(Fwrd Axis) — Simon Cowell is starting off the new year with big news after it is revealed he’s engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Lauren Silverman.
The 62-year-old television judge and music mogul got down on one knee during a family trip to Barbados, according to Page Six. The pair met back in 2004 when Silverman was still married to real estate mogul Andrew Silverman, who was a good friend of Cowell.
The America’s Got Talent judge later admitted in an interview that he had an affair with Silverman while she was still married.
“[The affair] is not something I am proud of or wanted to happen in terms of hurting anyone,” he said in an interview years ago. “It just happened … But then, of course, you have a baby, and you look at the baby and you kinda go, ‘This is what happened from it.’
Silverman was with Cowell throughout his back injury, which he suffered two years ago. It kept him away from television for most of the 2020 season of America’s Got Talent. However, it may have been the pandemic that sealed the deal for the pair.
“COVID-19 was the real test. Like everyone, we were in lockdown for a long time and that’s when you realize whether or not you actually enjoy each other’s company or not,” he said.