Girls, have you got what it takes to woo Cowell?
He may shy away from marriage but the 'X Factor' kingpin is generous to his exes, writes Andrea Smith
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By Andrea Smith
Sunday Jan 29 2012
If it goes the way we think it might, LA make-up artist Mezhgan Hussainy looks set to join a very exclusive group put together by Simon Cowell -- The Ex Factors.
The 52-year-old perennial bachelor took us all by surprise when he got engaged to Mezhgan in 2010, but now it looks like he's not taking the pretty brunette through to the next round after all.
Speaking about his relationship, which was widely reported to have been in trouble as far back as September, Simon seemed as confused as the rest of us. "I'm vulnerable," he said. "It's not on, it's not off, it's somewhere in the middle. I don't know if I will ever get married, but I am happy."
If it's any consolation to Mezhgan, Simon tends to treat his exes very well, and seems to have remained on great terms with at least several of them. While he was nursing his 'vulnerability' last week, he was joined on the luxury yacht, The Slipstream, by a number of attractive women, including his former lover Sinitta. Photos showed him topping up his tan, while being entertained by his lady friends, as the boat sailed around St Bart's in the French West Indies.
While Simon told Piers Morgan last year that Mezhgan was 'The One', he later, and rather ungallantly, retracted it. "I have been pretty good about not talking about my private stuff, but I got caught up in the moment," he explained. He first met the Afghan-born brunette in 2003 when she was his make-up artist on American Idol, but they were only reported to have fallen in love in 2009. Rather ominously, Mezhgan has now moved into one of Simon's properties, an LA mansion dubbed by friends the "girlfriends' graveyard," where it seems that she can look forward to a generous payout to help mend her broken heart.
While some allege that he is buying their silence -- Simon's exes are famously tight-lipped about their relationships -- the multi-millionaire, whose fortune is estimated to be in the region of £200m (€240m), is known to be generous to his former loves. Several, including Terri Seymour and Jasmine Lennerd appear to be living lifestyles at odds with their personal earnings, and Simon himself has admitted to being generous to former flames.
"I don't pay them off, but if you have been with someone long enough, there is a responsibility," he said. "You can't say one minute you can live this type of life and then the light goes off."
It's a sentiment echoed by his spokesperson, PR supremo Max Clifford. "Simon is naturally a very generous person," he said. "If he has spent a long time with someone and the magic has gone but they have got used to a certain standard of living, then he feels that they should have some money."
Sinitta, who regularly joins Simon on holidays, has done well from her relationship with the music mogul. He hired her as a mentor for The X Factor, boosting her profile, and she confirmed in an interview that she had been the recipient of his generosity.
"I was never paid off," she said, "but I can confirm his kindness towards me and my children, taking us with him for holidays twice a year, setting up a trust fund for the kids, who are his godchildren, and the use of fabulous office facilities, to help support my new business."
In a weird twist, it was reported that Simon had flown Sinitta and her children home to the UK and then back to St Bart's earlier this month, to avoid an awkward confrontation between her and another of his exes, Jackie St Clair. While he and his party were staying at the plush Sandy Lane resort, in between trips on the yacht, of course, Jackie was also enjoying the delights of the tropical island. Simon made the expensive gesture to avoid a clash between his two ex-girlfriends, who have been feuding for an incredible 25 years. This culminated with Sinitta taking to Twitter in 2010 to accuse Jackie of harassing and bullying her, as well as spreading lies about her love life.
Simon is reported to be dating again, but his ability to settle down and commit to one woman is the source of much speculation. Some suspect he just hasn't found the right woman yet, while there are those who wonder whether he is too selfish to commit to anyone apart from himself. Whatever the truth, Mezhgan can take consolation from the fact that while it seems that he's just not that into her, she's not the only one in his bottom two this week. Simon hasn't decided yet whether to bring The X Factor judge and Take That star Gary Barlow back for the next series of the reality show, which will be a devastating blow for the millions of women who are in love with the singer-songwriter.
Last year was a bit of an annus horribilis for poor old Simon. He left the British X Factor to bring the show to the US, and took a gamble by taking the nation's sweetheart Cheryl Cole with him. This dramatically backfired on him when her Geordie charm didn't travel as well as expected and he was forced to replace her with Nicole Scherzinger. And, to add to his woes, neither version of the reality juggernaut performed as well as expected in the ratings. The British version was deemed to be a bit of a snoozefest, with judges Tulisa, Kelly Rowland, Gary Barlow and Louis Walsh utterly failing to recreate the magic of Simon, Louis, Cheryl and Dannii Minogue. Not to mention the fact that rival show, Strictly Come Dancing, waltzed past it in the ratings some nights. And back in the US, where Simon, really, really needed to have a mega-hit on his hands, the show failed to reach the magical 20 million viewers mark.
"I think I probably came here a bit too cocky, but I'm cocky by nature," he later admitted, when discussing its failure to immediately impact.
"I'd come off the back of a massive final in the UK, had the adrenaline, couldn't wait to put the show on here, and it's going to take a little longer than I thought."
A bit like his love life really, where we can only presume that meeting the right woman has also taken a little longer than he thought. And the news that he seems to be back on the market is good for the rest of us, who wouldn't at all mind fetching the millionaire a pina colada in exchange for a quick whiz around the Caribbean on his yacht and a Hollywood mansion. We'd even overlook the high-waisted trousers!
- Andrea Smith
Originally published in
