Simon Cowell is in love. Truly, madly, deeply. He cuddles her, squeezing her face. ‘How much do I love you!’ he says over and over. But what’s this? Her brother is attacking his head in what seems to be an attempt to lick his ear off. ‘Aren’t they adorable?’ he says, hugging them both.
He’s talking about Squiddly and Diddly, the five-month-old Yorkies who, along with girlfriend Lauren Silverman, Simon credits with transforming his life. He says he grew up with dogs, usually inherited, but these are the first he has actually had of his own, and he’s clearly besotted.
We’re sitting in the Frank Sinatra Room of his Beverly Hills home (pictures of his idol adorn the walls), and he’s relaxed as his housekeeper brings him a bottle of beer and a massive burger specially ordered in from The Ivy, one of his favourite LA restaurants
He is clearly a very happy man. Syco Entertainment, his TV and music production company, is now a global phenomenon, producing shows for countries as diverse as Azerbaijan, Vietnam and Israel.
The company’s first feature film, One Direction: This Is Us has grossed more than £50 million worldwide, while the band has clocked up 64 official album and single number ones worldwide.
Their latest album Midnight Memories is number one across the world as we speak. Not bad for the boy band that finished third in X Factor series seven – or their mentor, who began his working life in a mail room.
And, of course, Lauren is due to give birth to his first child in February. He is, he says, very, very happy, and the baby has totally changed his outlook on life. He seems far removed from the Simon of the early part of this year, when he was sending late-night soul-searching tweets about what he called the ‘bumps in his life’.
Today he laughs loudly at the recollection. Friends expressed concern that he spent so much time home alone, watching TV and staying up through the night phoning people on either side of the Atlantic, seemingly desperate for company.
So what happened? ‘I was very low and I don’t know why. It’s not that it was a bad year, it was a good one in terms of my work. There was nothing really wrong in my personal life either, but for some reason I wasn’t getting a buzz out of anything, which was unusual. I started to get a bit lethargic; I just wasn’t myself and I couldn’t get out of it. And then the baby happened.’
Ah yes, the baby. The circumstances surrounding his relationship with Lauren were a little unorthodox to say the least. She was the wife of his good friend, property tycoon Andrew Silverman.
The couple have since divorced, and Simon says the situation made him uncomfortable. ‘I let down a friend and I feel bad about that,’ he admits, ‘but the good thing about it is that I’m having a baby and I never thought I would. And it totally changed everything. It was like coming out of a fog; that’s the only way I can describe it. I thought, “Stop feeling sorry for yourself, you’ve got nothing to feel bad about.” It just makes you feel like you’ve got a responsibility. I definitely feel better. I thought I was going to freak out, but I didn’t. It was only the circumstances that were problematic.’
Simon and Lauren in St. Tropez in August
Looking around his LA home, it’s hard to imagine how the inevitable chaos of a child is going to fit in. It’s an exquisite place, and despite rumours he was going to sell it, Simon assures me that’s not the case.
There’s a long pool in the garden alongside fire and water features; a proper cinema indoors and, in the Frank Sinatra Room, a TV screen almost as big. In the hallways are fresh cream roses and white tiles, and cream furnishings just crying out for a child’s chocolate-covered fingers. ‘This is probably the most child-unfriendly house in the world right now,’ he says, ‘but I’m used to mess these days because of the dogs. They’re the best thing I ever did – but so naughty.’
Simon and Lauren are expecting a son, and Simon wishes his own father, former music industry executive Eric who died in 1999, could have been here to see it. ‘I was thinking about him and how he would have loved it.
'I still miss him – when you just want someone to talk to about stuff, basic advice, when you can’t make up your mind about something. He always gave me amazing advice. He didn’t always take my side, but he never made me feel worried, even when I’d screwed up. He was always incredibly fair. He was terrible at discipline – that was Mum’s job. But if I really went too far, then I knew I’d crossed the line.’
He’s keen to pass on what he learned from his own father to his son. ‘I never inherited anything in my life, and everything I have I had to earn. But I think that’s what made me enjoy life more. I want my son to feel he’s got to prove his own way and I’d like to do what my dad did for me.
'He taught me the basics. He once said to me, “You’ve got to realise that everyone around you has a sign on their forehead that says Make Me Feel Important.” I’ve always remembered that. You’ve got to understand that the guy who holds the door open is as important as the producer or the director, because it’s a job. I think that was the best piece of advice I was ever given.’
He says his mother, too, is excited about the baby, despite the circumstances. ‘She was actually very cool about it, but it was fairly traumatic when it happened and I had to call her before the story broke in the Press but she was very calm and understanding.’
Invariably surrounded by different women, and certainly classed as a woman’s man, he attributes his relationships with them to his mother’s influence. ‘Also, I can’t bear macho rivalry. It bores me. Although I’m very competitive, I never got caught up in that kind of stuff. I like women, and I listen to them. It’s probably why so many of my ex-girlfriends are my closest friends now. I just feel really comfortable with them
Not every one, but a lot. I’ve never really had a bad break-up.’ Isn’t that because when he breaks up with them he gives them a house? He laughs. ‘Not everyone gets a house, darling [he calls everyone darling], or I wouldn’t be living in this one now.’
