Simon Cowell has opened up about the death of mother, Julie, who passed away at the age of 89 in July. The X Factor judge revealed that he was thinking of her while watching an emotional performance of Labrinth’s ‘Jealous’ from Josh Daniels recently.

Speaking to Loose Women’s Ruth Langsford and Jane Moore, Cowell spoke about the tearful audition, saying: «… it was quite near when it all happened and I think it was the last audition and I wasn’t really expecting what happened.» He added: «… and of course the lyric of the song and it was quite difficult because I thought, ‘God this is going to be really hard to sit through this.’ «But then you’ve got to think of [Josh] and it’s his moment but yes it was very emotional.» Speaking about his mother, Simon said: «She was a huge fan of the show, she loved the show,….

Simon Phillip Cowell was born on 7 October 1959[7][8] in Lambeth, London, and raised in Elstree, Hertfordshire. His mother, Julie Brett (née Josie Dalglish, 1925–2015),[9] was a ballet dancer and socialite, and his father, Eric Selig Phillip Cowell (1918–1999), was an estate agent, property developer, and music industry executive.[10] Cowell’s father was from a mostly Jewish family (his own mother was born in Poland),[11] though he did not discuss his ancestry with his children. Cowell’s mother was from a Christian background.[11][12] He has a younger brother, Nicholas Cowell; three half brothers, John, Tony, and Michael Cowell; and a half sister, June Cowell.[13] Cowell attended Radlett Preparatory School, Licensed Victuallers’ School in Ascot for one year,

[14] and the private Dover College, as did his brother, but left after taking GCE O levels. He passed English Language and Literature and then attended Windsor Technical College, where he gained another GCE in Sociology.[15] Cowell took a few menial jobs—including, according to his brother Tony,[16] working as a runner on Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror film The Shining—but did not get along well with colleagues and bosses, until his father, who was an executive at EMI Music Publishing, managed to get him a job in the mail room. However, after failing to get a promotion, he left to try out other jobs before returning to EMI.[17]