THE SKINNY ON SIMON
Why he’s slimming down
In the personality stakes there is no denying that The X-Factor’s head judge Simon Cowell is larger than life – but thanks to his new diet he’s now smaller than ever!
The 60-year-old music mogul stopped to sign autographs outside a London radio station last week and fans couldn’t help but notice his drastic change in body shape.
The star, nicknamed Judge Dread by X-Factor fans, has lost upwards of 10kg since switching to a vegan diet, with Simon confessing he did it partly to keep up with his five-year-old son Eric, whom he shares with partner Lauren Silverman (42).
“I realised if I didn’t sort myself out physically I wouldn’t be able to catch up with him,” he explains. “Because from the minute he gets up to the minute he goes to sleep… their energy, you forget, at five years old, is phenomenal.”
Simon got the fright of his life two years ago when he tumbled down the stairs of his London home and was rushed to hospital, with the fall later explained as low blood pressure.
But, he admits, his doctor gave him a stern talking to about his lifestyle. He was
“living like a vampire”, working through the night until 8am, then sleeping to 3pm – with his diet consisting of sausage rolls, hamburgers and jam tarts.
“He said, ‘You have the worst diet I’ve ever seen from any patient,’” Simon tells. “So I went, ‘Okay, out of the smoking, drinking and diet, what do I have to drop?’ He said, ‘The diet’, so I said, ‘I’m in.’”
The star was initially confused, “because there’s so many different diets – I’m never going to understand what all these things are.
“Then I met this guy and he made it very basic and I tried it and, importantly, I really felt better. Once I knew I felt better it was just easy to stick to. Everyone thought I had one of those gastric band things but no, it really was just cutting out certain things.”
The four main dietary components Simon has ditched are meat, dairy, wheat and sugar and he hasn’t looked back.
“Since I got into a pattern
I’ve found it quite enjoyable. It has helped me sleep and I wake up feeling less tired.”
The self-confessed workaholic, who cancelled his lavish 60th birthday bash at an upmarket London restaurant due to a conflict with his filming schedule, has also kicked his unsociable working hours to the curb.
“I’ve stopped all the crazy late-night phone calls and the late-night meetings. I now go to sleep at 10pm. I now have breakfast at 8.30am. It’s almost like a complete reversal.”
And he says he’s named his new diet after his young son, who loves to snack on raw veges.
“He actually likes water. I mean, who likes water? And his raw vegetables. So I’m on, like, the Eric Cowell diet.”