Do We Really Need to Know That Simon Cowell Insists on Black Toilet Paper?
- Posted on April 21, 2012 at 12:57pm by
Scott Baker
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LONDON (AP) — He gets colonic irrigations, Botox injections and vitamin drips, and insists on black toilet paper in his home.
A revealing new biography offers intimate — some might say too intimate — details about Simon Cowell, along with a portrait of the entertainment mogul’s savvy business side.
“Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell” is written by British journalist and biographer Tom Bower, whose previous subjects include former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, jailed media mogul Conrad Black and ex-Harrods owner Mohammad al-Fayed.
His latest portrait of power centers on the tanned and brush-cut Cowell, 52, who has gained fame in both Britain and North America as producer and an acerbic judge on TV talent shows including “The X Factor” and “America’s Got Talent.”
Bower says he became fascinated by the story of a middle-aged music producer who struck gold by turning the old-fashioned talent contest into a slick 21st-century phenomenon — and in the process earned a fortune estimated at 200 million pounds ($320 million) by the Sunday Times Rich List.
The book paints a picture of a man who struggled for years in the music business, spurred on to success out of a desire to prove his detractors wrong.
“He had 20 years — more than 20 years — of humiliation,” Bower said. “At school he was a total failure and as a music producer he was a total failure.
“But what he did have was charm and an ability to understand the music business because of all this failure.”
“Sweet Revenge,” published in the U.S. by Ballantine Books on Tuesday, is billed as the first book about Cowell written with the mogul’s participation — though not his authorization. Bower spent many hours with Cowell aboard his private jet, at his Los Angeles home and on his yacht in the south of France and the Caribbean.
But he says Cowell told some friends and associates not to talk to him. Writing the book became “a cat and mouse game” between him and his subject.
“He clearly wanted his story told properly, but there are parts he didn’t want told and it was up to me to find out about them,” Bower said.
Cowell has stressed that the book was not written with his approval, tweeting: “This book is not written by me. It is unauthorized. The writer is Tom Bower.”
Cowell can’t have enjoyed the revelations in The Sun tabloid, which has been serializing the more salacious bits of Bower’s book.
Among the details: Cowell gets regular colonic irrigations because “it’s so cleansing — and it makes my eyes shine brighter.” He is put on a drip of vitamins and nutrients for a half hour each week.
He’s not gay, despite long-standing rumors. The book reveals bedroom secrets including a brief affair with former “X Factor” judge Danii Minogue. But Bower says that Cowell isn’t interested in serious relationships.
“He is only interested in women who are uninhibited and uncomplicated,” Bower said. “He is not interested in relationships. He’s a schoolboy.”
He is, however, generous. Bower says Cowell gave his ex-fiance Mezhgan Hussainy, a makeup artist on “American Idol,” a $5 million Beverly Hills house as a parting gift. Most of his exes have refrained from spilling the beans in the media.
While Britain‘s tabloids have focused on Cowell’s sex life, Bower is more interested in the story of money and power, of “business rivalry and the skullduggery.”
At the heart of the book is Cowell’s feud with fellow svengali and former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller. The pair fell out over the 2001 British musical talent-show, “Pop Idol,“ progenitor of ”American Idol.” Fuller was listed as creator of the show despite what Cowell said was a verbal agreement to split the credit.
A legal battle between the two men was settled out of court, with Fuller getting the creator credit for “Idol” — though Bower says he found “overwhelming” evidence that Cowell played a vital role.
Bower said Cowell was “naive and humiliated by Fuller’s dexterity.”
“He didn’t understand the importance of owning a format,” Bower said. “He learnt his lesson.”
He said Cowell became “incensed” by the “created by Simon Fuller” credit on “Pop Idol” and “American Idol,” and vowed to create his own rival show.
The result was singing competition “X Factor,” which had its debut in Britain in 2004 and in the U.S. last fall. Cowell also created “Britain’s Got Talent” and executive produces its U.S. spinoff, “America’s got Talent.”
Cowell’s response to the book, published in Britain on Friday, is so far unknown.
