Simon Cowell Shows Off Emotional Side During Interview About Dad’s Death
March 1, 2010 at 2:34 AM by AHN · Leave a Comment
London, United Kingdom (CNS) – In a rare display of emotion, “American Idol” mean judge Simon Cowell showed his emotional side during an interview on TV when he talked about his father’s death in 1999. Speaking on Piers Morgan’s “Life Stories,” the music mogul recounted his heartache during a “horrible, horrible time” when his dad, music executive Eric Cowell, died.
He said he called his mother, Julie, to share his excitement over his managed boyband Westlife’s first No. 1 single. But his “total euphoria” was quickly replaced with sadness when his mom was forced to tell him the unfortunate news.
A video link featuring his mother seemed to create a lump in his throat. Julie said that when she told him the heartbreaking news, he “just went to pieces? he was very shocked, it was unexpected. And he really did that time, I never realized how emotional he was until this happened.”
Simon answered when asked about his immediate reaction, “Oh Piers it was, it wasn’t good. But you’ve just got to deal with it, you know, and I went back and realized that your first responsibility is that you’ve got to look after your mom. It was a horrible, horrible time, like I said.”
He told Piers, “You believed everyone is going to live forever and they don’t.”
The elder Cowell gave Simon his first break in the music industry when he secured him a job in the mailroom of EMI Music Publishing. Eric also had his son’s back when he went bankrupt by letting him moved back into the family house.
Simon, who is now worth millions of dollars, describes his wealth and hit records as “meaningless” when confronted with Eric’s death.
“I can’t admit things, that’s why I can’t go to funerals and stuff like that. I find it very, very difficult to deal with that kind of reality. I 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’ve never lost anyone in my life, you know, it was the first thing like that ever happened and I just couldn’t accept it.”
The full interview will be aired on “Piers Morgan’s Life Stories” in the U.K. on March 6.
