Piers Morgan's life stories Simon Cowell uncut

I'm interviewing Simon Cowell and to say I'm looking forward to this is one of the greatest understatements of the millennium what I've kind of said to him stupidly just ask whatever you want it's down to beers whatever you guess could be an explanation either I think I'm going to show the public aside to Simon Cowell they probably don't even imagine could possibly exist I live boss he goes too far can ii so nervous are you today you look more nervous than I did I'm not remotely nervous okay fine because I know what's coming okay all right kid I'm nervous for control three light years is the ultimate nightmare man yes and literally five minutes before we went on I actually sat there and thought what the hell am I it is the upside here nothing important is it to you to be popular are very important it whether you're a sportsman or you're in business or you know doing what I do where you make TV shows nobody does this to become seventy-seventh you know you always always strive to be more successful than new competition and the day that stopped you have to stop doing this for a living genuinely you have to have that drug even as a kid if I was losing monopoly I'd tip the border oh my god yeah absolutely or I'd be the banker and nickel the money so I would always win we won't give you one ridiculously competitive appears coming from you I'm gonna add it to you on that you are the most competitive person I have ever met seriously in my life and one of the reasons I won't use the word enjoy but sort of put up working with you is is that it actually makes me kind of up my game because you are that competitive I like to win yeah unfortunately I'm working for you so I don't really as I always say to peers I control the edit not on this show you I'm curious what it would be like when you actually came into my world what you would demand in your dressing room you might imagine though super rich very famous very cultured you might think lobster caviar champagne by the way I don't ask for these ok shooter killed Harry a water with fresh lime wedges brackets not slices actually I just kick you up on that we did have a problem with the sliced lime and I'm being serious because whoever cut it cut it with somebody who'd obviously cut an onion so my lime water tasted like onion oh so please can I apologize above everyone kept it in Barrett coca-cola 7up PG tipps with semi skimmed milk and something called squeezy honey board is creamy it means you could squeeze the honey rather than you know dip in a selection of Walkers crisps eg Worcester sauce flavor for prawn cocktail Carol a selection a selection of Cadbury's chocolate eg toffee crisps Twix or butter I mean I suppose what this shows to me though is what I've always thought about and you are a very ordinary guy when it comes to your eating tastes I would argue that Worcester sauce flavor Walker crisps are quite exhaustive but know that I have the same taste when I was a child you know all the things I used to like as a kid I still like so genuinely my tastes haven't changed at all do you think the secret to your success is actually that you are in many ways in the way you lead your life your tastes are quite average middle-of-the-road the kind of stuff that the mass market would like for sure absolutely right and I don't think you can make records other that you can make TV shows properly unless you can sit there as a listener or viewer you can't guess what people like it would be like me guessing what you want for dinner it's impossible I can tell you what I want so I base everything on my own tastes and I have you know fairly broad you know I would say quite simple taste so you think that actually in your entire judging you've never been brutal with people there's many many times I've watched the show back Adam absolutely appalled if only every story at such a perfect ending you have an iPod yeah I don't know how to use it though right no genuinely don't I keep being given them and I don't know how to use them I have an old gramophone player or no peers tell you I don't like I can't bear you know somebody who sits there with an iPod on and you can kind of half hear it they're kind of getting down to it it's like that to me is boring I like to listen to music you know in a kind of a more social type of thing you know I'm not somebody who could just put a record on on my own and sort of you know get into the lyrics no on your own at home you know one of your mansions do what kind of music what kind of music you actually like this thing - that lipid man shouldn't say almost nobody should appears I know much peers I know I mention is I do not live in a mansion that la home is a bloody great big mansion oh it's a nice house it's not a mansion would you call it it's a large only bedrooms in your large house um six how many servants in our servant mansions of the servants I have a collection of people who work with me in the house probably I'd know about seven or eight right what is the music that you would get one of them to put on for you I have a thing okay and machine where where loads of things are stored right so you could just click on you like certain musically I'm kind of like an old soul so I like anything from Marvin Gaye Stevie Wonder Frank Sinatra kind of classic R&B or or I love the whole big-band era to you apart from your own shows what telly would you like to watch I like classic old comedies things that are you like cartoons done I do I always show a lot of cartoons like what well I like all the old hanna-barbera ones like at a man Wacky Races Flintstones it actually puts me in a good mood you do that you wake up and your normal daily routines you get up about half 3:00 in the afternoon here and then you actually do sit in the bath and you watch the thing stones know what I believe in I think you have to go to go to bed in a good mood it's very important and you have to wake up in a good mood so I kind of have a routine where I have breakfast in bed and then I put the TV on and particularly in America because you can store everything i watch cartoons here it's got this image of you getting up in the morning now beating your chest and shouting yeah but never knew no I lie there and watch somebody else do yeah pathetic can you lead a normal life I do lead a relatively normal life the difference being is that I am totally and utterly consumed by my work to the point almost of an obsession so almost every night I will be working till 3:00 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning so my life is kind of controlled controlled by that how do you sleep I sleep very very late because time I think best is probably 2 or 3 in the morning and you have to take sleeping bills and stuff yeah every night almost every night yeah because it's partly it's because I'm looking forward to the following day and I also freaked out at the idea that I can't sleep said the more I think about it it bothers me but there will come a point if I get bored or it's too much where I would happily walk away seriously yeah what would it take just literally one day waking up