The 64-year-old also opened up about the loss of his parents, revealing he felt “had nothing to live for”.
Simon Cowell revealed his one regret when it came to managing One Direction.
While appearing on Steven Bartlett’s podcast, Diary Of A CEO, the English TV personality and record executive revealed his biggest mistake when creating the world famous boy band which included, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson.
“The one thing I regret is I should have owned the name,” he told Bartlett.
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The 64-year-old put the five boys together while judging ITV’s The X Factor in 2010. While they did not go on to win the reality competition series, once the show wrapped, Cowell signed the band to his label Syco Music and they went on to become one of the best selling boy groups of all time.
The band lost Malik in 2015 when he left to pursue a solo music career, they then split for good a year later. However, despite splitting, the band still owns the “One Direction” name themselves, stopping Cowell from creating anything without approval from each of the members.
“They own the name. I could have made an animation or something,” Cowell said, before turning to the camera aiming his remark to his former band. “So if you’re listening One Direction then I will buy it back from you.”
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The America’s Got Talent judge has vowed to never make that mistake again, “That was me being very naive. Next time I need to own the name.”
Cowell also revealed the first piece of advice he gave to the boys when they first started out.
“I told them to never complain about paparazzi because they are going to take your pictures, don’t complain about invasion of privacy because people will always want to have a picture with you, don’t complain about the long hours,” he recalled, adding that if they had any issue with any of it they should “do something else.”
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The British TV star also opened up about the loss of his parents and feeling like he “had nothing to live for” and “reached a point where nothing mattered.” Cowell had a close relationship with his parents Julie — who died in 2015 — and Eric — who died 15 years prior, in 1999.
“If I was going to be hit by a bus the next day — I wasn’t worried about anything like that. The whole time was dark. It was the lowest level. I can relate when people say that being alive doesn’t matter anymore,” he said of the devastating loss, adding that all of the “material things” he had “meant nothing.”
It wasn’t until the music mogul’s partner, Lauren Silverman, told him she was expecting a baby that “everything” changed.
“Before him I had reached the point where nothing mattered. It all hit me so hard. Being on TV I felt like a clown because I was dying inside. I put on loads of weight,” he said. “And it changed everything. It made me happy again, it was perfect.”
Cowell’s son Eric, named after his dad, was born in 2014.
Listen to more from Simon Cowell on Diary Of A CEO below.
