- In a cruel twist of fate, the news of Simons’s dad’s death came on the same day he had his first number one in America with boyband Westlife
Simon Cowell has opened up about his biggest regret in a rare show of emotion.
T X Factor boss and music mogul, 63, is famously reserved but in an exclusive chat with TheMirror.com he revealed that he’s devastated his parents didn’t get to see his biggest dream come true.
The dad-of-one admits his parents would have been ‘so proud’ that his America’s Got Talent acts are taking over Las Vegas with a sellout residency at the Luxor Resort.
Sadly neither his mum Julie or dad Eric are here to witness Simon’s success in the glittering Vegas he dreamed of as a child growing up in Hertfordshire in the 1960s.
‘I just wish my mom and dad were still here to see that,’ he said.
‘They would’ve been so proud because I was talking to them when I was a kid about things I’d do in Vegas. They knew how much it meant to me so yeah, it’s everything.’
Her death came 16 years after his dad died of a heart attack at the age of 81.
Simon previously said of losing his father: ‘I can’t lie, it was the worst day of my life. It was a horrible horrible time.’
In a cruel twist of fate, the news of Simons’s dad’s death came on the same day he had his first number one in America with boyband Westlife.
Now after Simon’s shows including AGT and American Idol have dominated prime time US TV for over two decades – he admits he doesn’t take his success for granted.
Simon admits it’s ‘difficult to put into words’ how much his US success means to him ‘because I was so awful in school’.
‘All my teachers said to me I’ll be terrible when I go to work,’ he said. ‘So, to see a show (poster) of mine on this massive building in Vegas is honestly incredible.’
Simon doesn’t take the raft of talent from AGT for granted and is still astonished by the performers that come through the show.
Ventriloquist comic Terry Fator landed one of the biggest paid residences in Las Vegas history while other artists like Darci Lynne Farmer, Matt Franco, Grace VanderWaal, Shin Lim and Jackie Evancho have become household names.
‘I mean there were a couple of moments where I did think, yeah, this has all been worthwhile because look, you couldn’t make a show called All Stars unless you had stars,’ he said. ‘I was quite overwhelmed at one point. It was like, my God, they’re absolutely brilliant.’