Publicist Max Clifford — who says Cowell pays him hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to keep stories out of the press — said he had advised Cowell not to speak to Bower, because it would undo years of carefully protected privacy.
“He knows it was a mistake,” Clifford said.
“For Simon, who has protected his privacy and never, ever spoken about his relationships with anybody, to suddenly be quoted about this, that and the other is to me very damaging.
“Having created an image that’s been hugely successful, to see him damage it like that is sad and disappointing,” Clifford said.
Bower, though, thinks the book’s portrait of Cowell is fairly positive.
While Bower has been openly hostile to some of his previous subjects — he called Gordon Brown a ruthless bully and Conrad Black a crook — he has a soft spot for Cowell.
“He’s not a crook,” Bower said. “So far he hasn’t sued me. And it was good fun.
“He doesn’t sit on his laurels. That‘s what’s endearing about him. Although he is vain, he is a perfectionist and a professional — and he understands the business better than most.”
____
Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://twitter.com/JillLawless
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Comments (51)
Rational Man
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 5:58pmYou might be a redneck,……if you didn’t know before this dumb article, that there is such a thing as black toilet paper.
Report Post »They don’t have it at Walmart, …I know that!
MS-GlenNBC
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 11:48pmGlenn does this now……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wAkKl3Y8xmQ#!
Report Post »Mark0331
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 5:50pmGeesh…how many versions of the Gong Show or Star Search are there now?
Report Post »dictionmary
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 5:02pmQuite anal…
Report Post »Rayblue
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 4:40pmThat’s as dumb as a brown toilet.
Report Post »swoods08
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 4:09pmBecause he’s not racist?!?
Report Post »DREDGE
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 8:27amLooks like it is very racist in a very negative way!!!!!!!
Report Post »AllAmericanG
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 3:41pmno I didn’t need to know but apparently the Blaze felt the need to tell me.
Report Post »LetsBeSmartAboutThis
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 3:28pmIf Mitt Romney had a music producer he would look like Simon Cowell.
Report Post »dont_tax_me_bro
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 3:07pmLike I said. The blaze has turned into the right wing version of TMZ.
Report Post »Ponyexpress
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 2:55pmWould this be considered a hate crime by Holder?
Report Post »Spokane Armory
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 2:48pmHow does he know when he’s finished?
Report Post »llotus
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 2:47pmThere seemes to be some writing on it. Vet this picture before releasing it to the multitudes. What is written on the toilette paper? It may be smething very important. Lotus.
Report Post »MAMMY_NUNN
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 2:36pmThat revelation is so racist.
Report Post »KingCanon
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 2:22pmNo…
Report Post »But it would be nice to know what laxative he
uses, you know… since he’s always full of it!
right-wing-waco
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 2:01pmHe will have to bring his own TP if he visits Comi-fornia as we are only allowed to use white TP.
Report Post »hatchetjob
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:04pmAnd only 1 sheet.
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:45pmQuirky…. but TMI.
Report Post »kspatriot
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:29pmYou are the ones reporting it. I guess it‘s much more important then the FACT that Obama’s lawyers admitted that his birth certificate is a FAKE! How about doing your job and reporting REAL NEWS! THE BIGGEST FRAUD IN THE HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC IS TAKING PLACE AND WE HEAR CRICKETS FROM MOST MEDIA OUTLETS! http://www.examiner.com/article/obama-officially-ineligible#ixzz1sW7GM8Zz
Report Post »sillyfreshness
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:53pmThank you for bringing this to light. You won’t have any of the Bolshevik media report on this. In fact, their job will be to squash this news story and still present the American people the “birther” argument. Remember, anyone who questions our dictator is just a mentally ill “birther”. They assign that stigma to downplay what you are saying. You have to understand that the Bolshevik media is a co-conspirator in this Marxist takeover by our Kenyan born, Muslim faith, Indonesian living, giving up his US citizenship and trying to get financial aid as a foreign student, hiding his college transcripts from Americans-president. Our resident president. People have been bringing this stuff to light all the time like Sheriff Joe Arpaio and he gets 0 coverage in the Bolshevik media. This kind of explains it all:
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/15-03-2012/120788-demise_russia_usa-0/
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 2:11pmRemember… if he was born 2 years earlier, Hawaii was not a State… nor did they have well recorded recorded records!
