Nicole Scherzinger: 'Chris Brown is just a friend'

Nicole Scherzinger has opened up about the recent pictures which appeared to show her kissing Chris Brown, insisting they are just friends and she has known him since he was a teenager.

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The former Pussycat Dolls star, who is dating British racing driver Lewis Hamilton, was linked to Brown after images emerged of them talking together at a nightclub in Los Angeles last month.

The pictures showed the R& B singer leaning in to kiss Scherzinger on the cheek, but the brunette beauty says their relationship is purely platonic.

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She tells Britain's The Sun, "You are always going to have people saying something or having a picture. But it is complete dross [garbage] if you and your partner know what the truth is. Chris Brown and I are definitely just mates -- I have known him since he was younger than 16. We were just talking. Even my mom said, 'I saw a picture of you.'”

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Scherzinger goes on to compare the flap to a report in July which suggested her boyfriend Hamilton had been partying with a group of girls at his hotel in London while she was away in the U.S.

She adds, "It's the same when Lewis had some random girls sitting in the lobby. Can't girls just be sitting in the lobby? Maybe they were going to the same party.".