BGT judge left 'penniless' with just £5 to their name forced to move in with parents

Simon Cowell has previously opened up about the moment his life came "crashing down" as the Britain's Got Talent judge, 65, addressed his struggles. The talent judge revealed he had just £5 to his name and was forced to move back in with his parents after going broke at the age of 30. During a June appearance on The Diary of a CEO podcast, The X Factor star maker, estimated to be worth a staggering £496 million as of 2023, as reported by Hello!, spoke of the sudden, sickening collapse of his fledgling label, Fanfare Records in 1989 - a setback that left him virtually penniless.

Simon admitted his lavish spending early on his career led to his financial struggles as he bought everything on a credit card. He recalled: "I thought everything was just going to be wonderful, so I bought a house, I bought a Porsche of course, I had a gold credit card. So I'm living it up, and when it all came crashing down, I owed the bank nearly £500,000."

Remembering moving back to his parents without enough cash for taxi fare, Simon continued: "I remember thinking it's literally all the money I've got left in the world, and I'm not sure that five quid's going to cover the taxi ride home."

Thankfully, Simon was able to get himself out of the unfortunate situation as he began to rebuild his life from scratch.

He managed to scramble out of the sticky situation by convincing a banker to lend him the money required to repay his debt.

A lawyer pal also helped him out with a job at BMG Records, which he used as a launchpad for establishing his own record label.

Simon has since gone on to have global fame with his various television shows including X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and America's Got Talent.

He has also been instrumental in the success behind girlband Little Mix and boyband One Direction.

Simon welcomed his young son Eric with his fiancée Lauren Silverman in 2014.

"Before Eric, my life was 99 percent work. I was obsessed with it," Cowell told The Sun in 2023. "Now Eric is around, I don't work through the night anymore. If he hadn't come along, God knows what would have happened."