Yahoo News Simon Cowell's horror accident, net worth, mystery illness and family life with fiancee and son
Simon Cowell began his career sorting mail in the offices of a record company, rising through the entertainment ranks to become known worldwide as TV's Mr Nasty. He's become known for his brutal honesty as a judge on America's Got Talent, The X Factor and American Idol.
The record label boss is now a multi-millionaire who can break or make careers - but he hasn't had it all his own way. He pulled the plug on The X Factor when ratings and public attention began to wane, fearing the format had become "stale" in the UK.
He's back on screen with the 17th series of Britain's Got Talent alongside Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and Bruno Tonioli. And he reckons the reality competition will be here for a “long, long time,” saying that “people now come from all over the world to compete”
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Early life and dropping out of school
Simon Cowell was born on October 7. 1959 in Lambeth, London and spent his early years in Elstree, Hertfordshire. His mum Julie was a ballet dancer and his father Eric was a music industry executive.
He was 14 when his parents enrolled him at Kent boarding school Dover College but has said he hated every moment. He wrote angry letters he planned to send to Julie and Eric and said he couldn't wait to leave.
He told the Daily Star: "I'm glad I went through it. I was bored... I kind of knew I'd learnt everything I needed to learn; I could add up, I could read English, I could write, whatever. Every time I was sitting in chemistry lessons with stupid Bunsen burners and stuff, I thought, 'I'm not going to do that when I'm 30.' I'd get bored and I'd get frustrated and I couldn't wait to leave."
He dropped out at the age of 16 and has no regrets, saying he would support his son Eric if he wanted to do the same. He told Radio 2: “Leave at 16 if you want to work, 100 per cent I would encourage him. I don’t understand why you would want to torture someone to be somewhere they don’t want to be but actually want to go out into the real world and make a living.
“Everyone has different views on this and I have been criticised for saying this in the past but I really feel bad for people who are like myself who were told if you don’t achieve this by the age of 16, 18, 21 your life is going to be a failure. I just don’t agree with that and I would just say to Eric: ‘This is what it is, you’ve got to do it, learn whatever you possibly can, do as you’re told and then if you want to leave at 16 you can come and work with me'.”
Boom to bust
Simon started his career in the entertainment business as a runner and his father, who was an executive at EMI music at the time, then got him a job at the post room. He worked his way up to assistant for an A&R executive charged with scouting new talent and developing artists but after failing to secure a promotion, left in search of other opportunities.
He formed the independent record label E&S Music, but it wasn't a success. He went on to launch Fanfare Records, which initially sold exercise videos. The company did find some success in music through the 1986 hit So Macho by Sinitta, who Simon also dated.
The money came rolling in and Simon was able to fund an extravagant lifestyle - but it soon came crashing down and the company went under. He told Fortune: "Once I started to make some money, I bought a Porsche, bought a house. By the time I was 28, I was broke and I had to go back and live with my parents.”
He said he "wanted everything to happen overnight" but the experience taught him that success requires ongoing effort. He added: “If you’re not born with a talent, you learn, you watch, you listen, and then you learn from your mistakes and your successes."
He subsequently joined BMG as an A&R consultant and founded S Records, which signed artists including 5ive, Westlife, and Robson & Jerome. He founded Syco Records in 2005.
Pop Idol and a move into TV
Simon created Pop Idol with Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller in 2001 - heralding the start of his career as a music reality show judge. The show arrived in the USA as American Idol in 2002, becoming a huge hit - and Simon's scathing comments made him a megastar on both sides of the Atlantic.
Simon insisted he wasn't really Mr Nasty and said the persona was created by American Idol producers. He told the Sunday Mirror: 'I was not grumpy the whole time. They just decided, the producers, it would be funnier to make me looking miserable and it was sort of an accident. I found the process so miserable, I hated it."
The format was a huge success but Simon had bigger ambitions. He announced the launch of The X Factor, which his record label Syco had the rights to, in 2004. The show became a cultural phenomenon in the UK, guaranteeing the winner the Christmas number one and launching the careers of One Direction, Leona Lewis, Little Mix and JLS.
The show reached its peak in 2010, but media attention and ratings began to decline, with The X Factor put on hold in 2018. It spawned spin-off shows X Factor: Celebrity and X Factor: The Band in 2019, but they failed to take off.
As for American Idol, Simon quit the show in 2010. He later told Hollywood Life age restrictions on the show were part of his decision, saying: "“How can you say, ‘You can’t be a star [because of your age]. And I found the word ‘Idol’ obnoxious to be honest with you. And why isn’t a 35-year-old as great as an 18-year-old?
"I just got to the point where this is not real, which is why I moved on [to the United States’ version of The X Factor and then finally America’s Got Talent].”
Why The X Factor made him miserable
In an interview with The Sun, Simon later opened up about the toll that the X Factor had taken on his personal life. He said he had been “obsessed with TV ratings” and “really unhappy” before the birth of his son Eric.
He told the Sun he became “obsessed with beating the competition” such as the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. He said: "I took it to a ridiculous level and I would get really down about that stuff, to the point [where] I was depressed.
