Cheryl Cole is to meet Derek Hough’s parents for the first time

The 'Fight for This Love' singer and the 'Dancing with the Stars' dancer are growing increasingly close and while Cheryl is in the US she will have dinner with the Hough family.

But the Girls Aloud star has been warned by Derek that meeting his family could be like the cringe-inducing comedy film 'Meet the Fockers' – in which Ben Stiller has to deal with his control freak father-in-law, played by Robert De Niro.

A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Derek is winding up Cheryl, saying his stepdad is just like Robert De Niro's character Jack in 'Meet the Fockers'!

"Derek is a mother's boy. She's heard all about his new lady friend and can't wait to meet her."

Cheryl's mother Joan is also set to fly out to Los Angeles later this month, which could see both sets of parents meet each other for the first time too.

The 27-year-old beauty - who is in the process of divorcing soccer player Ashley Cole - is already in the US city attending a number of business meetings before returning to her role on Simon Cowell's UK pop star search show 'The X Factor' at the end of August.

Cheryl and Derek's relationship has gone from strength to strength after he nursed her through her battle with malaria.

The chart-topping star - who fell ill with potentially deadly disease after a vacation with Derek in Tanzania - thanked him for demanding medics carried out further tests when her condition was still undiagnosed.

She reportedly told a friend: "Derek saved my life. If he hadn't spoken to the doctors and told them he thought something was seriously wrong I would probably have died."

She has also had support from her Girls Aloud bandmate Sarah Harding who has apparently splashed out £30,000 on three Andy Warhol prints to cheer her up.

Sarah, 28, hinted the pop art was for Cheryl, saying they "were a present for a friend who had been very ill".