"Yes, I've had Botox, but not in an obsessive way. Then again, every guy I know who works in the City has had it now." "But yes, I like to take care of myself. I work out. I take lots of vitamins. What can I say? I think I look good for my age [he's 48]."
"In the morning, I have a very set routine - Brenda, my housekeeper, brings me breakfast in bed, and it's always the same thing: Porridge, papaya juice, fresh fruit and a smoothie. I read the papers, have a bath, and everything is very calm."
Simon says the turning point in his life came when he was 29 years old. The record company he was working for went under and Cowell - heavily dependent on his shares - went with it. It made him vow never to depend on anyone else ever again in his life.
"On one level, going bust didn't bother me. It was the Eighties, and there wasn't the stigma about bankruptcy that you might think. My mates weren't bothered. My dad was in business - he knew that it happened, too. He loaned me the money to bail me out, and I got a loan from the bank to pay him back. It was £1,000 a month, I seem to remember.
"In a way it was exciting to start all over again because I did it on such different terms. Every penny I earned was, well, mine - and no one was going to take it away again. It made life so much sweeter.
"The biggest shock when I lost it all was the realisation that so much of my life had been out of my control. When I started to make the money back, I vowed that it would never happen again.