IATA dear how I gauge everything to be honest with you which is Sunday nights when I was at school were the most miserable evenings of my life I mean literally 7 o'clock his ghastly religious program would come one than that and the theme tune would mean I've got to get ready now for tomorrow and more numbers they do your homework or whatever it was and I had this sickening feeling in my stomach because I dreaded Mondays so much and I always thought if I ever felt that way when I work it's time to stop you come close to her I came close last year when I looked at about June July and and my PA showed me my schedule for this year were in now I had an 18-month schedule which took me all the way up to December of this year every single day was practically planned and that really depressed me that I was now kind of being pulled along rather than doing what I want to do what's extraordinary about you is that you have built this multibillion-dollar Empire based on being a talent judge and yet no one has ever quite worked out what your talent is no I disagree with that what here allow me to ask you a few supplementary questions okay can you sing no dance no play an instrument badly can you read music no can you write music probably not YouTube where they go no I did God what do you think what do you think gives you the right to judge other people on their talent if you are so woefully apparently lacking yourself well here's what I think I think if you work in TV music and do what I do which i think is popular entertainment the viewers people who buy the records that they are they are basically the judge of what you do they decide whether they like it or not you know whether it's something which interests them and I think my talent is is that I have the ability to put myself in that position where I judge everything based on and what I like and and I'm very confident with that and I don't I don't guess I'm quite good I think reading when moods change circumstances change when something is fake or real I'm pretty good at that your talent actually is an incredible instinct for what the public will like yeah it is yeah I mean seriously when I watch an edit of one of our shows I'm sitting there and my board and my laughing am i interested am i emotional and if all those boxes don't tick there is an issue or you're in the show too much which is normally for resection but you know I so that's what I do I seriously make those those decisions based on you know really enjoyed that for an hour or am i struggling here do you have a wonder if your life or in a different way what you may have developed as a talent and when you were kid did you have any talent else no no all I had when I was when I was younger was I was always very curious and I still AM and I was never afraid to work hard and my dad always said to me the secret I think the success is you know depending on how much you much that success is is that you have to work hard and you have to be patient and you have to listen and and and I've always believed in that you know when I was a kid I was always you know doing jobs to make money for myself you know mowing the lawns or cleaning cars I used to love it because it was my money and my mum actually used to say this to us which is if we're paying for the summer holiday you've got to earn your spending money and it was just a brilliant thing to learn and I just love that and still now I'm a good listener and I'm very very very curious as to what's happening around me I could read a room I when I ask a question I'm genuinely interested in the answer and I just listen kids in particularly when kids coming down to the show and they're talking and and and it and they're telling me all these things again I actually do listen no dimension kids because a recent survey of British children found that and this is actually quite sickening the most famous people they believed in the whole wide world in third place God that one place in second place Her Majesty the Queen and in first place Simon Cowell read into that July I remember when that sympathy came out I don't think I've ever seen even by your standards a bigger grin I look kids you can't take that spear think you're more famous than God the Queen maybe but but you know like I said it's because my shows are popular piers you know that's the only reason you're in a situation you're popular t even though it pains me Jimmy T you are personally popular well I'd like you at people do like me thank God yeah I've been doing it for a while and then when I first went on the shows you know I didn't really know what I was doing and and you watched the shows back and you think you know that wasn't over the top you know it's all a bit panto villain or whatever and after a while you kind of relax into it and somebody said to me once you know do you ever think about what you're ever going to say and the truth is is that you can't because you have to be in the moment on power you say you don't think you're powerful and yet I have been witness to a dinner party at number 10 Downing Street with the Prime Minister and you where after about I'd say 20 minutes it rapidly became obvious to all of us that you thought you were running the country what look if you're gonna be there you mazels pretend to do it for five complete waste of time isn't it but do you think you have in all seriousness in terms of quantifying your power you probably have more influence over the British public now then Gordon Brown does I don't believe that I don't believe that Pearce I think that as I said you know I limit what I do to my shows and that's pretty much what I'm interested in outside of that is our certain causes which are important to me where again you can pick up the phone hopefully somebody will take you seriously you can do something about it but very very very very rarely Simon you've painted this picture yourself as mr. average but let's see what other people who the first year think I did not say this to average whatever total what people around you okay climbing cow love him or hate him definitely can't ignore him and this man believes he can walk on water and he ain't in blood so far it's a total control freak down to every last little detail he's like a kind of peacock are you can be talking to him you can be talking to him like this and as a mirror behind and you can literally say him to illustrate the full extent of Simon's vanity I'd like to show you his birthday gift to me this year did are he's very aware or a girl very television but he looks decent or what-have-you and his weight is what I think he watches everything yeah he has his own dress sense all the money in the world and such bad taste he's made his fortune from being honest perhaps a bit too honest Simon's very very rude when he wants to be and he can't bear fools you walk in and I'm not being rude here like a loser he speaks his mind and he over says what everybody's thinking u4d language your attitude it was urging on desperation and begging I think Simon can definitely go too far sometimes he doesn't realize what it's like to stand up there and I've stood up there and