'I was exhausted. I nearly walked away from it all.' He ditched his phone, banned the news and gave up 1,000 meetings a year – to find happiness at home with his four-year-old son and ‘best friend’ Eric
My favourite Simon Cowell story involves a ventriloquist named Terry Fator. He was a chubby, middle-aged guy who won the second series of America’s Got Talent by throwing his voice to sing songs through puppets.
I was one of the show’s judges, backed him from the start, and predicted he’d go on to be a huge star. But Cowell – who, as AGT creator and executive producer held the rights to manage Fator’s career if he wanted to – didn’t think he could make any serious money from a bloke in his 40s singing Roy Orbison’s Crying with his hand up a turtle’s backside.
Simon Cowell’s expansive backroom team assured Piers prior to this interview that their boss has never been fitter, healthier, happier, more successful, warmer or more cuddly
So Cowell let him go.
Disappointed but undeterred, Fator landed a residency at the Las Vegas Hilton that turned out to be wildly and unexpectedly successful. On the back of it, the legendary Mirage hotel offered Fator a five-year, $100 million contract. He renewed it for even more money in 2014, and is now the Strip’s highest-earning star. To celebrate, he wrote a book entitled Who’s The Dummy Now?
Well it’s pretty obvious who the dummy is, and that’s the guy who kissed goodbye to at least $50 million (£40m) in commission.
But the dummy concerned doesn’t like me constantly reminding him of this fact, which, of course, merely encourages me to take every opportunity to do exactly that. ‘So Simon,’ I said, ‘with regard to Terry Fator, how does it feel to be like the guy from Decca Records who turned down The Beatles because he said guitar bands were on the way out?’
‘That’s not quite true,’ he spluttered indignantly.
‘It’s not completely untrue, is it? You didn’t see what Terry might become...’
Simon Cowell with Lauren Silverman and their son Eric in Malibu this year
'My life is very different since Eric came along. It was my 59th birthday last week and it started with me taking Eric out cycling, with him dressed as an alien,' Simon tells Piers
Cowell clearly loves being a dad, but has he ever actually got his hands dirty? ‘Did you ever change Eric’s nappy?’ ‘No. All I’ve ever done is the fun things with him'
‘No of course not, no one did.’
I’m not saying Cowell thinks about Terry Fator a lot, but he added: ‘I’m not kidding – only yesterday I said to a group of my people, “Tell me what you would have done then with Terry Fator knowing what we know now? What was the process then that didn’t work, and what is the process we have to put into place now to make sure that never happens again?” Of course I’m thrilled for him, but I’m not so thrilled we weren’t part of the deal.’
That, I suspect, is the understatement of the millennium. Cowell loves deals. He lives, breathes, walks, talks and dreams of deals. The only thing he loves more than deals is winning; he’s absurdly competitive.
When we worked together on Britain’s Got Talent we’d have bets on which spider would crawl to the top of a dressing room window first, and he’d sulk for hours if his came second.
I’ve known him for 30 years, since I was a showbiz reporter and he was a record company executive flogging such musical icons as Zig & Zag and the Teletubbies. It was funny, and slightly startling, to watch him go from unknown purveyor of novelty artists to being the most famous TV star on the planet. It was even funnier, and slightly more startling, when he plucked me from the smouldering, scandalised embers of my Fleet Street career to put me on America’s Got Talent and give me a whole new career on prime-time US TV.
Cowell’s expansive backroom team assured me prior to this interview that he’s never been fitter, healthier, happier, more successful, warmer or more cuddly.
But then they’re paid to say that. And, anyway, who wants a warm, cuddly Simon Cowell? ‘I don’t know whether to be pleased for you if this is all true, or disturbed,’ I told him.
‘I’m genuinely happy, Piers!’ he insisted.
Is he? The last time I interviewed him was in 2005, and for Cowell, given the frantic pace he lives at, 13 years is an eternity.
‘You said then that on a one-to-ten scale of happiness, you felt you were just a five because you were frustrated that you hadn’t done enough in your life to warrant feeling happy?’ ‘God, did I? Well, the happiness level has definitely gone up to... a nine.’
There was a time, around a year ago, when friends were very worried about Cowell. He was hospitalised after a weird 4am fall down the stairs at his London home after fainting, something doctors ascribed to low blood pressure and stress from his insane work schedule
‘What do you put that down to?’
‘Eric [his four-year-old son], number one. My life is very different since he came along. It was my 59th birthday last week and it started with me taking Eric out cycling, with him dressed as an alien. Then I bought him yoghurt, watched him play in his hamster wheel on the grass, we had a swim and I taught him how to ride a quad bike.’
