Simon Cowell still vividly recalls watching talent competition shows on television while growing up in the U.K. “I loved them,” he says. “The kind of acts I remember were those really wacky acts, where it just used to crack me up.” So it’s no surprise that years later, after establishing himself as a hitmaker with American Idol, Cowell, 65, jumped at the chance to create a program that his younger self would’ve loved. “Once I’d done Idol and enjoyed it, I thought, ‘It’s time to revamp that kind of show that has singers along with other acts, but how do we make it big and loud and exciting and funny?’” he says of creating America’s Got Talent. “It was a light-bulb moment, and it evolved into what it is now.”
AGT premiered on NBC in June 2006, just one month after Cowell wrapped up his fifth season on Idol. Over the years, Cowell’s role on the show changed, as did his life—he and partner Lauren Silverman, 47, welcomed son Eric in 2014, and the two announced their engagement in 2022. As the series marks milestone 20th season on May 27, he couldn’t be happier. “I’m now looking at the next 20 years of this show and wondering where it goes next,” says Cowell, who has been a judge on AGT since 2016. “I really do have this feeling that whether it’s me or whether it’s Eric, my son, you’re going to be having a conversation with us in 20 years’ time, because I can’t imagine this show not being on.”
It’s a feat that didn’t always seem possible for Cowell, who says AGT was a “difficult” sell for NBC execs. “We made a pilot, and it was dreadful,” he admits, noting that only seven minutes was “watchable.” A meeting with the network followed, during which Cowell screened just three minutes and described it as “brilliant”—and “they loved it. They bought it. And that was it,” he says.
The Got Talent franchise has spawned dozens of spinoffs in other countries over the years. At the same time, Cowell cemented himself as a star-maker with discoveries such as Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood on Idol, One Direction and Fifth Harmony on The X Factor and Latin boy band CNCO on La Banda. Despite his many responsibilities, Cowell says his most important role these days is dad to Eric, 11. “Being a judge on AGT got easier since I became a dad, because I started to watch acts through his eyes thinking, ‘Would he like that?’” he says. Fellow judge Howie Mandel has seen this in action. “You’ll hear it in a lot of Simon’s judging,” he says. “He goes, ‘I don’t know if I get this, but I know this is exactly what my son would love, and because of that, you’re getting a yes.’” Adds Cowell: “You want your kids and their friends to love the show as well, and that’s a great feeling.”
Cowell credits Eric for helping him change his perspectives, especially during hard times. “I loved my parents so much, and once they left, I was kind of lost for a while,” says Cowell, whose father and mother died in 1999 and 2015, respectively. “Eric saved me because that love comes back 100 times more powerful. It’s extraordinary, and it never goes.”
Still, Cowell has no plans to retire anytime soon. “We do have long days, but then I watch the show back, and it’s like, yeah, I would feel really awful if I wasn’t doing this. I really would miss it.” However, if that day were to come, Cowell knows he could leave the show in good hands. “Fortunately, like me, Eric loves these kinds of shows. He’s more shy than me, but that could change. I think he’d be a really good producer. I would love that. I mean, that would be my dream.”
With additional reporting by MACKENZIE SCHMIDT
CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM LEFT: STEVE GRANITZ/FILMMAGIC; CINDY ORD/NBC; GAVIN BOND/NBC; FRANK MICELOTTA/ IMAGEDIRECT; DAVE HOGAN/GETTY IMAGES; JON KOPALOFF/FILMMAGIC; STEVE GRANITZ/WIREIMAGE