Simon Cowell has a reputation as a hard man — but the devastating loss of a close family member left him reeling.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00Simon Cowell has a reputation as a hard man, but the devastating loss of a close family
00:05member left him reeling.
00:07After years in the music industry, in 1985, Cowell launched Fanfare Records.
00:12It took off like a rocket, spurred by the success of his first hit record, So Macho
00:17by Sinitta.
00:18Cowell told Fortune,
00:19"'Once I started to make some money, I bought a Porsche, bought a house."
00:23It didn't last.
00:24Before long, Cowell was left with the realization that if he didn't shut it down, he'd be facing
00:28bankruptcy.
00:29In fact, his beloved Porsche was seized to pay the debts.
00:32Cowell said,
00:33"'By the time I was 28, I was broke and I had to go back and live with my parents.'"
00:38Cowell rebounded by landing a job at BMG Records, working as an A&R consultant.
00:43This time, he heeded the tough lessons that he'd learned about trying to do too much,
00:46too quickly.
00:47He said,
00:48"'I wanted everything to happen overnight.'"
00:50Throughout his life, Simon Cowell maintained a close relationship with his parents, Eric
00:54and Julie.
00:55Tragically, Cowell's father would not live to see the massive success and worldwide fame
00:59that his son would achieve.
01:01In 1999, Cowell was in a celebratory mood after one of his label signings, British group
01:06Westlife, charted their first number one single.
01:08But while attending a conference in Germany, he learned that his father had suffered a
01:12fatal heart attack.
01:13He immediately flew back to England.
01:16On The Diary of a CEO with Steve Bartlett, Cowell recalled,
01:19"'It was the longest trip home.
01:21That flight, it was bad.
01:22At that point in my life, I just believed my parents were going to live forever.'"
01:26In 2015, Cowell suffered another loss when his mother, Julie Brett, died at age 89.
01:31He said that it hit him hard as he had, quote,
01:34"'the most amazing relationship' with his parents.
01:36When I lost my mum, it was the most devastating thing that ever happened in my life.
01:40It was as bad as things could possibly be."
01:42I looked up to both of them and I always knew at any time I could go to them when I needed
01:50advice.
01:52In February 2010, Cowell proposed to his girlfriend of six months, American Idol makeup
01:57artist Mishkan Hussaini.
01:59Cowell said on Life Stories,
02:00"'I think she's the one.
02:01You know when you've found somebody very special.'"
02:04By the summer of 2011, however, Cowell had ended the engagement.
02:07A source told the Daily Mail,
02:09"'Simon and Mishkan split up in August.
02:11He called it off and she wasn't that surprised or even very bothered about it.'"
02:15The following January, Cowell confirmed that report, revealing he hadn't seen Hussaini
02:20since prior to Christmas.
02:21He told the Mirror,
02:22"'It's quite a complicated relationship.
02:24We have had a break from each other and we are still incredibly close.'"
02:28According to a report in The Sun, the breaking point came in April 2010, just a couple months
02:33after the engagement, when Cowell's late return home due to some American Idol production
02:37delays resulted in a massive blow-up.
02:39When he subsequently flew to London, Hussaini didn't accompany him.
02:43Cowell reportedly told friends he regretted the engagement, saying,
02:46"'I've made a big mistake.'"
02:49Cowell was quick to accept a hefty portion of the blame for why things didn't work out,
02:53though, telling the Mirror,
02:54"'We came to the conclusion that I'm a hopeless boyfriend, and I don't blame her.'"
02:58The death of Simon Cowell's mother in 2015 impacted him far more deeply than those who
03:02watched him on television would have ever realized.
03:05When interviewed on The Diary of a CEO, Cowell revealed that losing his mother had left him
03:10distraught.
03:11He said that having to put on a brave face for TV audiences took a toll on him, explaining,
03:14"'I felt like a clown because I'm dying inside, and yet I've still got to do what I'm being
03:19paid to do as best as I could.'"
03:21Cowell revealed that he sank into a deep depression, staying awake until the early morning and then
03:25sleeping until the afternoon.