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:19pmNo, but what we do need to know is that in the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth. The earth was void and without form. And God said: let there be light, and the sun showed on the earth, and the moon, and the sun gave light to the earth by day, and the moon gave light to the earth by night. And in the beginning with men God created their earth, and Heaven (awareness), and God said: let their be light. And God created the sons of fathers, and mothers to give light to the fathers and mothers. And the light from the sons of parents gave light to half of the mother by day, and the sons shined on the fathers who give light to the mothers by night.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:25pmMedic!
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:27pmAnd people can never get rid of the “Word” of God because the word of God is in the rise of the sun, the setting sun, the rising moon, and the rotation of all.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:32pmAnd the Great River Euphrates is that Great River that flows from the fathers to their sons on the earthly level, and also that Great River that likewise flows from the understanding of men to the Sun, inasmuch as the sun gives light to the earth and moon. And it’s like that that Great River Euphrates dries up, inasmuch that men will plant vineyards and not drink the wine thereof.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:40pmlukerw,
Report Post »That’s odd, in that you sound like a lefty when someone gets them trapped on sound/logical ground, and a lefty doesn‘t like the feeling of something making complete sense because they don’t understand the light, and so they leap over logic, blaming Bush all over again. Like that you cry foul, or “Medic.”
Itsjusttim
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:45pmlukerw,
Report Post »Therefore you see, you are the brethren of the left-wing you despise so much.
Itsjusttim
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:48pmAs a matter of fact, when I look around I see a heavy left-wing burdened with the weight of most people, and an airplane with a heavy left-wing will surely burn in and crash to pieces and flames.
Report Post »The Gooch
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:17pmYou mean this guy poops? NO!!! The illusion is shattered!
Report Post »And to answer the teaser: No.
AmazingGrace8
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 2:17pmIf we want to get down to the basics and I will be carefull with my words:
This president & administration has this country “bound-up“ with so many regulations that ”we” have been constipated for 3.5 yrs. Hopefully in Nov we will be able to start-eating “FIBER”….American Exceptionalizm…and start having regular bowl movements. Remember Tony S and he was “relieved” about something (can’t remember what it was) & he said to his “shrink”…“Coming here is like taking a big dump”. He used another word but being careful on this post.
Report Post »Simon has done well..good for him. After 1st season with X Factor, I won’t be watching. America’s Got Talent and Howard Stern on the panel, I won’t be watching. Three strikes & you are out of my viewing, American Idol…..one more strike, and will no longer watch the program. The Batchlor/or ette, won’t be watching. The Batchette(sp) will have a “strange-blond” this next program. No thanks!
And the beat goes on.
TIME_2_END_THE_PAUL_CAMPAIGN_IN_12
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:16pmAnother drippy Brit with bad teeth and and metro-sexual type attributes.
Report Post »hatchetjob
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:06pmI’ve never seen his teeth.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:13pmTP the WH!
Report Post »blaaaaackwoman
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:13pmMy toilet paper is black also, but only after I’m done using it. Hahahahah
Report Post »OhioRifleman
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 4:07pmIf your sj1t is coming out black, that’s a sign of internal bleeding. You may want to have that looked at.
Report Post »DesdemonasCrew
Posted on April 22, 2012 at 7:45pmMost common cause is too much iron in your diet.
Report Post »marine249
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:13pmit will not turn his butt black
Report Post »CatB
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:11pmLOL .. I wouln’t put all that dye near any part of my body .. let alone “there” … not good .. not good at all.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:24pmThink he might come to a bad “end”
Sorry just had to say it!
Report Post »blackyb
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:07pmWhat ever floats his boat. He can affordit.
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:06pmI dunno…Did the BLAZE have to put it in a HEADLINE? Gee!!!!
Report Post »