He also inherited much of his work ethic from his parents. ‘When we were kids, my mum said to me, “We’re going on holiday, which we will pay for, but you’ve got to earn your spending money.” So I washed cars, mowed lawns, did whatever I could – but I absolutely loved it. And that moment when you’ve got your first £5 note, the sky’s the limit. It’s the best feeling in the world. So I always understood the notion that if you want to make money, you’ve got to work for it.’
Simon, who had an aversion to formal education himself, was attacked by Education Secretary Michael Gove recently for seeming to claim in a radio interview that qualifications are not important.
‘The point I was trying to make was, there are thousands of kids who leave school with no qualifications who must think it’s the end of the road. I hated school, I was bored out of my mind. So I was saying that if you’re smart enough to get qualifications, then great, but if you’re not you can do what I did: roll your sleeves up, find a job you love, work hard, get someone to teach you, and you can have a good career. I don’t hire anyone based on their qualifications. I never ask; I couldn’t care less.
Home sweet home: Despite his American success, he says he enjoys the LA lifestyle in short bursts and still hankers for the UK
‘Because I was academically stupid, it was a complete waste of time for me to take exams. I just wanted to get in the mail room, put the post where it was supposed to be, get a foot on the ladder and work my way up. That was right for me. If you want to be a doctor or accountant, then obviously you’ve got to go an alternative route, but we all have different brains and I didn’t have that kind of brain.’
So will his son be educated in the UK or US? He says he would veer towards starting in the UK. ‘I’d probably say, get yourself a skill-set, then take it over to America.’
Despite his American success, he says he enjoys the LA lifestyle in short bursts and still hankers for the UK.
‘After a while, I think I’ve got to come back to the UK and I’ve got to become British again. I actually appreciate Britain more now. We have a different sense of humour and we take the mickey out of each other all the time. I miss that. And I also miss that tabloid love/hate relationship we have.
'Yes, we get slaughtered in the Press, but there’s something about it, when you do something wrong and you’ve got to react to it the following day because it’s in every newspaper; I love that. It kind of makes it more exciting. Here, it’s much slower, the Press, much more serious.’
Surely it must drive him mad though, with the paparazzi following his every move, and when even holding a vegetable in a supermarket makes the news? ‘Sometimes I can look up, and I’ll see about eight photographers so I’ll pick up the most ridiculous piece of fruit I can find. I’ve got to know all these guys, and it makes me laugh when I see them, because I always think if I’m holding a couple of melons, what’s the caption going to be?
'I found the most crazy piece of fruit I’ve ever seen and I made Lauren hold it. You can’t take it seriously. I take it seriously as a job, but all that other stuff, no. All these people who bleat on, complaining about the Press? Come on. If you’re an actor or singer or on TV, it’s crazy. And by the way, when they stop writing about you, it’s all over. That’s the way I feel.
‘I think I’ve had a good relationship with the media because I’ve learnt that when we screw up and they completely hammer us you learn from it. I don’t want to make the same mistake again. I’ve also understood that without the media’s support, my company could not have achieved what we’ve done. You’ve got to take the knocks along the way. But I’ve gone through weeks where it’s been, “Don’t bring the newspapers up today.” Especially recently. I don’t want to read it.’
While Simon is the epitome of charm, he also retains an air of mystery. So details of his personal life revealed in the unofficial biography by Tom Bower last year must have hurt, even though Simon gave his friends permission to talk with the author. Does he regret that now – especially as the book revealed a relationship with X Factor fellow judge Dannii Minogue? ‘I actually became friends with Tom afterwards but there were parts that were a bit, “Oh no!”
‘If someone decides to write a book, unauthorised, about you and he has a real reputation, there’s nothing you can do about it. I thought I’d rather he actually was in my life rather than looking in from the outside, because I haven’t got anything to hide. And there was lots in it I’d forgotten about, to be honest – stories from years and years ago, some of them quite funny.’
Simon’s been missed on this year’s UK X Factor panel, where he thinks, as a record producer rather than a performer, his role is important: ‘Performers don’t like other performers.’ Rumours abound as to whether he’ll return as a judge next year.
At some point, definitely. When, I’m not sure yet.’ There is real emotion in his voice when he says, ‘The UK show’s my baby. It was such an important crossroads in my life for so many reasons, and there was so much riding on it at the time. But when it worked out, without question it was the most important thing career-wise ever to have happened to me; so, in a weird way, I feel I owe it something. And it’s such a crazy show to be on, it causes so much controversy.’
Earlier this year, Louis Walsh – the only member of the original panel to survive the show’s ten years – said he would be stepping down when this series ends in December. Simon is doubtful. ‘I don’t think Louis will leave the show. I actually think it would miss him if he went. I love working with him because he really makes me laugh. He’s so naughty.’
