Simon Cowell has admitted that he was “horrible” to Susan Boyle during her famous 2009 Britain’s Got Talent audition, a moment that still haunts him nearly two decades later.
Susan, now 65, took the stage in front of the judges and an audience full of skepticism, with Cowell, Amanda Holden, and Piers Morgan all visibly unimpressed by her appearance before she sang. The viral moment that followed was a turning point in Susan’s career, but Simon has since reflected on his initial reaction with deep regret.
Speaking on the Tales From The Celebrity Trenches podcast, Simon, the father of one, admitted that the response from the panel was “awful and horrible.” He said, “I look back and I just think, ‘my God, we look so awful, horrible.’ I actually don’t think we looked bad enough. I think we were even worse than that.”
He went on, “The look Piers gave me, I think out of all the looks I’ve ever remembered, that might be the worst. I was just as bad.” Despite having the power to edit the moment out of the broadcast, Simon explained that he kept the reaction in as a wake-up call for himself and the other judges. “You can’t judge a book by its cover,” he said.
Susan’s audition, where she revealed her dream of becoming like musical theatre star Elaine Page, struck a chord with millions, but it didn’t initially win over the panel. Amanda Holden, who was one of the judges at the time, later admitted, “We were all being really cynical, and I think that’s the biggest wake-up call ever. It was a complete privilege listening to that.”
The public reaction to Susan’s audition was intense, and the way the judges and audience treated her left an emotional mark. In an interview with the Irish Mirror, Susan described the experience as feeling like she was part of a “circus freak show.” “It felt quite suffocating, almost as though I was an act in a freak show, and that hurt,” she shared.
Though Susan didn’t win the competition, losing to dance group Diversity, her career skyrocketed. She went on to sell over 23 million albums, hit number one in both the UK and the US, and earned a place in the Guinness World Records.
Ten years after her audition, Susan made a triumphant return to the Britain’s Got Talent stage, where Simon warmly welcomed her, and the two shared a more positive, heartfelt moment. Since then, Susan has continued to thrive and recently purchased a beautiful new home near her manager, further proving that the initial judgment didn’t define her.
