Simon Cowell is feeling “better” now than before he broke his back in August.
The 61-year-old media mogul suffered nasty injuries after he fell from his electric bike in August last year which resulted in him needing a five-hour surgery and has now said he’s feeling better than ever after his recovery, and even thinks breaking his back made him “healthier”.
Speaking to People magazine alongside his ‘America’s Got Talent’ co-star Sofia Vergara, he said: “I’ve got to be honest with you, it wasn’t that bad actually breaking your back. I mean it wasn’t great for 3-4 weeks but after that you get through it. I had to do so much exercise now. I actually feel better than I did before the accident.”
He then jokingly added: “If you want to feel healthier, break your back.”
Simon was forced to miss out on filming ‘AGT’ last season because of injuries, and teased his co-stars – including judges Sofia, Howie Mandel, and Heidi Klum, and host Terry Crews – had a “better time” without him.
But Sofia insisted he was wrong, claiming she had “nightmares” about Simon’s condition.
She said: “For me I had nightmares, it was heart-breaking to me not to have Simon my first season. I thought I needed him to back me up and teach me, to guide me. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, I lost like 6 lbs., I cried myself to sleep.”
Meanwhile, Simon also told ‘Extra’ this week that the injuries from his fall were almost “a lot worse”.
He said: “When I saw the X-ray, I really nearly could have smashed my spine to pieces, so I literally wouldn’t have been able to walk.”
And the ‘X Factor’ creator said the worst part of his ordeal was the fear of “embarrassing” himself in front of his seven-year-old son Eric, whom he has with his partner Lauren Silverman.
He admitted: “I was so embarrassed about coming home looking about 100 [years old] because I couldn’t walk, and I have these metal rods in my back and these screws. I said, ‘Lauren, I just don’t know how to explain it to [Eric].’ She obviously said something to him because he came in … and I was lying in bed and he said, ‘Daddy, you’re like Iron Man,’ and I thought that was the sweetest thing and it meant a lot.”