He doesn’t rule out a return to the show for Cheryl Cole either. The two fell out big time after Simon first gave Cheryl a judging job on the US X Factor and then unceremoniously sacked her. ‘I’ve spoken to her about it and she’s still not happy with me, and I probably did react too quickly. I just don’t think she was in the same place then as she is now. She’s back to the Cheryl I used to know – really confident, looks amazing. I think she went through what I’ve gone through.
‘I always promised myself we were going to make movies, but said I wouldn’t want to make a fool out of myself, so the first one we made was the One Direction film. I mean God, it’s addictive'
'You just get to a place sometimes in your life where you lose your mojo a bit. But certainly now, when I talk to her or text her, she’s the old Cheryl again. I’ll have to ask her first, but I’d have her back in a heartbeat.’
The X Factor judges are about to be reincarnated in a new musical about the show called I Can’t Sing!, which will hit the London Palladium in March next year. ‘It came about through Harry Hill and his writing partner, who pitched to us.
'I’ve had these musical pitches dozens of times and I always think it’s going to be a complete waste of time. But he was really funny and they played me one of the songs. I’d banned the word “journey” from our shows, because I hate that word, and also banned the word “dream”. And they’d written this song called I’m Dreaming Of A Journey On My Journey To A Dream. So it was a complete send-up.
'It made me laugh so much. I thought it might actually work because it’s not some love fest. I get it in the neck, the show gets it in the neck, but in a fun, not a cynical, way.’
Even so, there will be people tearing their hair out at the thought of the X Factor juggernaut now reaching the West End stage, but Simon’s quick to defend his expanding empire. ‘It goes back to that point about education and giving people a shot. There are a lot of people in the music business who sneer at what we do, and ironically, those are the people who’ve made millions of pounds, and then they’re saying we shouldn’t allow somebody to have a break through a show like The X Factor.
Don’t they think they’ve already tried the obvious route? They’ve clearly gone to record labels, sent in tapes and got nowhere, so this is another opportunity for them. I don’t think Olly Murs would have got a deal unless he’d gone on The X Factor, and One Direction was obviously created on the show. So this is just a different way of giving people an opportunity. Of course, it makes us money, I’m not doing this for nothing. I’m running a business.’
With Syco branching into film with the One Direction movie, does he ultimately have his sights set on Hollywood? ‘I always promised myself we were going to make movies, but said I wouldn’t want to make a fool out of myself, so the first one we made was the One Direction film. I mean God, it’s addictive.
When you go to a premiere of your movie it’s unbelievable. I was thinking, “I want to do this again.” So slowly, we’ve started to build a little film division and we now have two or three movies that we’re producing, including an animation movie that I came up with the original story for. I can’t say what it is because I don’t want anyone else to have it. So that’s a buzz.’
He’s clearly still a control freak. But when that control was so quickly wrested away from him in his personal life, how did he cope? ‘Look, when things like this happen, you’ve just got to deal with them. You can’t panic, you’re dealing with a life, and you’ve got to be grown up about it. Bad as certain things were, you just realise some things in your life are out of your control. I suppose it was a bit of a wake-up call, but that doesn’t stop me being a control freak in my work still. Anyone who says they’re not competitive when they work in this business is a liar.’
Man's best friend: Simon and his dogs, squiddly and diddly
It’s obvious Lauren Silverman has introduced a heavy dose of reality back into Simon’s life. ‘Funnily enough, she said to me, “The one thing I’m going to do, Simon, is make sure you go out more”, because I did get into a phase where I was having too many meetings in my house, too many dinner parties here, and she said, “That’s not how I want to live my life. We’re going to go out, we’re going to go shopping, we’re going to have lunch...” and I do a lot with her now. She’s been really good for me in that respect.’
We’re interrupted by Squiddly lurking suspiciously on the other side of the room. ‘Is she having a pee?’ asks Simon. ‘Squiddly! Come here!’ He snaps his fingers. ‘I think she just has… no, actually, it’s worse.’
He leaps up from the sofa and looks with horror at the installation Squiddly has deposited on the cream carpet. ‘Oh, great! Squiddly! Why can’t you go outside? What is your problem? Perfect! Squiddly, you’re disgusting.’
His housekeeper comes over to deal with the mess and Simon carries on. ‘I always hoped my life would change in this way. We get on really well and Lauren’s completely unfazed by my job and everything that goes with it, and she loves music and is interested in the shows. She’s made me do more normal things again – it’s very positive.’
So would he say this is the happiest he’s been in his life? ‘I think so, yes. It’s not been the easiest year, but I really have much less stress than I used to have. I’ve just been given a clean bill of health, which surprised them given that I smoke and drink. I’ve lost a lot of weight and I work out regularly. Even though it was a stressful year, I learned how to cope with it.’
How he’ll cope when his life’s turned upside down by a screaming child remains to be seen, but it sounds like he’s ready for the challenge.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Kindly share your view or contribution on this topic