FACTOR SI: CELEBS’ INSTANT FAME FATAL
‘Riches at 20 can be death risk’
SIMON Cowell has warned celebrity wannabes that instant fame can be fatal.
The X Factor boss says he would be dead by now if he’d earned his fortune in his 20s as he would have “gone nuts”.
The 59-year-old said: “If you can get rich quick then good for you, but I think if I had got rich quick at the age of 20 I would have been dead probably by the age of 21.
“I would have gone nuts, just gone crazy.
“I would have blown the lot.” The pop guru claimed that if he lost all his money tomorrow he could earn it all back again. He said: “I wouldn’t be happy, I don’t want it, but I’ve been through it before.
“You must never live in fear and this is what I see with a lot of guys who come over to LA.
“You can make a lot of money but I see people who are afraid of losing it.
“If you become afraid, you become too safe, you don’t take risks and everything becomes boring. I just can’t live like that.”
And he hit out at claims that he’s greedy, calling the suggestions “the biggest misconception” about him.
“I do like money, I’m not going to lie, but I’m generous,” he said.
“What money brings you is security and confidence but it shouldn’t rule you.”
Simon, who has four-year-old son Eric with his partner Lauren Silverman, 41, added: “When we launch a TV show or get a hit record I’m not calling up my accountant the following day saying: ‘How much have we earned?’ You just like having hits.” But Simon does admit he is driven by jealousy of his A-list friends.
He said: “I’m incredibly competitive. I don’t like my friends to do well!
“I think jealousy in a weird way is good for you. In a relationship it means you care – if you’re not jealous of your competitors you’re not going to win.
“It’s when you get to the point you don’t care, that’s when you’ve got a problem.”