picked up a coffee from her local Starbucks in Surrey. Wearing jeans, an off-the-shoulder white jumper and lace vest, the fresh-faced singer looked thrilled to be out in the fresh air again following nearly a month in bed,” the Mail writes.

“Looking noticeably fuller in the face and a healthier size compared to her increasingly skinny frame in recent months, it appeared Mrs. Cole has been enjoying home-cooked meals from her mother Joan Callaghan, who has been assisting her daughter’s recovery. Clearly in a sociable mood after so many weeks recuperating, the star was more than happy to chat to fans and pose for photographs in the coffee shop. Last night, her spokesman said she wouldn’t be going back to work for a few weeks yet, but said her friends and family were ‘pleased she is up and about’,” the publication further writes.

When she first became sick, it was believed Cheryl was suffering from severe exhaustion. Shortly after, though, doctors said she’d been infected with the plasmodium falciparum strain of the parasite, which is among the deadliest forms of malaria, the Mail also says. While in Tanzania with friend (and rumored boyfriend) Derek Hough, Cheryl was reportedly bitten by an infected mosquito, which is how she contracted the disease. 

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