03:27The depression also manifested itself physically, as he said,
03:30"'I'd put on a ton of weight.
03:32I was eating junk.'"
03:33Meanwhile, he couldn't ignore the irony that, from a professional standpoint, he was at
03:37the top of the world, enjoying a level of fame and wealth he never could have imagined.
03:42Yet he was so entrenched in despair that he couldn't appreciate it, let alone enjoy
03:46it.
03:47"'I was very successful, but I wasn't happy, really, really wasn't happy.'"
03:53While still dealing with the loss of his beloved mother, Cowell endured another unforeseen setback
03:58when a burglar robbed his London mansion.
04:01According to the Daily Mail, the thief stole cash and jewelry from a safe.
04:05A neighborhood security guard witnessed the criminal's exit, leading one of the thieves
04:08to drop Cowell's passport.
04:10Meanwhile, the guard was able to retrieve a bag of stolen goods said to be worth more
04:13than $600,000.
04:16Cowell reportedly fired his own security guard after finding out he was on the loo at the
04:19time of the crime.
04:21The most surprising aspect of the robbery, Cowell told the Mail, was that his trio of
04:25Yorkshire Terriers remained silent throughout as Cowell slept through the entire incident.
04:29Usually, Squidly, Diddly, and Freddy never stop barking, but this is the first time they
04:34didn't make a sound.
04:36Cowell also said that the scariest part was the invasion of privacy, especially the thought
04:40that the intruder may have had some inside knowledge of his home, and explained,
04:44"'The most frightening thing is, someone has been in your house.'"
04:47The burglar, Darren Febrey, was eventually apprehended and placed on trial.
04:51In 2017, he was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison.
04:55At the time, he was already imprisoned, convicted for killing a motorcyclist with his car just
04:59days after robbing Cowell.
05:01Cowell ultimately ended up selling his home due to security concerns.
05:05In 2020, Cowell was chilling out at his home in Malibu when he decided to take his brand
05:10new electric bike for a spin in the home's courtyard.
05:13While tooling around, he somehow had an accident that led him to fall off the bike, breaking
05:17his back in the process.
05:19The injury was severe.
05:20The New York Daily News reported he required a six-hour surgical procedure that included
05:25inserting a metal rod in his spine.
05:27Cowell managed to keep his spirits high, judging from a tweet he issued shortly after the accident.
05:32Some good advice, if you buy an electric trail bike, read the manual before you ride
05:36it for the first time.
05:37In an interview the following year after he'd recovered, Cowell admitted that he'd been
05:41lucky, telling Extra,
05:42"'It could have been a lot worse.
05:44When I saw the x-ray, I really nearly smashed my spine to pieces, so I literally wouldn't
05:48have been able to walk.'"
05:49Still, he told Today in 2023 that it was a wake-up call to get in better shape, and that
05:55he was going to continue to ride his bicycle.
05:57I'm still going to stay on my bike.
05:58I'm obsessed with these things.
06:00"'Honestly, if I could rewind, I would have gone through the whole thing again, just because
06:05I feel better now.'"
06:07Cowell's commitment to his electric bicycle was demonstrated in February 2022, when he
06:11suffered another accident.
06:13This time, he was cycling in London when he reportedly skidded on some wet pavement.
06:18A source told The Mirror,
06:19"'He went flying over the handlebars into the middle of the road and is lucky to be
06:23alive as he wasn't wearing a helmet.
06:25There was blood pouring from his face.'"
06:27X-rays revealed that Cowell had suffered a broken arm.
06:30He subsequently told The Mirror,
06:31"'I'm a bit of a nutter.
06:32I'll definitely wear a helmet next time.'"
06:34Cowell opened up further about his broken arm during a red carpet interview with Access
06:38Hollywood, saying the worst part was that the large cast kept him from riding his bike.
06:42"'Yeah, it was this, you know, stupid accident.
06:45It was just annoying, mainly because I couldn't ride my bike.'"
06:50As Cowell recalled in that interview, his second bike-related injury wasn't nearly as
06:54serious as the first.