This is not how I ever imagined Cowell would spend his birthday. Sensing my disconcertion, he added hastily, ‘Lauren was in New York seeing her son Adam, so I ended up getting sloshed with a friend of mine at Nobu in Malibu. And when I woke up the next day with a hangover, I thought about what a great day I’d had and how I do feel happier than I have done for a very long time.’
There was a time, around a year ago, when friends were very worried about Cowell. He was hospitalised after a weird 4am fall down the stairs at his London home after fainting, something doctors ascribed to low blood pressure and stress from his insane work schedule.
‘Sometimes we get a reminder that we’re not invincible, and this was mine,’ he said at the time. He took it seriously, escaping the LA rat race in Beverly Hills to buy a home in Malibu overlooking the sea. And he even gave up his beloved mobile phone, which he blamed for never being able to relax. He explained: ‘There was one morning a year or so ago when I woke up to 25 unread text messages and I thought, “I’m really not in the mood to read those today.” So I left it a week and it went up to 200 unread messages... So I thought, I’m just going to turn the phone off for a month and I’ll get back to it then. And I never turned the phone back on again after that day.
‘Then I worked out that I was doing over 1,000 meetings a year, which with the phone too, was getting crazy. In my 20s we used to have an answering machine at home and there were never any messages, and I was happier then. Now, if you lose your phone, it’s worse than losing your wallet. I lost one once and I thought, “My God, I’ve lost my life”, but it’s just a stupid phone!’
Cowell with his mother, Julie, who died in 2015. ‘I’ve accepted my mum not being here, but I talk to her and my dad in my head a lot,' he says
Cowell gave up Twitter too (he hasn’t tweeted for 16 months). ‘I stopped being on it because when you’re on Twitter you have to be contactable 24 hours a day to comment on anything. Then sometimes I wouldn’t know what to say and I’m thinking, “Why am I doing this?”’
‘Did you feel like walking away from the business completely?’
‘I was getting close to that point. There was so much to deal with and I was exhausted. I’d wake up feeling tired, which is the worst feeling in the world.’
‘Did you see a therapist?’
He laughed. ‘No, I didn’t. I don’t believe in all that stuff. Some people probably really do need it. I go the opposite way where I say I’m really not a victim here, I’ve just taken on too much, made a couple of mistakes and you have to deal with it. And I just dealt with it. It’s as simple as that.’
Our mutual friend Ant McPartlin wasn’t so lucky, crashing and burning in a stunning (hopefully temporary) fall from national-treasure status. ‘I don’t think any of us saw any signs of his cracking up,’ said Cowell. ‘I knew he was a bit grumpy but then he’s always been a bit grumpy. When I spoke to him about it, he didn’t make any excuses. We’re living in a time now when people do get depressed or crack up, and it was harder for him because it was in public. But the word I use probably more than anything else now is “context”, because we look at things or ourselves in such a way that is so OUT of context. When things go wrong now, I always say, “Hang on a minute, it’s not the end of the world, we can sort this out”, and sometimes you’ve just got to do that.’ Another step Cowell took to improve his quality of life was to stop watching TV news.
‘If you wake up in the morning and put the news on, and go to bed with the news on, you’re not going to be in a great mood. Especially if you’re also going on social media where it all becomes so negative and everyone’s screaming at each other. So I stopped doing it and began watching The Simpsons or a great movie instead, and I’ve felt so much happier.’
What did he make of two political phenomena that seem to have sent otherwise rational people completely nuts: Donald Trump and Brexit?
Simon Cowell and and his partner Lauren Silverman in 2015. Piers asks: Will Lauren, the mother of his child and a delightfully feisty and amusing lady, become Mrs Cowell?
‘Absolutely zero,’ he replied. ‘Maybe this is why I’m happy – I don’t talk about politics or religion any more: not at home, not on TV, not to you, not to anybody. It’s not worth it.
Simon is a curiously unemotional man for someone who has created such emotion-charged talent shows. When did he last properly cry? ‘When I went on your stupid Life Stories show [in 2010]. I promised myself I wouldn’t cry, and I did.’
It was talking about his late father, who died on the same day Cowell celebrated his first-ever No 1 hit with Westlife, which set him off that day. His mother, Julie, the rock of his life, died three years ago. A moment that I know hit him very hard.
‘I’ve accepted my mum not being here, but I talk to her and my dad in my head a lot. Pretty much every decision we make now, I always have them in my mind and have this sort of conversation: what would they say, what would they think? It guides me.’
