Simon Cowell Looks Like A Model Following 60-Lb Weight Loss

Dec 07, 2020

Notorious talent-show judge Simon Cowell, 61, now has a new lease on life thanks to a strict, healthy lifestyle he follows, which includes regular exercise and a well-balanced, nutritious diet. The singing and talent judge has been famous for his work on shows such as 'American Idol,' 'The X Factor,' 'Britain's Got Talent,' as well as 'America's Got Talent.' However, instead of raving about his sometimes harsh criticism, fans are in awe over Simon Cowell's weight loss. Now 60 lbs lighter than in the beginning of 2019, the music mogul credits a health scare from just a few years ago for pushing him into making a healthy change. Read on to see what he looks like these days and what he has been doing since the electric bike accident he experienced back in August of 2020.

Simon Phillip Cowell was born on October 7th, 1959 in Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom to a middle-class family. The biography section on his website reports that after dropping out of school at 16, his mother, Julie Cowell, helped him find a job in the mailroom for record label EMI, where his father, Eric Cowell, served on the board of directors. Simon showed signs of having a good critical eye from a young age. When he was just four years old, he told his mother that she looked “like a poodle,” wearing a white furry pillbox hat.

Simon stayed in his role as a post boy until he got rehired as an assistant in the record label. The new role gave him responsibilities for scouting new talent and helping the record label’s artists with development.  He left EMI in the early 1980s to form his own record label, E&S Music. When that did not work out, he formed another one, Fanfare Records, in 1985. But after four years, that company folded, too.

He was bankrupt and had to move back in with his parents. But Cowell says that he felt relieved instead of embarrassed from it, saying: "Everything went – my house, my Porsche, all the things I thought were important. I had nice food every night at home. I was quite happy, really."

His next company enjoyed some success when it signed with artists like Curiosity Killed The Cat, 5ive, Westlife, and Robson and Jerome. Robson and Jerome’s version of the Righteous Brothers hit Unchained Melody topped the best-selling singles in 1995.

But it was his current label Syco Records that catapulted him to becoming a multi-millionaire. According to celebritynetworth.com, Cowell has a net worth of $600 million.

In 2017, Simon Cowell was rushed to the hospital after fainting on the stairs in his home while getting a glass of milk during an insomnia spell. According to 'The Sun,' He was diagnosed with low blood pressure and, as a result, lost the two first days of live filming for X Factor UK.

"Sometimes we get a reminder that we're not invincible and this was certainly mine. It was a huge shock," Cowell told the 'The Sun' at the time. "They think I fainted because I had low blood pressure and so I have got to really take good care of myself to sort that out. After all I am a dad and have more responsibility than ever."

Cowell blamed his fatty eating habits and unhealthy sleeping patterns for the incident and decided he needed to make a change. After consulting with a doctor friend, the 60-year-old cut out sugar, wheat, dairy, meat, and fish from his diet. "Within 24 hours I changed my diet and I've not looked back since," Cowell told 'The Sun' in 2019. "You feel better, you look better.

"I cut out a lot of the stuff I shouldn't have been eating and that was primarily meat, dairy, wheat, sugar — those were the four main things," Cowell added.

Cowell admits that the change to a plant-based, holistic diet did not come easy to him, as some of his favorite foods included "jam tarts, hamburgers, and spaghetti Bolognese." After making a few intuitive switches, however, like almond yogurt instead of dairy in the morning, or almost no milk for his tea, he realized that it wasn't as difficult as he first thought.

"My memory's better, my energy's better," Cowell told 'Metro.' "And when you've got a five-year-old you've got to be able to keep up with them because the minute they're awake they're all over the place."

Speaking to Ellen Degeneres on her show, Cowell told of how happy he was that he could now keep up with his son. 

"His energy is unbelievable. When he wakes up he's like, 'Daddy, daddy, daddy,' and before he goes to sleep, 'Daddy, daddy, daddy.' So I was conscious of the fact I have to keep up with him energy-wise and someone recommended this as the way to go. I tried it and I stuck to it, it's one of the easiest things I've ever done."

Earlier this year, Cowell told Extra TV that he had lost 60 lbs since adopting his plant-based diet. With the ongoing pandemic having people spending more time home than ever, he said that quarantine has made it easier for him to continue his healthy lifestyle. "I'm doing a bit of cooking," Cowell shared, adding, "I'm exercising. Funny enough, more during this time as well, sticking to the diet." 

Famous media personality or not, Cowell still has an Achilles heel; his son's pizza cravings can do wonders for tempting the 60-year-old. "That's the number one thing I miss," he said.

This past August in 2020, Cowell was rushed to the hospital after falling off a new electric trail bike in his Malibu home backyard, breaking his back. According to BBC News, the music mogul has since undergone many medical procedures, including the installation of a metal rod in his back. Some days following the accident, Cowell reassured fans by tweeting an update on his condition. He wrote: "Some good advice... If you buy an electric trail bike, read the manual before you ride it for the first time. I have broken part of my back. Thank you to everyone for your kind messages."

Since then, Cowell has been keeping a low profile as he recovers and has taken time off from judging on both America's Got Talent and Britain's Got Talent. And while he might be keeping hush about his health's status, his famous co-workers have been hinting at the no-nonsense judge returning to work sooner than we might expect. 

"He is going to come to the finale, but do not tell anyone," His fellow AGT judge, Heidi Klum, told The Mirror in September.

Cowell seems to be doing more than well on his road to recovery since the surgeries. On Wednesday, December 16th, the Daily Mail reported that Cowell has been spending the holidays in Barbados with his partner Lauren Silverman and their son Eric, six. The family was spotted enjoying themselves at the beach and going on jet ski rides.

Cowell and Silverman were photographed holding hands regularly as they strolled along the beach as the sun set over the island. Cowell showed off his slimmed-down body as he enjoyed the beach day topless, while Silverman flaunted her figure in a black and white swimsuit. According to HELLO! Magazine, Cowell owns a luxury villa in the Caribbean country and often goes on retreats there.

Cowell and Silverman’s relationship was controversial at the beginning. According to Good Housekeeping, Barbados was where Cowell and Silverman first met each other. It was 2004 and Silverman was vacationing at the Sandy Lane resort at the time with her then-husband Andrew Silverman, a real estate mogul. MTV reported that Cowell was friendly with the former couple for several years, and had even joined them for vacations. Andrew divorced Lauren when it was revealed that she was pregnant with Cowell’s child.

"Meeting Lauren and becoming a dad was the most fantastic thing to happen in my life,” Cowell said, according to HELLO! “It's hard when you have kids at my age but it's amazing. When you work as hard as I do, you think, 'What's it all going to be for at the end?' Then somebody like him comes along and it's all worthwhile."

The talent judge, who is notorious for his signature line “I don’t mean to be rude, but…” (also the title of his book, by the way), has been on the panel countless times. For auditions that do not go so well, Cowell has never shied away from giving his most honest feedback. Some of his most brutal quotes ever documented include: “There is as much chance of you being a pop star or a rock star as me flying to the moon tomorrow morning for breakfast. It’s never going to happen,” and “If the judging criteria or the voting criteria here was to vote people through for managing to sing every note out of tune, you would win tonight.”

But he has also said some things that are not so brutal but in fact, rather sweet, like this one about his late mom, Julie Cowell: “I know I'll miss her every day, but I also know I'm incredibly grateful to have had her. She was an optimist, my mum, and I think I've got that in me as well.”

We can't wait to see our favorite judge back on the panel! What do you think of Simon Cowell's healthy lifestyle change? Let us know in the comments, and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family!