you say like you're a whipped dog but there is more to Simon than just his insults I remember them being a fly flying around and Livi was there with these newspaper trying to walk it and I'll kill it or whatever he's doing and I was a dunker the fly don't kill the fly and then he looked at me and he said you're exactly the same as him and apparently at the time Simon had had a lady bird on his windowsill for two weeks that he had been feeding and given water to which you'll probably go mad for me telling you but he's actually a really big softy don't really tell me about your relationship with ladybird I just go back to the you sound like a whipped dog it did actually end with me saying yes to the person I said sounded like a whip kind of like giving her a negative but then went to a positive to try and help her because I wanted her to build up herself why are you trying to pretend you I guess I think it was a little bit one-sided that clip unlike the ladybird so you think that actually in your entire eight years judging you've never been brutal with people I have you I know I'm not I'm not saying I'm kidding around with that but there's many many times I've watched the show back and I'm absolutely appalled seriously oh yeah because do you don't you know what it's like this you do the show you're not aware of what's happening in the room outside you know somebody just said you know my dog lassie died yesterday and blah blah blah I'm in a bad mood and you know awful and you see in that context it's very very difficult to watch and I've seen it firsthand on Britain's Got Talent when we do the auditions if you feel either that someone is being victimized or isn't quite up to the pressure whatever it may be or that someone's gone too far them you will stop filming I've seen you do it it happens and you know that when you're part of the audience as well we have people with us the kind of the audience can take over you you become part of a mob and when you watch the show back you realize that you've gone too far because what I try and do is that first of all everything's got to be done with a sense of humor here but at the same time I think it's got to be fair and I think that you've got to be able to take it back as much as obviously give it out and it's a delicate balance I'll be honest with you how thick-skinned to you about criticism not great to be honest with you I don't particularly like it one of the particular things you hate when they get it right Oh give me you about criticism not great to be honest with you I don't particularly like it one of the particular things you hate reading when they get it right you know it's quite painful I'm going to read you some quotes and people tom me and of Kassabian said about you pop moguls like Simon Cowell they take people and then destroy them I mean the big criticism I guess is that you build with the shows that you have being so popular you build people up for a crashing fall all the time look I think the reason everyone comes I mean I know the reason everyone comes on my shows is that because everything else they've tried has failed yes the process builds them up but once you've reached the point where you've won a show like mine it comes down to the artist as well how did you feel when Susan Boyle came on Britain's Got Talent for example and sailed through quite happily until the live week and then we're all aware there were problems and that she was finding it difficult coping do you feel responsible truthfully um I was so excited by what had happened by her audition tape as we all were but it just exploded all over the world I don't think that for one second when I saw that tape any of us suddenly went what are the repercussions for her you actually assume naively that everything's going to work the way that she's wanted it to and then in the in in the middle of the live shows and it was quite public what what happened is that she buckled under the pressure that's when you suddenly realize I haven't thought about this person as a human being and it was a real wake-up call I've gotta tell you were you tempted in that moment to pull her out of the show yeah I was yeah I brought her into my dressing room on the Friday and basically said to her look I don't know what you believe you have to do or don't have to do but you have a choice at this point and if you want to leave the show you can still walk away you know now for what you've achieved but this is too much we're going to support you on this decision but there was absolutely no way she was going to lead this competition and I made it clear to her at that point it says you've got to understand you may not win this and she looked me in the eye and said Simon I want to compete I want to take part in the competition I want to prove all the people wrong who doubted me sting recently said the X Factor is a preposterous shirt and you have judges who have no recognizable talent apart from self-promotion and devising and what to wear and how to look it is appalling well first of all anybody who at the age of 60 calls himself sting is an idiot I find those kind of people who live who really do live in mansions you know who come from you know quite humble beginnings and they're living you know in these stately homes professing to know everything about everything in the world and what the contestants may or may not feel they can say that because they've got everything they want in their lives but what they're really saying is anybody else who needs a shot shouldn't be allowed to do it this quote here a penniless pop music hustler trying to flog records order had crime against humanity attached to the label who's that as me you were born blunt I was always very very very naughty growing up you know anything which involved you know getting into trouble whatever I would do including telling your younger brother Nicholas the father Christmas didn't exist but you weren't happy with just telling him you decided to prove it didn't you I explained to him when he was about three because I've worked it out actually it isn't father Christmas coming in to deliver presence what I did was I woke up one day when my dad snuck in so the following year we put pots and pans over the door so that when he crept in to give us the present they all fell on his head and we woke up that true - Nicholas that father Christmas wasn't real and then to prove it as a we went upstairs we found the father Christmas outfit decided to set fire to it and nearly burn the house now is disturbing behavior kind of psychotic yes yes yeah yeah I mean this what an evil streak I would argue no I'd call it truthful piss back that's what I mean I mean where is the line really between being blunt and truthful and being that right oh poor little Nicholas I don't think he's ever recovered it's Mary remind you that how many years you edited newspapers I should be asking you that question unfortunately it's my show and I'm asking you the questions I don't know look I as I said I think you have to work out yourself how far you go if you don't have feelings for the job you're doing genuine feelings the public are