While ratings for both America’s Got Talent (on which he is now a judge himself) and Britain’s Got Talent power on, The X Factor has slipped and now gets regularly trounced by Strictly Come Dancing. Whatever his public protestations to the contrary, I know it must be killing him inside. He HATES losing.
‘Again, context,’ he said. ‘Coronation Street used to get 20 million viewers – now six million is considered a success. Our younger audience, the 16-34 age group, the one X Factor is supposed to attract, has grown this year. If we lost that, of course we would have to end it. I don’t care that much about ratings any more. I haven’t looked at them for the past three weeks. I swear to God that’s the truth.’
Given the only god that Cowell truly believes in is himself, this wasn’t the most convincing assertion. The reason he doesn’t look at the ratings at the moment is because he keeps getting his backside kicked by a show he once boasted he’d annihilate. But it’s that same fierce competitive spirit that also makes him one of the most successful people in the history of entertainment.
His shows air around the world and are No 1 in most territories. Cowell doesn’t like losing because he normally wins. What have been his favourite career moments?
Simon Cowell travelling by private jet during filming of the US X Factor. Despite his VIP lifestyle Cowell loves to consider himself a regular guy
‘The first would be One Direction, because the decision to put them together was so quick, like ten to 15 minutes. Everything after that was down to them, not me. But putting them together was a great decision. Then, of course, Susan Boyle. I’ve never hated myself more than when I saw that awful mocking, sneering look you and I gave each other when she first came on stage and started speaking. I knew people would hate our guts and think we were absolutely disgusting, but we had to leave that part in or it wouldn’t have been authentic. All I remember saying to the team was, “Maybe just stay on Piers’ face a little longer than mine.” Hahahaha.’
Now though, he has found something even more important than making stars or getting big ratings: being a father. Is he as tough and demanding on Eric as he is on contestants?
‘I am strict with him about things like politeness,’ he said. ‘My parents taught me the importance of good manners and treating people with respect, and I’ve passed that on to Eric. But they weren’t strict with me about school stuff, and I won’t be either.
‘I was reading about your Twitter spat about homework with Gary Lineker [the Match Of The Day presenter is against schoolkids doing work at home, I’m in favour of it] and I have to say, I’m on Gary’s side. Statistically, the most intelligent kids in the world are from Finland and they don’t do homework.’
‘OK, tell me the name of one successful Finnish person,’ I countered.
‘Erm... Mika Häkkinen [the Finnish former F1 world champion]. But you don’t need to be famous to be happy or successful. I was never put under any pressure to overachieve at school, and I didn’t do much homework because I enjoyed playing outdoors. It worries me that kids have too much to do now and they’re tired and stressed. My choice would be far less homework, enjoy going home, enjoy your time being a kid and then enjoy going back into school again. I think it’s got too much.’
Cowell clearly loves being a dad, but has he ever actually got his hands dirty? ‘Did you ever change Eric’s nappy?’
‘No. All I’ve ever done is the fun things with him. We talk a lot, he’s like my best friend.’
Most of the dirty work has thus befallen Eric’s mother, Lauren Silverman, the woman Cowell controversially wooed while she was married to one of his American friends, with whom she has a 12-year-old son, Adam. They went public with their relationship in 2013 and Eric was born the following year, when Cowell was 55.
I’ve known all of Simon’s longer-term girlfriends over the past three decades – and liked them all. But none has got him down the aisle. Will Lauren, the mother of his child and a delightfully feisty and amusing lady, become Mrs Cowell?
Long pause.
‘Let’s just... maybe we could skip over this bit... haha. Look, I’m hardly going to tell you in this interview am I?’’
‘You can’t run for ever, you’re nearly 60.’
‘Sixty is the new 40, at least that’s what I’m telling myself,’ he said.
Cowell at his Malibu home. Piers writes: 'I’m not sure even Simon really believes he’s gone all soft and cuddly. That same old winner mentality still pervades his every waking moment'
‘How old are you, Piers?’
‘Fifty-three,’ I replied.
‘I was looking at a picture of you the other day,’ he said. ‘I actually do look younger than you…’
‘That’s because you’ve spent hundreds of thousands of pounds, if not millions, to achieve that,’ I said.
‘What, and you haven’t tried anything?’
‘No, absolutely nothing.’
‘Come on, Piers...’
‘NOTHING! My head is as God intended it to be. Yours is not.’
‘You’ve never had Botox?’ he asked.
‘NO! Where would you draw the line in terms of vanity?’
‘Well I might have had a few bits and pieces done,’ he admitted, ‘but not plastic surgery. And I don’t think I’d ever end up dying my hair. But look, I can remember years ago people laughing at me for having straight white teeth and now it’s kind of normal.’
