Simon Cowell has received more than a few odd requests over the years — but one of the strangest ones came with a lofty paycheck.
“People used to ask me to be rude to them,” Cowell, 65, recalled on the Wednesday, May 7, episode of the “How to Fail” podcast, noting that he’d turn all of them down. “Then, one time, I was in a restaurant and this guy comes up to me and he said, ‘I love your show. Would you take a picture?’ [I say], ‘Sure.’”
According to Cowell, the man subsequently introduced his wife and asked whether the America’s Got Talent personality would “judge [them] having sex.”
“I’m, like, ‘Are you winding me up?’ They went, ‘No, we’ll pay you,’” Cowell claimed. “[I said], ‘Well, how much?’ It was actually a lot of money. I thought, ‘Do I? No, I just can’t do it.’”
Cowell further divulged that the couple allegedly offered him $150,000 to judge their bedroom habits.
“It was just so bizarre,” he said. “That’s something I really have enjoyed, though, weirdly. I am very shy, like, I can’t go to a pre-party. It’s my worst thing in the world, making small talk with someone I don’t know. If we have a common subject, I’m pretty good, but years ago, if I had to go to a party … and had to talk to people, it [was] torture.”
According to Cowell, his eventual fame helped break the ice.
“So, instantly, they know you and you’re talking about something I like, which is the shows or the artists,” Cowell said. “Now, Lauren [Silverman, my fiancée] is brilliant in these positions. I’m hopeless. Joan Collins had a birthday party and I said to Lauren, ‘I’ll go, but we have to time it ‘cause there will be a horrible stand-up, pre-drinks [that] I can’t do.”
Cowell ended up having to speak to fellow partygoers for approximately 45 minutes.
Since America’s Got Talent debuted in June 2006, the show has gone through many changes — including swapping out the panel of judges from time to time. The series, created by Simon Cowell, kicked off with Piers Morgan, David Hasselhoff and Sharon Osbourne serving as judges. Later, the show expanded to four judges and Cowell […]
“I was dying inside,” he lamented. “I was so stressed, [and] by the time I got to the table, I left after about 30 minutes because I just can’t deal with it. [It was] draining.”
Cowell further cited his self-proclaimed social ineptitude as one of his biggest life failures, also detailing how difficult it is to judge and nurture individuals’ talents — outside of the bedroom, that is.
“When you find someone who’s got talent, you can’t hold onto them forever. That’s a fact, unfortunately. You have to let them go,” he said, specifically referencing forming One Direction on The X Factor in 2010. “It’s a hard thing even with my son [Eric], there’s going to be a point in his life where, whatever he does, there’s going to be pressure. What I can say to him, is ‘Just stay grounded. There’s always going to be a temptation of certain things and always know that you can come to me.’”
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