going to work that out for themselves and they're not going to watch you because they know you're just being a fake idiot if you can say as I said hopefully what they're thinking as well and let me tell you thank god this country still has a sense of humor otherwise they wouldn't watch you know the shows we do and there are far more serious things going on in the world you become close to being hit by someone you've been rude to on stage genuine mino I mean seriously you've been hit a lot haven't you Jeremy Clarkson okay but I'm really hurt it was like being hit by I know I'm at the first year of American Idol because nobody had seen the show said that there was nothing to really gauge it on we were in New York and I found out the following day that about three people had come back one particular person who was upset at what I said and they were waiting out the back of me with baseball bats really oh my god yeah so um and then somebody wants a couple years later trying to get to the TV studios with a gun so it was closed down and then somebody else you got me you stopped it's acute it we had a whole trunk full of like machine guns why are you fighting it I don't know um just because it's so silly over over what it is you silly you got guys with machine guns okay I know but B Nobi D warming in American or 250 million guns in circulation do you worry seriously it only takes one idiot to get in and that's yet I think about it um but you can't let it worry you if it's going to happen it's going to happen and so I don't think about it too much now do you get death threats thing no never no not a thing sir I've been calling for way I've made it I mean I don't know if I don't read my emails because I don't like emails because a lot of them do contain a few kind of crazy things and it's kind of pointless reading all that and I don't like emails full stop I like talking to people you grew up in an eighth bedroomed hovel in Algeria your parents sent me to a private school where it's a fascinating word you were excluded what does that mean and what did you do um no actually no I was I think I was kicked out of one school I can't remember what specifically then I was dropped a year which meant I was in the same year as my brother and of course the two of us together were a nightmare and in the end they said one of us has got to go so he went and then the following year they kicked me out and then then I went to boarding school and I got caught in a pub and I was I love listen when he went to boarding school a few days after you got there you sent the following letter to your parents I'm gonna read it in Prague of it is hysterical dear Mum and Dad I hope you're happy to have finally got rid of me I also hope you're happy and you're centrally heated warm house and you have a lot to eat because I'm lying in a dormitory which has icicles on the inside and there is nothing to eat I'm freezing cold and hungry I hope you're finally satisfied Simon look like I was absolute I've got Teddy because I was 14 to 15 I was appalled I mean but I'm glad I went through it why do you think you were so rebellious because I was bored piers and and to be honest with you I kind of knew I'd learned everything I needed to learn I could add out I could read English I could write whatever you know every time I was sitting in chemistry lessons you know with stupid Bunsen burners and stuff I'm not going to do that when I'm thirty you know I get bored and I get frustrated and I just couldn't wait to leave eventually you landed a job at EMI records in the mailroom you were a pose boy yeah did you have any sense I mean did you feel this was a demeaning job were you actually a good little graph to them I know I thoroughly enjoyed it I mean no it doesn't even enter your mind demeaning you know you're just happy to get in you know you at the ground and it was at an age where if you started at the bottom and you were seen to work hard you would you would always be you know promoted it was it was always except you quickly I mean you showed your entrepreneurial skills because you very quickly broke away from me and my and you formed your own record label too early if I'm being honest with you I got out the post room I was given a good job and I was persuaded to do something and I didn't have the experience so I probably did it a bit early in hindsight but I was very very impatient at that point there's no doubt you're a very effective boss now had to learn the hard way and I want to take you back to the early 80s Simon already had his own record label when he spotted a glamorous woman dancing in a club she was exactly what he was looking forward first time I saw Simon I could quite shy because there was this very hunky guy in a very tight fist with long sort of flicked David Cassidy hair dark and I thought he's really cute I think when Simon saw Sunita in the early days she was young she was cute she was sexy and he talked fancy her and I can make her a star as well actually he sidled up to me and sort of said hello and he said what's your name what do you do and I said well my name is Nita and I'm a singer and he went over and sort of actually pulled me onto his lap sat down put me onto that what if you a singer darling why don't you sing me a song Simon liked what he heard had to release her first single so macho three times before became the biggest selling single of a year and no expense was spared on the video and I remember Simon calling me quick turn on the radio and though they would like and zooming into the charts this week it's Anita with so macho and we literally scream for the whole track eager for another sunita hit Simon approached legendary producer Pete Waterman the thing about Simon is he is he is is like a dog with a boat Simon got his way toy boy is another top ten success and with it the fledging media mogul threw parties to impress none of us were you know wealthy but you know Simon's parties were just lavish like Roman orgies that's the only way you can describe them this was us in the 80s dressed up drinking champagne in our shoulder pads thinking we were fabulous Simon was always a millionaire just a wouldn't a million in the bank the Simon's luck eventually ran out despite the heads his rental company collapsed he turned up at his mum's door with just five pounds to his name it was shattering for him to have to move back in with his parents again at the age of 30 son who never complained never ever ever felt sorry for himself he just was determined to do slick about it and he did you're 30 years old you got no money literally you down to a few quid and you're heading home to your mum and dad what's going through your mind I was in a cab and I was working out I'm not sure whether the five pounds is going to cover cover the camper I mean literally it was that was it it was all gone so that was my only thought it was it was during the 1980s it was it was a time where everybody was borrowing a ton of money it was the yuppies it was driving Porsches whatever whatever everything was borrowed or everything was mortgaged and the whole lot literally came crashing down and I would