Cowell loves to consider himself a regular guy despite spending his entire life in the gilded confines of mansions, Rolls-Royces and private jets (he even has black-monogrammed loo paper).
He’s also been a legendary ladies’ man. But how many times has he been properly in love?
‘Oh God,’ he sighed. ‘I couldn’t answer that question.’
‘Would it be on one hand or two?’
‘Probably one.’
‘Well let’s narrow it down to how many times have you had your heart broken?’
‘Once. But for a day.’
Who was it? ‘A girl who I thought I was seeing snogged someone else when I was at college and I went home – I had a motorbike – and she phoned the following day to ask, “Do you want me to bring my motorbike helmet back?” [he laughs loudly]. For 12 hours I was like the male version of Bridget Jones, playing really horrible films and feeling p***** off, and then we broke up a month later because I found someone else. And that was it.’
‘That was it? You’ve had only 12 hours of heartbreak in your life?’
‘Yes.’
One of Simon’s biggest strengths is loyalty to friends, something that extends to his ex-girlfriends, most of whom still adore him. He also treats people who work for him with warmth and respect, even if he can often be a complete pain as a boss – pedantic, impatient, testy, contrary and demanding. (Of course, those same traits make him a brilliant TV and record producer.)
Perhaps most surprisingly given his reputation for rudeness, he is one of the most well-mannered people I know, and always goes out of his way to be kind and generous to people like drivers or waiters.
‘My mother taught me that “manners maketh man”, and I have a real problem if I see people being rude to staff in restaurants. It’s just revolting.’
In August, Cowell was honoured with his own star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. The only thing that could top the star would be a tap on the shoulder from the Queen.
Would he like to be Sir Simon? (I know he would.)
‘There’s been so much stuff that’s come out about people who’ve tried so hard in such dodgy ways to become a knight. I’m in two minds about it. If somebody doesn’t think I should be, I don’t care! And if they think I should, great!
‘And by the way, if I ever did, I wouldn’t allow anyone to call me Sir Simon – apart from you.’
I’ve always thought Cowell enjoyed his later-life fame more than even the vast success, riches and female adulation it has brought him. It was time to put that theory to the test.
‘If you could only enjoy one thing for the rest of your life, and have to give up all the others, would you choose fame, success, wealth or sex with beautiful women?’
‘Um... um...’ LONG pause.
‘I couldn’t – they’ve all got to stay.’
‘They can’t. Choose one. I want to know your key driving factor.’
‘OK, being happy.’
‘That wasn’t on the list.’
‘I know, but it’s the most important thing.’
‘So it’s official then: Mr Nasty is now Mr Happy.’
‘Mr Nasty was never actually Mr Nasty, it was because the nasty producers put terrible people in front of him.’
‘Would you like that to be your epitaph?’
‘I’m not talking about DEATH! I’m only 59!’
‘On the subject of death, do you think there’s an afterlife?’
‘Not knowing is part of the fun. But hopefully, yes. Yesterday, Eric let a balloon off in the garden because it was my birthday and on the balloon it said: “Dear Grandma and Grandpa, I miss you and I love you very much.” It was his idea to write it and the fact he believed made him so happy and his happiness made me happy.
‘So sometimes it’s better to believe rather than be cynical. Let’s hope for the best. I think you and I will be heading in different directions at the end: one of us will be going up and one of us will be going down – and we know which one’s going down.’
‘Well I certainly couldn’t compete with the new halo-clad Simon Cowell, that’s for sure.’
There was a pause, then a lengthy belly laugh.
I’m not sure even Simon really believes he’s gone all soft and cuddly. That same old winner mentality still pervades his every waking moment – if you don’t believe me, just ask him about Terry Fator.
But he certainly seems as happy as I’ve ever known him, and he deserves to be. Because, contrary to popular mythology, and even though he’ll hate me for saying this, Simon is one of the good guys.
‘The X Factor’ is on ITV every Saturday and Sunday evening. ‘America’s Got Talent’ is available on Netflix
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/10/21/simon-cowell-i-dont-care-about-the-x-factors-ratings-any-more/
Main photo article ‘I was exhausted. I nearly walked away from it all.’ He ditched his phone, banned the news and gave up 1,000 meetings a year – to find happiness at home with his four-year-old son and ‘best friend’ Eric
My favourite Simon Cowell story involves a ventriloquist named Terry Fator. He w...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/10/19/11/5195070-6287227-Simon_Cowell_s_expansive_backroom_team_assured_Piers_prior_to_th-a-13_1539945716263.jpg
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