The coronavirus pandemic was a tough time for so many people — including Simon Cowell. But it ultimately helped make a huge change!
In a candid new interview on The Mirror‘s Men In Mind podcast out on Wednesday, which was created in association with the mental health charity Mind, the American Idol judge revealed his years-long “depression” battles and other mental health struggles reached a breaking point during the lockdown, forcing him to finally seek help. He shared:
“I’ve suffered from depression over the years… but that was just something I just thought, ‘Well, that’s my character trait. I get down,’ and it’s something you deal with.”
Except now he realizes he just needed some professional guidance to find a more healthy balance in his life!
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Looking back, he said:
“I wish I had done this 10 or 20 years ago…it’s like a weight has lifted off my shoulders.”
Wow! He now credits the “super positive effect” of therapy to improving his quality of life. But why did he seek out a therapist in the first place? Referencing fear of losing his 9-year-old son Eric and fiancée Lauren Silverman, he explained how anxious he became during the height of COVID:
“In the very, very, very early stages, some friends of mine got really ill [with COVID] and I’m talking about really ill. […] So, I thought, ‘God, if I catch this, maybe the same thing’s going to happen to me, Eric and Lauren.'”
It was an intensely scary time! Like the rest of us, he didn’t know “what was true or not” and “was petrified about catching it. Just petrified.”
Ultimately, the America’s Got Talent star actually did contract the disease during the “nightmare” period of the virus, too! Luckily it was relatively mild, and the whole experience had him reflecting on his mental health:
“It gave me a time to reflect on things in a way I never would have done before. And as things started to calm down a bit, and it was almost like now I’ve got to go from there, back into the real world. How do I feel about that? And that’s when this whole notion of — I started to hear a lot more people talking about mental health.”
He added:
“And that’s when I thought, you know what, I’ve kind of looked after my body, you know, through diet, exercise, whatever, pretty well over the years, but what have I done about my brain and my mind and all that kind of thing? And the answer is nothing. And now’s the time to do it. So it was almost like my head going to the gym.”
Such a good way to think about it!
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Interestingly, part of the reason he resisted therapy for so long was because he’d grown up watching American dramas where characters often went to therapy, but it wasn’t something he could relate to as a British person. Instead, he felt it was “dramatic” and “over the top.” He expressed:
“I never took [the notion of therapy] seriously if I’m being honest. It was only like I said, having gone through something pretty traumatic [in COVID], that I realized, and like I said, having good friends who were very open about it.”
With the help of those around him, he figured out how to start the process and immediately clicked with a therapist, he went on:
“I sat down really embarrassed and I said, ‘Look I just don’t know where to start.’ And within about 20 minutes it was as if I’d known [the therapist] for 10, 20 years, he’d put me so much at ease, and you realize you’re talking to a professional, and they don’t judge you, they listen to you.”
His therapist actually helped him implement a new rule in his work life that has been game-changing, too! He now bans his staff from sharing the ratings of his biggest TV shows with him, something that used to stress him out. He explained:
“He asked me, ‘Do you consider your best work to be the highest-rated thing you’ve ever done?’ And I said, ‘No.’ And he said, ‘So why are you judging yourself on that?’”
Smart!
Nowadays, he’s extremely happy he finally went to therapy and wants to spread the good word in case anyone else is on the fence. It’s never too late to get help! Reactions? Share them (below)!
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