06:55Once again, he'd managed to narrowly avoid a severe injury that could have laid him out
06:59for a lot longer.
07:00He explained,
07:01"'I mean, I broke it pretty bad.
07:03However, it's healed.
07:04I didn't have to have an operation.
07:06I was lucky, because I nearly snapped the ligament.
07:08If you snap ligaments, then that's bad.'"
07:11Simon Cowell has come to know hundreds of performers over the course of his years as
07:15a judge on various TV talent competitions.
07:17Sadly, he's also experienced the tragic deaths of some of these talented people.
07:22He told People magazine,
07:23"'Unfortunately, it happens too much over the years.
07:26Every time it happens, because you've gotten to know them, it's horrible.'"
07:292022 had been a particularly difficult year in that regard, due to the deaths of two America's
07:35Got Talent fan favorites, singers Nolan Neal and Nightbird, whose real name was Jane Marcheski.
07:41Cowell had made no secret of his admiration for Marcheski's talent, even giving her his
07:45golden buzzer.
07:46He said,
07:47"'There was something really special about Jane.
07:49I adored her.'"
07:51"'You can't wait until life isn't hard anymore before you decide to be happy.'"
07:56The previous year, he wrote a Facebook tribute to Carlos Marin, a founding member of Il Divo,
08:02an act that Cowell originally put together.
08:04"'I'm finding this so difficult to put into words how I feel right now.
08:07I am devastated Carlos Marin has passed away.'"
08:11Coping with the 2015 death of his mother proved intensely difficult for Simon Cowell.
08:15He said,
08:16"'I really, really had reached the point where nothing mattered.
08:19Even to the point that I almost can't remember everything from that period.'"
08:22Luckily, there was someone to help him out of his depression, Eric, his son with Lauren
08:27Silverman, who had arrived in February 2014.
08:30Cowell said his infant son was responsible for lifting him out of his depression and
08:33giving him the emotional fortitude to keep moving forward.
08:37"'It did absolutely change everything in my life.
08:43I mean, it made me happy again.'"
08:46During the years since welcoming his son, Cowell has proven to be a doting dad.
08:50Fatherhood has clearly agreed with him.
08:52That said, Cowell told the Daily Mail that he harbors some fears about his son's future.
08:56"'There are two things that worry me about him growing up.
08:59One is stress.
09:00Children are under so much stress, with homework, pressure.
09:03I really don't want that for him.
09:04The second thing is bullying.
09:06It terrifies me.
09:07If there's even a whiff of it, I don't think I could handle it.'"
09:10That fear, he pointed out, was one key reason he didn't name his son Simon Cowell Jr.
09:16Instead, he and Silverman decided it would be better to name him after Cowell's late
09:19father instead.
09:20Cowell said, it would have been too much to inflict Simon on him.
09:24Given the positive impact that fatherhood has had on him, would Cowell consider having
09:27a second child?
09:29In 2023, he told The Sun that he had been thinking about that very question, recalling
09:33how much he enjoyed his son's earliest years.
09:35"'So look, will it happen?
09:37I don't know.
09:38But I would love another kid.
09:39I really like being a dad.'"
09:41In late 2022, a post began making the rounds on social media that shocked Cowell fans,
09:46as it seemed to be a news post announcing that he had died.
09:49However, as is so often the case, it turned out to be a malicious hoax.
09:54Snopes.com confirmed that the post was bogus, as clicking the link brought readers to a
09:58sketchy website designed to get people to download dangerous malware.
10:03The photo that accompanied the post, which seemed to show former President Bill Clinton
10:07mourning Cowell's death, was a doctored image of Clinton from the funeral of baseball
10:11legend Hank Aaron.
10:12That wasn't the first time that Cowell had been at the center of an internet death hoax.
10:16Back in 2015, Snopes.com shot down a fake video that had been circulating online, in
10:21which a contestant on Britain's Got Talent was on the receiving end of Cowell's caustic,
10:25cutting critique, and then walked backstage and shot himself.
10:29Which is a reminder that if you come across something sketchy online, you should channel
10:33your own inner Simon Cowell and exercise your best judgment.