the bank I'd know three or four hundred thousand pounds had to sell my house my car in a strange way it was incredibly liberating because you know everything wasn't mine it belonged to somebody else and I never really missed it because it wasn't actually mine in the first place what did your mom say when you walked through the door oh she was really happy I couldn't wait to get me back you know they were absolutely fine and it was very interesting was a time like that you really realized who your friends are and my friends really were my friends I wasn't embarrassed you know I paid back the bank loan bought an old sports car which I loved an old tr6 for seven grand used to bomb around in that and I just thought this time you know I'm not I'm gonna do it properly I'm gonna take my time I'm not gonna borrow money and I kind of in a weird way enjoyed it how did you get back on your feet was there a person who said you know what I still believe in you I've seen you know my dad really more than anything else because he you know when I went back to lived there I mean he they had a nice flat in London um you know it was it was fine I mean what do you say to you though it just basically said you look you've just learnt a lesson you know he didn't really preach other than you've got to do it properly when you got a bit of power and you had your own gig one of a better phrase what kind of boss were you well that's a good question because I mean in in in the first you know 8 10 years or however long it was when I when I first started we only had two or three people we know working in the office I mean it was tiny tiny so I'd never really felt like a boss to them it was just you know we were all hustling in those days trying to make a living do you think it takes to make a good boss well I think first of all you you you've got to be as I've always said you've got to be a good listener and you got to motivate people I'll pay them a lot of money they'll look after them I can't ever imagine anyone wanting to leave me you have five people we've moved them on Kate Thornton do we okay I'm a common thing if you don't mind me just something there is that in each case you've got somebody else to do the dirty work well with Kate I did probably did I should have done it myself yeah be bothered me that we'd fallen out over it and eventually I called her and I said look I think you know you and I have got to deal with this because she's still angry and I want you to understand what actually happened and then we agreed that you know we'd be okay I mean Louie became unsecured bond because he tried and then he came back I honestly didn't think you care I mean that's what we thought at the time maybe the show needed moving on I interviewed him after you fired him but before he went back and he was actually devastated he was but but he's also quite hurt you hadn't called him yes now have you regret that yes I do yeah yeah I do when something like this happens and we haven't done it a lot but it does happen it's a very very public thing if you like the people as well I mean it's something you do not want to do because it becomes incredibly personal but you're right it is a cowardly thing and I think you just you have to do it yourself but it's not something I would ever look forward to doing can you admit when you're wrong yes when was the last time you did that a long time ago do you or do you actually if you work with me you know what I'm like I you know I actually think it's more fun in a strange way admitting that you've made a mistake and fixing it rather than living in this bubble where you believe everything is fantastic what do you think the biggest mistake you've ever made it biggest mistake I'm going to be honest piers and say I don't have any regrets because I think you have to go through a painful process I didn't really mean if you regretted it but where you actually think you made an error I trusted somebody without contract you know I do a lot of deals on a handshake people we still work with now we don't have contracts with companies but we've never needed them but there been a couple of occasions where I've looked someone in the eye shaking hands on a deal and then I got screwed on the deal and I regret that what about an error of judgment by you in terms of a band that got away or something well I mean I remember I always offered take that and I said to the manager at the time I'll sign them but not with the fat one has the fat one reminded you of this mini mini time good actually no fat me more no today I helped him lose a lot away but I realized that made a mistake afterwards tried to get them you know back with me there was a story that I turned down the Spice Girls never turn down the Spice Girls I was i fat offered the manager double what the other rahul company had offered to pay them but it was too late but you know when it happens it's horrible when it happens but you have to learn by that you learn from your mistakes and you can't blame other people you just try and rectify and make sure it doesn't happen again your mum said she'd never seen you that emotional almost like she didn't imagine you can be like that I shut myself off totally and I just couldn't accept it if only every story had such a perfect ending grunts whiskey sponsors Piers Morgan's life stories everyone as a story detail Walkers crisps are made with no artificial colors or preservatives that's why it's one of the best darn crisps that ever lived you know spray having hundreds at channels it's motley crue them all to find what you want is well you know on your land with Virgin Media's TiVo box you can search for your favorite show actor or director I'll find loads of stuff they've done in seconds easy we think it's the best way to watch TV ever but what do you think there's more online you truly one of your exes nicknamed you mummy look because of your desire to please your mother mother look because me and my brother is so competitive when we were whatever we were doing if because like diving into a pool we'd always get another look below so yeah tell me about your monk is that I've known your mom a long time she's it wonderful lady very glamorous and very smart and obviously I think the one person that I've always seen you be absolutely respectful to she she's a character she's just got a great sense of humor she's got incredible energy but she's still your mom you know so if I do something wrong you know she talks to me like I'm three years old and I kind of at like three when I'm just showing you a bottle showing at Simon I didn't like what you were wearing I didn't like what she was saying exactly those shouldn't how could you be so rude you should apologize to these people bla bla bla bla bla listen to her sometimes at other times I have got a habit of doing this and then I can hear a fitna showing her I'm really sorry mum goodbye but you know like I said she still your mum how often do you talk to her talk to about three or four times a week we like friends as well as being you know mum and son and is she is she proud of you or she just really worried about you I think she's