Mystery of Cowell and his empty £15m house

WHEN he bought a £15million mansion in suburbia, it appeared Simon Cowell was finally ready for a quieter life. Interior designers were hired following the purchase of the property in South-West London in October 2018 and the music mogul was expected to move in seven months later.

Now friends wonder why Simon, pictured below with partner Lauren Silverman, hasn’t moved from Holland Park, where he has lived for 20 years, and why the £1million renovation project has not begun. Mind you, Simon was never one to act quickly: he started dating Lauren in 2013, and friends are still waiting for them to marry. It is no secret Simon, 60, invests considerable sums from his estimated £385million fortune in property. He has bought homes for ex-girlfriends Terri Seymour and Mezhgan Hussainy in the past.

But friends are now asking why he wanted the £15million house. ‘It is such a strange buy,’ says one close associate. ‘He hates traffic and loves the fact that his Holland Park home is so near to his office. The journey from the new house to work could take him over an hour.’

A friend said plans to move to the new property had been delayed by the coronavirus crisis, adding: ‘It now looks like it will be 2022.’