Britain’s Got Talent judge Simon Cowell has admitted that he was “horrible” to singer Susan Boyle when she first auditioned for the show back in 2009. Boyle shocked everyone when she performed a gorgeous rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream.”
Simon Cowell Admits He Was ‘Horrible’ to Susan Boyle
According to The Independent, Simon Cowell recently reflected on his and fellow judge Piers Morgan’s reactions to Susan Boyle’s audition on the podcast Tales from the Celebrity Trenches. He said of the footage that aired, “I remember saying, I don’t think we look bad enough. I think we were even worse than that.”
“I said, ‘we’re going to just tell it as it is.’ And they went, ‘you look awful.’ I said, ‘we are awful. All of us,’” Cowell said. “I mean, that look Piers gives me. It’s just I think of all the looks I’ve ever remembered, that might be the worst.”
Cowell admitted that he was “just as bad,” adding, “We do look disgusting, but you got to hold your hands up at that moment. A lot of people are going to realize in about 24 hours that we’re just horrible. And so we’re going to say sorry. And that’s what we did.”
“And then, you know, thank God for her, it all worked out well,” Cowell said. “And, of course, I had the ability to cut all that stuff out, but it was a bit of a wakeup call. Which is, you can’t judge a book by its cover.”
Although Susan Boyle made it to the BGT finale, she didn’t end up winning the show, as dance group Diversity finished the competition in first place. However, Cowell made sure to support her talent after the show.
“So I ran up to the stage,” Cowell recalled. “I said to her, ‘Susan, I’m going to sign you, just so you know, it doesn’t matter. It really, really doesn’t matter.’ Because I knew she was going to be upset.”
Boyle’s debut album, I Dreamed a Dream, was released later that year and sold over 10 million copies. Her life story was even turned into a musical in 2012.
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Jill O'Rourke Jill O’Rourke is a contributor at Talent Recap, writing news stories and recaps for shows like ‘AGT,’ ‘The Voice,’ and ‘American Idol.’ She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in English and Film Studies, and has been writing about pop culture since 2012, with previous bylines at Crushable and A Plus. Jill spends her free time binge-watching sitcoms and daydreaming about life as a hobbit