but she's proud now yeah when do you think she would be happy if you just finally settled yes but she was always nervous first of all she wants me to get married and then she was nervous that I was going to meet the wrong person and I know with the right person she would be thrilled here turn to the subject before evening the only thing about you is that you have stayed incredibly close to all your exits yeah they like your best friend they really are like but how have you done there are men watching this thinking how does he do this well I think it depends how you break up I mean if you have a bad breakup because one of you is cheating I mean then you know it's quite difficult to remain friends I think in that kind of respect if you drift apart which which happened you know with a few of my exes I still like them as people so I don't see any reason why they shouldn't still be my friends and there's a lot of them Jacky Sunita they're very very close to me still because they they're like my family now so we've established your success in the music business wasn't just confined to Sunita but you're now about to hit the real big-time it was a record company BMG the Simon really started to make his mark to the first the world ever heard of Simon Cowell was when he launched the music careers of the zig and zag the two puppets and Robson & Jerome this man should not be choosing who gets a record contract and who doesn't the more he steps away from music the better the world will be so many people a snobby about music and Simon isn't snobby and that's what I love about Simon music snob or not Simon was starting to make his presence felt he rules with a rod of iron you know people don't realize how how tough Simon is to please that rod came into play when he was looking to sign an unknown Irish boyband IOU he told me I had to change the name change the image changed for a guy basically get a new band the first time I met Simon and I did a very bad audition and he didn't like me at all I said Shane don't worry you know I believe in you I know you're a great singer I want you to change your hair lose a bit of weight and he won't even know the difference the gamble was on to fool Simon he came back four months later and we walked on the stage probably the most nerve-wracking moment of my life still to this day and he goes who's a new guy Luthan that's a new guy a guy I got really the other guy he was terrible so and obviously you know you believe Louis just said whatever it has to say to get a record you know for us it was like tell him anything so he lied blind to Simon I owe you became Westlife and gave Simon a smash hit number one but what should have been one of the best days of his life soon turned into the worst when he called his mother from America to tell her the news you rang when he was I've never known him so excited it was just dance these lads to come over there and they're going to get number one but unbeknown to Simon his beloved father Eric had died only hours earlier he just went the pieces have a close family that it was being shocked expectedly and he really did that time I've never realized how how emotional he was this happened what are your memories of that day just you know just the the two positions of just total you know euphoria because you believed in the band and I wanted to share the news with my mum and dad and then you know the news of what had happened and I had to get back to England and you know it was like a fear were you I was in Boston you rang your mum that was that would do you in speech it would you normally talk to us them both of them to tell them the news and my mum was acting in a kind of a strange way and then she called me back and told me and what was your immediate reaction to that yeah yes it was sudden cousin wasn't good but you know it you just got to deal with it and you know went back and realized you know you first responsibility is that you got to look after your mum and it was it was a horrible horrible horrible time like I said you believe everyone's going to live forever and and they don't and all the stuff you think you care about you know they hit records and stuff like that it's just meaningless you know is it sad for you it must be the he didn't see what happened next the fabulous success you then enjoyed having seen you at rock-bottom yeah yeah he would have got a kick out of this you know and I often think about that you know I would like to I'd like to have seen his reaction because I think he would have found it you know good fun you know he had a great sense of humor like that your mum said that she'd never seen you that emotion almost like she didn't imagine he could be like that because I I don't I can't admit things like that's why I can't go to funerals and stuff like that you know I find it very very difficult to to deal with that kind of reality shut myself off totally because it affects me so badly and then because I had to deal with that it was the hardest thing I ever had because I'd never lost anyone in my life you know it was the first you know thing like that that ever happened and I just couldn't accept it how hard was it for you to go back to work he's obviously career-wise perversely you've never been more successful Westlife this new band exploded to number one it must have been an extraordinarily difficult period for you trying to juggle your your - like I couldn't deal with that I had to take some time off I think I took three or four weeks off couldn't really talk to anyone and the last week I did what I always do which is I was kind of on my own which is how I like to deal with these things and once I felt okay I can deal with it then then I dealt with it you have anything you wish to say I am smitten with Michigan strange thing I suppose this thing to you talk about your family in such a loving way and knowing how close you all are and then what a strong marriage your parents had for so long is why you at the age of 50 have never got married ha ha do you know why because I never really believed that I could be with one person for the rest of my life I always thought either she would hate me or I'd get bored or whatever which you know I had a reputation of doing uh I was kind of happy which I thought I really had it all I had girlfriends why no why do I need to get married you said in one interview early on a few years ago and I think you were Gretton saying it you when asked to name the number of women you'd slept with you said well let me work this out here it's something like three or four a year 25 years about 75 yeah late wrong is I bet you know what I was kind of doing it odd I didn't really come up with another I like genuinely regret saying that cuz once you've said it you kind of stuck with it you know I had a few girlfriends what do you like in a woman it's kind of I have a type I guess but come on what's the time I don't think I have eight well it's very difficult to describe other than slim dark hair very pretty you can say that yeah but once you've gone past that is a lot of beautiful women in the world then then it comes down to to chemistry and whether you