Simon Cowell looks at life "in a completely different way" now he's a parent

He told Britain's HELLO! magazine: "Twenty years ago, I would have said I didn't think I was going to have kids because I thought I was too old.

"So when I got the news I was going to be a dad - and the first time I saw his scan - I was literally obsessed. Something changed and I looked at life in a completely different way.

"Every decision I make now I am thinking about Eric. Is it the right decision for him?"

And 46-year-old Lauren believes Simon has changed a lot since the first met, but he still "needs" her and Eric to help him find balance in his life.

She said: "He would stay up until crazy hours and sometimes wake up to two o'clock in the afternoon. But obviously I'm a mom and life doesn't work that way.

"I always try to help him to find that balance, because he's a workaholic. He loves his work, which is fantastic.

"But he sometimes needs me and Eric to push him to do more normal things and get up at a reasonable hour. And I guess in that sense, we've helped him - and he's definitely got a lot better since we first met, that's for sure."

The 'X Factor' boss recently spoke about the dark times he experienced following the death of his father in 1999 and hs mother in 2015, and Lauren believes she and Eric have helped to fill the "void" within Simon.

Simon said: "When it got quite dark, everything kind of opened up for me. I hoped something good would happen because I remember when I was working flat out, even though everything was going fine, I was miserable because I think I was actually physically and mentally exhausted."

Lauren added: "I think before he had Eric his life was great, and he had so much success. But there was definitely a void, something missing. And maybe he didn't even know what that thing was.

"But once he became a dad and had someone like me to answer to, he realised that actually there's so much more to life and what's the point of having all this if you don't have somebody you want to share it with?"