Simon Cowell reveals he has a stutter and admits he related to Gareth Gates' audition on Pop Idol: 'There are times when I just can't get the words out'

Daily Mail​

07-05-2025

Simon Cowell has revealed he has a stutter as he told how he related to Gareth Gates when he auditioned for Pop Idol.
Simon, 65, was on the judging panel when singer Gareth, 40, auditioned for the first ever series of the talent show back in 2001.
Gareth captured fans' attention when he auditioned at the age of 17 and blew the judges away with his singing voice after struggling with a nervous stammer.
Now, Simon has revealed the audition was particularly poignant for him because he has dealt with a speech impediment of his own over the years.
Speaking on Elizabeth Day's How To Fail podcast, Simon said he sometimes struggles with a stutter when he is stressed and 'related' to Gareth's audition.
'I have a bit of a stutter as well and people don't know that. There are times when I just can't get the words out for whatever reason, sometimes when I'm stressed,' he revealed.
'I kind of related to [Gareth], this guy he was trying to talk and he looked so good. I thought, he looks like a star this boy and he couldn't talk.
'It took 10 minutes for him to eventually sing and when he sang, he was like a different person.'
Simon also told how despite his worldwide fame, he is very 'shy' in social situations and described making small talk with strangers as 'torture'.
He admitted becoming famous helped him to 'break the ice' in social situations, adding: 'Instantly they know you, you're talking about something I like [...] it helped me with my shyness.'
Elsewhere on the podcast, Simon also shared his fears about his finances despite being thought of as one of the wealthiest men in showbiz.
He admitted that he hasn't made 'anywhere near as much money' as people think as he confessed: 'I always worry about money.'
The Britain's Got Talent boss said he worries because the world is 'so precarious' so he never feels relaxed about how much money he has.
The father-of-one recalled how during the early days of the Covid pandemic he pushed out all of his projects early over fears that they would be halted.
He said: 'I always worry about money because I think you have to in a way. You think about Covid as an example.
'I remember reading it for the first time on a website, and I don't read a lot of stuff on social media, but I'd heard about it, so I was curious.
'Second day, the story got bigger to a point where I actually phoned my partner and I said "I don't like the look of this, I have a horrible feeling it's going to be like that movie Contagion, and I think we need to get all of our shows into production around the world quicker this year". And we did.
'And when it happened it was obviously worse than I could have imagined,
'When you think about that, the wars, and everything else, the instability, what is safe? Is it gold, cash, stocks. I don't think anything's safe any longer. I guess your house.
'Someone did actually say to me once "live in your money". And it was really good advice, i.e, enjoy it, and be happy with it, but understand that the world is precarious.'
Simon denied he's worth anywhere near the £500million figure that's been reported, adding: 'Oh God, it's not that. I'm not even close to that. I'm being serious. I'm not.
'I've made a lot, I'm not going to lie. I've made a bit of money, yes, but not that much, no.'
He said he'd even recently asked friends if they would help him to start on a project he wanted to work on because he didn't have enough money.
However despite opening up about his money fears, Simon said he would still classify himself as 'rich' and said he's now 'definitely got enough' money.
Simon downsized his company SyCo to 'focus on family' life with his partner Lauren Silverman, and his son son Eric, 11.
While Britain's Got Talent is still a success attracting around five million viewers each episode, Simon has wound down some of his other projects.
The X Factor ran for 14 years, from 2004 to 2018, but Simon ended the long-running show due to declining viewing figures and a belief that online platforms like YouTube were taking over the need for talent shows.