really you know love is is is something which is quite confusing you've got to really really like somebody you know because there's a thin thin line between love and hate I've seen it happen you've got to really like them and then it develops into something deeper and as long as you can retain that chemistry as well it's the most incredible feeling how often have you been in love properly in love not very often one hand yeah yeah yeah one one hand yeah and at the time you confused lust with love you know when you in your teens and stuff like that it's it's it's it's a very difficult thing to describe other than you know when you are how are we when you lost your virginity you've been so nice made it all horrible again I was 17 do you remember it mmm how would you describe the experience ah 3 out of 10 oh yeah and I was probably nine I lied to her and said that I had already lost my virginity you know I hadn't got a clue what I was doing um and I wouldn't look back on that and saying it was the greatest night in my life because it wasn't you've had long term relationships we've all read about them over the years and there are reports that you are Smith at the moment were they delightful young lady called Mishka who is over there look at the beautiful was evening and she looked equally beautiful emerging from a restaurant wearing what appeared to be a vast diamond ring on her engagement finger it would be what with I'm simply stating a fact right you have anything you wish to say I am smitten with Michigan you see you see the one I think she's the one and I can actually hear the sound of breaking hearts all over the world there are millions of women watching this game no how would you describe her you know it's um you just know you know when you found somebody special and I feel very very happy for her have you ever been this happy do you think I don't think I've ever seen you this happy um probably you know I I do feel happy at the moment yet yeah I feel content yeah in your book your autobiography I don't mean to be rude you actually cited a list of celebrity couples and you gave your predictions for how you thought the romance would go really this is 2003 okay Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston you said true love will last forever Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore won't last a year jay-z and Beyonce dubious Guy Ritchie and Madonna lasts forever Paul McCartney and Heather Mills last forever the only woman got right was P Diddy and himself true love and it's been hard to find proper love when you're famous is it difficult to trust people well it's not a question of that III think that it's quite difficult if you if you kind of publicly go out with somebody you know you're making quite a public statement so you've got to be fairly positive you know once once you go public that you know this is something quite serious given your public views about children could they also change could there be little fireman's running around I think I possibly need to have a few more Simon's around really the thing about kids it's like marriage you know it's something which you have to believe you're in something which is for the long-term then 100 percent I want to move to the moment when you went from behind the scenes music producer genius all these hits and then suddenly television rears its head and you are offered a job as a judge on pop stars but you don't take it in the first series why was that I was always getting people come into my office to offered me those kind of things you know could we do like a fly-on-the-wall documentary and I was always wary about doing it because didn't he really point to it and then when pop stars came along I was offered to be the judge and initially I said yes and then when I thought about it I thought actually the process of watching me put together a group on TV I don't feel comfortable with that so I turned it down but I had a bad feeling about it because I realized that by turning it down I turned away the recording rights and given them away to a competitor and that's what bothered me did you also slightly think I could have done that job when I saw the show back yes I thought I probably could do a better job yeah mainly because this is what I've done all my life I mean this was I've always auditioned do you remember your first day filming on Popeye well we'd spent so much time planning the show I mean it really really was like it was like months and months and months of preparation and suddenly we're up in Manchester I think we were and we hadn't really thought about what we were going to do actually in the audition room we haven't actually discussed that and I said to one of the producers how do you want to do it this is a million ways to doing an audition well I think the best way of doing it is that you sit behind the desk and someone will come in they'll sing then they should leave the room and you should discuss it and we'll win them back into the room sounds a bit long-winded and we did it for about seven auditions and in the end I just you know I can't I just can't do this you've got to tell them to their face there and then with you like them on I mean this is just too painful and that decision changed everything yeah I think you did your TV career was up and running but nobody not even you could have predicted just how crazy it was gonna get after two series of Pop Idol Simon wanted a change so he created a brand new show in which he would star and pull the shocks the x-factor the main thing that silent ones out of a TV show is success he's crazily crazily demanding he'll phone you four or five in the morning UK time and you'll just you won't even apologize for phoning you're waking you up the show divided the nation I would describe it as lightweight populist drivel that glorifies karaoke and tries to pass it off as music 20 million viewers disagree now the Simon was top dog he was able to take control of both the acts and the judges the game had begun Simon always gets reworks my series for Simon was bored so he messed around with the judges nearly out Brian Friedman in for a second Lily's back don't even know game I didn't really warm to Danny that you at all because she was a bit of an ice queen to me to be quite honest with you nor did Sharon Osborne had quit in series 5 Simon replaced her with Cheryl Cole meaning tons more attention for his show it's kind of worked out well for me fast opposed but a mag recent series defy convention for the first time the boss didn't get his way so Savin only gets the Christmas number one and you didn't do this year Simon's Christmas was about to be ruined by a couple from Essex the lost a web campaign to keep his act off the number one slot the campaign worked Rage Against the Machine stormed to number one pushing Joe McElderry into second spot not a position that mr. Cowell is used to I was gutted for Joel more than I was for saying this campaign and the song they chose very succinctly said we are fed up of being spoon-fed just watered-down crap year after year I've got to be like to be terribly disloyal but I have to when I