If you’d broken your back in a bike accident you might think that (a) you’d get rid of the bike and (b) you’d be pretty upset about the whole situation, but that’s not the case for Simon Cowell.
The music mogul hit the headlines in 2020 after breaking his back in an accident on his e-bike in Los Angeles. He had to undergo six hours of surgery, which involved having a metal rod inserted.
After being out of action for months, Simon was pictured in an arm cast earlier this year after he came off his bike again when he took a tumble over the handlebars while out riding near his home in west London.
But the Britain’s Got Talent head judge remains undeterred, in fact he says despite the accident being “horrendous” he believes it was “meant to be”.
He told Radio Times: “That accident on my bike was pretty horrendous and I had a trainer to get me through it otherwise I’d never heal properly.
“Now I’m fitter than I was before. So I’m kind of happy it happened, weirdly. It’s like it was meant to be.”
When asked if he would be getting rid of his electric bike after two serious accidents, Simon insisted it was staying, saying: “I’m literally obsessed with it”.
In the same interview, the 62-year-old star also admitted that he does occasionally watch Strictly Come Dancing these days now that his rival show, The X Factor, is no longer on our screens.
“I don’t sit there on a Saturday night and watch, but occasionally I might see a bit of it,” he admitted.
“They’ve done a brilliant job. Like BGT, it hasn’t really changed. That’s a great lesson: when you’ve got something that works, don’t tinker with it.”
Simon returns to our screens this Saturday when the new series of Britain’s Got Talent kicks off on ITV at 8pm.
Read the full interview with Simon in the new issue of Radio Times, out now. www.radiotimes.com