He added: “That last year was very much an ego-driven thing. We had to be better than everyone else, but I didn’t enjoy it. I was really unhappy. But now Eric is around, I don’t work through the night any more. If he hadn’t come along, God knows what would have happened." He said the decision to reduce his workload meant he was able to spend more time with Eric.
Horror accidents
Simon has also taken a step back after suffering two significant E-bike injuries in recent years, including one in August 2020. He was testing an electric bicycle at his home in Malibu, California when he fell and broke his back.
He had to undergo surgery, including having a metal rod put in his back. He told the Today show in the USA: "It was painful, it wasn’t great.
"However, I was so unfit before the accident. I didn’t know how unfit I was until I had to do all this stuff afterwards. And I’m like, ‘My God.’ Things like that, I believe happened for a reason."
He had a second crash in London in 2022 and last year said he was “lucky to survive” his back surgery after the first accident. He told OK!: "I didn’t talk about it too much at the time. I kept a lot back. It was a lot worse than people thought. I had a lot of long-term nerve damage as well. Just when I thought the bones had healed, I went with [my son] Eric to a funfair and tried to kick a football and it was agony."
His injuries meant he was unable to appear in Britain's Got Talent for the 2020 series and he was replaced by Ashley Banjo - later saying lockdown gave him time to heal properly. He confessed: “If there was one good thing about lockdown, it was that it gave me the time to heal because I wasn’t working on a TV show. I was able to walk a lot and strengthen my legs. I know I was lucky to survive my back surgery. I have a lot of people to thank for my recovery.”
Britain's Got Talent 'will be here for a long time'
Britain's Got Talent is now in its 17th series - but its future wasn't always assured. Simon recently said: “When we first started, we did the pilot here and it was rubbish. Then luckily, we sold it to America and it was a hit."
The show was then bought by ITV and the rest is history, with the channel broadcasting the series since its debut in 2007. Last year Norwegian comedian Viggo Venn, who impressed with his high-vis inspired routines, scooped the £250,000 prize, as well as a spot on the bill at the Royal Variety Performance.
And Simon said of its future: “I always thought, if we could get three or four years out of this, it will be amazing. And then you reach 10 years and you go, ‘That’s a milestone’.
"I think because so many people now come from all over the world to compete and it’s not just winning the show, it’s having that viral moment which you know, can literally change your life overnight in a way. These clips sometimes get hundreds of millions of views.
"I think that’s why people are going to come back year after year after year and hopefully keep competing and get better, because that’s what I’m seeing is that the acts are actually, thank God, getting better. And because the show has all ages I think it’s gonna be here for a long, long time."
Family man and leaving a 'legacy'
For years Simon maintained he had no interest in marriage, children and settling down - but is now a devoted family man and dad to son Eric. In 2013, he started dating Lauren Silverman, with the relationship making headlines because she was married to his friend Andrew Silverman at the time.
Andrew and Lauren divorced in August 2013 and it was later announced that she and Simon were expecting their first child together. Eric, who was named after Simon's father, was born on Valentine's Day in 2014. Simon and Lauren became engaged in 2022.
And it seems talent spotting runs in the family. Simon told OK!: "Eric’s grown up with this show so that’s why he always wants to get involved. He’s also a great judge of talent and I can tell when he likes an act. When I’m watching the show back at home, he suddenly appears in the room and says, “Who is that, Daddy?”
A US revival of the X Factor has been rumoured but Simon has spoken of how his family is his priority. And he certainly doesn't need the money, with Celebrity Net Worth estimating his fortune as a huge £496 million from his career in front of and behind the camera. He has also invested in property, owning mansions in Malibu and Beverly Hills as well as in London.
He said: “If X Factor doesn’t come back, I won’t be looking for other shows to appear on. I don’t want to be just a TV personality. The idea of The X Factor not being on so I go on a game show . . . I think I’d jump off a cliff. I genuinely can’t think of anything worse. If you were to ask me now which is more important, my career or my family, then I’d say family, 100 per cent. But when you talk about legacy, you want to believe what you’ve done has been worth it, that’s important too."
Simon's father died from a heart attack in 1999 and he was later left 'in pieces' when his mother died aged 89 just 24 hours before he was due to appear on The X Factor back in 2015. The first show ended up being cancelled but Syco founder returned as head judge three days later, explaining at the time it was what his mum would have wanted.
'Mystery illness'
Earlier this year Simon responded to claims he's suffering from a 'mystery illness' after he was forced to skip some of the Britain's Got Talent auditions. Sharing a picture of himself on Instagram, the music mogul, 64, could be seen sitting on the judging panel sporting his classic grey sweater with a pair of tinted glasses.
He explained to his millions of followers in the caption: "I just found out according to the internet, I have a 'mystery illness'. For anyone concerned, I missed two auditions at the end of one day, two weeks ago, because I do get migraines after long days in the filming lights."
He added at the time: "Next week we are filming BGT in Manchester - I look forward to seeing you then. PS. This is why I wear these glasses!"
