The X Factor mogul says the decision to part ways with the girl group happened after a falling out with their representatives amid a row over a songwriting credit on their single Woman Like Me
SIMON Cowell revealed he axed Sir Philip Green and Little Mix to clear toxic people from his business.
The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent mogul decided to speak out after months of being dogged by rumours and conspiracy theories about the state of his personal life, health and company Syco.
Speaking with emotion, Cowell, 59, said he had been “embarrassed” by the claims.
But he told The Sun he has now decided to put principles before profits as he attempts to create a business for his four-year-old son Eric to inherit.
He said: “The only reason I got annoyed was that it’s easy to paint this picture of Syco as this dark, awful place where all we’re trying to do is rip artists off and make them unhappy.
“I suppose why I am glad I’m talking to you guys today — at least I can tell you what really happened.”
Cowell and Green were once so close that they spoke on the phone for hours and went on holidays together. The tycoon even holds a five per cent stake — valued at £12.5million — in the music business.
But last week it emerged the under-fire billionaire has finally agreed to walk away after Simon tabled a fresh bid.
It came after recent revelations Green used a High Court injunction to protect NDAs that apparently involve allegations of racism and sexual harassment.
Cowell said: “He was part of the company but three years ago we just stopped talking.
“When it came to severing the ties, I wasn’t arguing about the money. You simply make a decision of who you want in your life and your business and it was my decision.”
Cowell insisted he cut contact before Green was criticised for his controversial sale of BHS.
He added: “It was six months before that. Then, roughly a year and a half ago, there was a meeting to see whether he would be interested in selling his shares. It didn’t appear that way. Then, your article came about and then shortly after it was done.”
Green is not a comfortable topic of discussion for Cowell, who is restricted by what he can say with the sale of the Syco shares unconfirmed.
But does he regret him being involved in the company? Cowell said: “This is tricky for me. Well, I could say that about hundreds of people I’ve worked with. The point is, I would have regretted it if I hadn’t acted now.”
And should Green have been named in Parliament over his use of NDAs at TopShop following claims of harassment? He replied: “I don’t know what this is leading to — not with me but with him.
“But like I said, my only regret would have been if I had put money over principle, and I didn’t. So when I had the opportunity, I did what I did.”
Cowell invited The Sun to a central London hotel — where he is meeting his staff from around the world to plot future strategy — following our exclusive on Saturday about his shock split from Little Mix.
Simon said the decision came after a falling out with their reps Modest Management amid a row over a songwriting credit on their single Woman Like Me.
Cowell admitted: “It was just embarrassing but, funnily enough, I was more annoyed, again, not about me, but about the fact people who had worked so hard in my company were being misrepresented. Why do artists think they’re more important than staff members? They’re not. They’re the same.
“The irony was the record they were arguing about, which is Woman Like Me, they didn’t want to record. This was one of those ironic times that we were having a hit and nobody was happy.”
Again, Simon’s decision to walk away from his most successful act wasn’t financial. He said: “It wasn’t down to money. Basically, they said we’d done a terrible job. I had agreed not to talk about this publicly because I thought it was a private matter. I said, ‘We can’t work with the management, it’s as simple as that’.”
Cowell said he is going to meet the band this week “just so they can hear it from me and I can hear it from them”.
He added: “Everyone’s like, ‘There must have been something massive and that’s why it collapsed’. Well, I can show you all the correspondence between me and the girls over the years, there’s never been an instance when we’ve fallen out. As I said in my email to them, I stand by the fact they are the hardest working bunch of girls I’ve ever worked with. They deserve everything they’ve got.”
On today's revelations that Little Mix members were asked by their US record label to "flirt" with radio executives in America, Cowell said he has a zero-tolerance approach to that type of practice.
He added: "If we'd have known about that at the time, whoever said that, he or she would have been fired."
Over the past year, Cowell has removed himself from the internet and social media so he cannot be damaged by near-constant claims and conspiracy theories thrown about.
Addressing the subject, he said: “Look, no one’s more in the spotlight than me. And when the whole [#MeToo] thing happened, I have always had a clear conscience about that. I understand the moral code here.
“I suppose I get frustrated. People can read whatever they like. I do let myself be a bit of a sponge where you get beaten up. With this story, if you hadn’t called, I wouldn’t have said a word.
“All you can do is be transparent. I’ve never hidden anything from you guys, ever.”
Simon was livid when we told him there are internet conspiracy theories about why he teamed up with controversial journalist Mark Williams-Thomas — who exposed Jimmy Savile as a paedophile — to work on a TV series.
He replied angrily: “What you just said about a conspiracy about why I hired him, well let’s be clear here — I have a four-year-old son. He is all I care about.
“Like I said, I make these decisions now not on me, but my little boy. I think the crazy stuff, you’ve got to ignore.
“I first met Mark in 2015 off the back of Jinx the show on Netflix. There was an article about Jill Dando in a newspaper and I called the editor over there who introduced me to this guy Mark who'd written it.
"He and I discussed these crime things becoming more popular and we were going to initially do a series about who murdered Jill Dando.
"And then he came to me later and he said he'd heard of this interesting story, so we took it to ITV.
"Then the second one he did was a similar case. We made two series with him and that’s been my only dealings with him.
"When I spoke to him after reading his Jill Dando story in the paper almost four years ago, it was the first time I'd ever spoken to or met him.”
The departures of Green and Little Mix are part of what Simon — who has son Eric with partner Lauren Silverman — describes as a “wake-up call for me”, especially when it comes to his health. A fall last October prompted real concern for his well-being, although he joked: “I have a stairlift now.”
But in all seriousness, Cowell conceded a lifestyle where he would work until 8am and then sleep until 3pm, coupled with stress, was killing him.
He admitted: “I was like a vampire. For years I would not go to bed until eight in the morning.
“It was a wake-up call. I think stress, if you want my honest opinion, is the biggest killer of all.
“I’ve stopped all the crazy late-night phone calls and the late-night meetings. That was the problem.
“Suddenly you go, ‘I can’t live like this any more’. You don’t want your son walking in when you’re always asleep in the afternoon. I mean, that’s not great.
“Going back to Eric, I have laughed more this year than I have in years and I think it’s one of the best medicines in the world.”
In fact, Cowell wanted to have fun during our interview and even laughed about the constant talk of record low ratings for this series of The X Factor.
He smiled then said: “My perspective on life is slightly different than it used to be. I used to be really competitive, read the ratings and have white knuckles. Now I find it funny.
“At the end of the day I always go back to Eric, who will hopefully one day be running these shows — one day, please God. But our ratings with young people are up and everyone wants Robbie Williams, Ayda Field and Louis Tomlinson to come back.”
And Simon said he has no regrets about the massive changes he has made to both his business and his life.
He added: “This is the best I’ve felt in years because I’m going into the New Year now without any weight on my shoulders any more. It’s like I’ve dealt with everything I’ve had to deal with.
“You can’t change the past because you don’t know who people are but once you do you get them out your life.”