heard they had actually beat number one I did laugh out loud I thought he's gonna be absolutely well raging I've got to be honest with you up for about two or three days I did get really really sulky um and then I suddenly thought about it I think you know what I'm actually quite impressed with what these two people have done and you know there were two more days to go we were inching ahead and I think you know what I'm going to call these people and say I think he does a fantastic job win or lose and I called them and we had a great conversation and and it really made me realize actually this is a really good thing that's happened because we all got sort of fat and arrogant and we can't be beaten and blah blah blah and we could and I found it quite excited I still would have loved about the number one but I kind of enjoyed the process in a way so what would you say to the lady from the enemy who clearly has a rather sustained full view of your influence on the music industry where I have a problem with people like that is that they sneer at what normal people like it's like food critics my belief is like when you make TV shows if you want to eat fish and chips and baked beans on toast compared to caviar whatever it is which I'll oh it's your choice it's absolutely no difference but people like that would have the sort of they'd like to create a sort of a taste police force with people going into their home sneering at what they like that's why I would say they're not criticizing me they are sneering at the people who buy my records or watch my TV shows and I don't like that if they were running entertainment in this country it would be the most boring place in the world I know from judging America's Got Talent how pretty demanding you are of the judges how you believe our job is to find big stars yeah and you're serious about it on demand you think this is this is the job description well I actually said me but I could say what I said to you okay I said it I said suppress it to you this year that if you can't find a star on this season of America's Got Talent you don't have a job because that is what your job is to do and you actually mean it only for sure but otherwise why have judges on the show at the end of the day they've got to actually do their job well which is they've got to find talented people spot talented people and hopefully turn them into better performers how vain are you not that vain action action I'm actually not as you kept a straight face over because I know how you kept a straight face if only every scale from one recurring theme from all your friends and family is vanity yes how vain are you not that vain action action I'm actually not as you kept a straight face oh because I know how you kept a straight face you change would you say you've changed much in the past few years I've changed but my forehead hasn't lolly you haven't had Bo top never so a face Quinn your head doesn't move its natural beauty I never had Botox she have I swear anything you like I've never had your head would differ so you had it yes of course I've had it how often did you have us a weekly jab oh look I mean I don't see that for me it's like cleaning my teeth you know something makes your teeth whiter or something stops you have in life to clean those because they're not really I think that you I look after myself you know I well and stuff like that but I wouldn't call myself super vain no have you had plastic surgery or doing like a facelift anything I don't be ridiculous huh you certainly haven't have you know very clear would you have it uh no I think you've got be very careful as a guy in particular that you can end up looking really really weird this is your life like in LA on America general uh it's not much difference to living in London really you know you have your friends the restaurants you like to go to I'm not sucked into the whole kind of showbiz thing I don't go to many parties there's no one I particularly want to meet so it's it's kind of normal everything normal I mean you know you're on a successful TV show I mean that's that's abnormal but uh you know I like it there do you like American yeah I really really do they're like us I mean genuinely I mean we are like you know that brother and sister we are so similar they've got exactly the same sense of humor as we do I don't feel like we're in a different country anymore who would have thought this cheeky little boy from Elstree would go on to conquer America and become the highest-paid man on television when you're a big star and you're on the biggest challenge a legend in the world you're powerful but it took a while for America and fellow judge Paula Abdul in particular to warm - Simon's brand of brutal honesty my advice would be if you want to pursue a career in the music business don't believe was Paula's first time sitting with him and he said something rude normal Simon asked you know when you enter this competition did you really believe that you could become you're standing on now the American Idol yes sir within your death and it was happen is it shocking she was emotionally distraught that first few days don't look at me we in America weren't East - that you say all those things behind people's back you just don't say him took my faces Simon recently announced that he'll be leaving American Idol the biggest show in the world to bring the x-factor to the States Phil in America for eight years it's natural wanting to do your own show this man wants to get it right but heard if he wants to be next to him on the judging panel Simon said to me the best judging panel would be if he could clone himself and have four of himself I don't think that would work I think one Simon's Lenny for anybody you just made a huge career decision you've given up American Idol which is the biggest show on American TV has been for eight seasons I mean this is a big moment for you isn't it IIIi walked away from in the end piece because the day I got bored you know of just being on on the same show year after year I had great fun I'm very grateful I really seriously have one of the best times of my life but you just get to a point where you go it's time to move on and yes I wanted to bring x-factor to America because it was C crazy not to but it's a gamble for sure but it has to be like that sometimes I'm not going into it with the belief that it's definitely going to work our work as hard as possible to try and make it work but there are no guarantees but I kind of like that it's like it's like a delicious thrill I kind of get a buzz off that do you think that you will end it before other people call for you to end it generally your screen correct I will no piers I mean genuinely you just I think I've got a good instinct for when people have had enough and when it's time to move on and I don't have any problems with that whatsoever finally can I come to your wedding voluntarily

Channel: James Factor

Views: 290,647

Rating: 4.6253686 out of 5

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Id: Cp3QGo7P0Xs

Length: 67min 45sec (4065 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 12 2016