Simon Cowell has revealed he will likely "drop dead" before he retires as he doesn't want to be in the same position as his dad.
The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent judge, 64, said his father "didn't want" to stop working when he got older, but he was left with no choice because he worked for a large company. It hammered home the importance of working "for yourself" for Simon, who said his dad urged him to strive for self-sufficiency, as he and the family felt "very sad" when he eventually had to retire. Speaking to Hello!, Simon said: "Oh God no. I'll probably drop dead doing what I'm doing. As long as I think there's a need or a purpose and it's something I can do well, I'm up for it. "
He continued: "I remember the day my dad retired - it was very sad because he really didn't want to stop working, but he had no choice as he worked for a big company. "He said to me when I was young, 'If you can try to work for yourself, do,' and it always stuck in my head. Seeing what he went through was hard."
The TV mogul and entrepreneur said his dad's brain was "still amazing", and he would have been perfectly capable of continuing his job "for another 20 years". Simon's fiancee, Lauren Silverman, has also resigned herself to the fact that her partner is unlikely to slow down, telling the magazine that she's "never going to change him", as "Simon is Simon".
She said part of growing with somebody in a relationship is "accepting" the "things you cannot change". Simon "marches to the beat of his own drum", and she simply tries to "march alongside him". Lauren continued: "In my own quiet way, I always talk about legacy with Simon and ask him what he wants to leave behind because he's done it all. I'm absolutely supportive of Simon and all the things he endeavours to do. "
Despite the record executive's success, he certainly had humble beginnings, with Simon previously revealing in an interview for The Diary Of A CEO that he initially worked in the post room at EMI Music Publishing. It would also appear that Simon's son, Eric, is very much part of the music icon's legacy, as he seems to be following in his father's footsteps. Eric, who is a keen drummer, "loves music" and is particularly fond of One Direction. However, he was surprisingly unaware that his dad played a major part in their rise to fame on The X Factor, with Simon teasingly saying: "I sort of put them together".