Simon Cowell looks back on 19 seasons of ‘America’s Got Talent’
Simon Cowell has reflected on how ‘AGT’ is going strong 19 years after its first season, saying the judges are still seeing things they’ve never seen before.
Banshaw Biz
Simon Cowell has opened up about what people are saying about his relationship with Liam Payne.
On the November 24 episode of the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, the former X Factor UK creator and judge opened up about his last interaction with the late One Direction member, revealing that he had met Payne a year before his death.
Payne died on October 16, 2024, at the age of 31, after falling from the third floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Authorities later determined that he had a high alcohol level of 2.7 grams per liter, or 0.27% BAC, at the time of his death.
“I met him a year before this happened. He came to my house and we talked,” Cowell told podcast host Brian Hiatt. “He was great, by the way. This was the best I’ve ever seen him. We talked about his son, about being a father, and what it means.”
The 66-year-old said he told Payne to stop letting music drive his life and to “find something else to be passionate about.”
Before his death, Payne starred alongside Tony Award-winning Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls and Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child on the Netflix show “Building the Band,” where he mentored contestants in their search for the perfect musical group. Cowell told Payne, “You’re in a position where you can decide when you want to put something out and when you don’t want to put something out.”
The “America’s Got Talent” host also told Rolling Stone that he wondered “what more could have been done” in terms of protecting Payne.
“What would have happened if Liam wasn’t in the band?” he said. “I spoke to his mom and dad recently and all they kept telling me was that he was so proud of what he accomplished.”
Simon Cowell says he wishes he could have done more for Liam Payne
Cowell said he didn’t notice any red flags in his last conversation with Payne. His death affected him more than anyone he wasn’t related to, he said.
“Of course, if I had known he would have come to my house that day, I wish I could have turned back the clock,” he continued. “When I talked to him that day, to be honest, I felt really good about him. I thought, ‘Wow, you seem to be in a really good place.’ And I was trying to give him good advice about life in general…and we just talked for three or four hours, and after he left, I didn’t worry about him.”
Simon Cowell says he is responsible for Liam Payne’s death
After Payne’s death, a conversation erupted online blaming Cowell and others in the music industry for his eventual death.
Payne opened up about his struggle with alcohol and desire for sobriety in a 2019 interview with USA TODAY, calling his then-recent choice to go sober for a year “an example of growing up.”
“Luckily, I had the best people around me at the time (when I was drinking) and they helped me realize different points in my life where I could be better,” he told USA TODAY. “And obviously, when you have kids, you completely change the way you think about everything.”
Cowell told Rolling Stone that he has had to ignore the criticism directed at him online. “I don’t read any books like this. If I do, I’ll only make myself suffer.”
“Is there any point in reading something that’s not true when people are speculating and not knowing the truth? The idea that you’re essentially responsible for someone’s life is after you sign a contract with someone. You can’t do that. You can’t live with them,” he said.
“I tell everyone, ‘I’m always here if you need me.’ When he contacted me, it wasn’t like, ‘Simon, I really need your help.’ It was just, ‘I want to see you.’ And I think it’s great. I miss you too,” Cowell said.
How did Simon Cowell and Liam Payne meet?
Cowell met Payne through the British reality show The X Factor after auditioning twice in 2008 and 2010 and being rejected twice.
In 2010, Cowell, along with fellow judges Nicole Scherzinger and Louis Walsh, saved Payne and other teenage solo artists Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson from reviving the band by forming the band that would go down in history as One Direction.
Cowell posted on Instagram on October 18, 2024: “When you were 14, I had to tell you it wasn’t your time. And we both promised to see each other again. Many would have given up, but you didn’t. You came back and within months the whole world knew about Liam.”
Cowell’s music label then signed One Direction, who rose to megastardom and sold more than $70 million in copies before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016.
