Simon Cowell has dealt with a bout of health concerns, especially following two bike accidents in the span of two years that left him injured.
Speaking on the latest installment of the Today Show with his fellow America’s Got Talent judges Sofia Vergara, Howie Mandel, and Heidi Klum, plus host Terry Crews, he reflected on how those incidents changed his life.
In 2020, the 63-year-old TV star fell off his e-bike while in Malibu, suffering a similar fate on his bike in London in early 2022.
While promoting the competition show’s upcoming 18th season, he was asked about how the accidents impacted his outlook on life.
“It was painful, it wasn’t great,” he said, adding: “However, I was so unfit before the accident. And I didn’t know how unfit I was until I had to do all the stuff afterwards.
“And I’m like ‘My god!’ Things like that I believe happen for a reason,” Simon continued, although maintained that he wouldn’t be giving up his biking anytime soon.
“I’m still going to stay on my bike, I’m obsessed with these things,” he said to the amusement of his co-stars.
The 2020 crash resulted in a broken back and the following crash, while less severe, still led to Simon being taken to the hospital with a suspected concussion and a broken arm, and he was spotted wearing a wrist brace for weeks after.
The accidents encouraged Simon to also develop a generally healthier lifestyle, thanks to fiancé Lauren Silverman, and primarily for the sake of their nine-year-old son Eric.
Speaking with The Sun last April about the impact his e-bike injuries had, he said: “I considered therapy for the first time when I broke my back because I was very, very, very, low.
“I felt very depressed because I didn’t know how to explain it to Eric. I couldn’t do all the things I wanted to with him. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to walk again, to ever play football with him.”
Simon and Lauren welcomed Eric on Valentine’s Day in 2014, and the star revealed that his son came up with an incredible nickname for him following his bike accident last summer.
The Britain’s Got Talent judge explained to Entertainment Tonight that when he arrived home following the incident, he was feeling incredibly “embarrassed.”
The surgery left him with metal rods and screws in his back. After he went home to his family, Simon explained, “He went ‘Dad, you look like Iron Man.’ And I went ‘Yeah, I’m like Iron Man, yeah.’”
Simon has since been able to poke fun at his accidents as well, making a reference to his first more serious one while on AGT in June 2021.
In a family-oriented audition episode, after seeing a father-son duo perform a dangerous Shaolin Kung Fu act, Terry asked Simon whether he ever saw himself doing that with Eric.
“I sort of got to the point after I broke my back where I’m walking around the garden with him and I think it’s a big deal,” Simon joked when talking to the duo. “And now I’m looking at that going ‘maybe not so great!’”
