The couple are parents to 7-year-old Eric
(Picture: Getty Images)Simon Cowell has officially proposed to his partner of eight years Lauren Silverman – after famously shunning marriage as “boring.”
The 62-year-old music mogul popped the question on their New Year getaway to Barbados. Naturally, Silverman, 44, was left “stunned” by the shock proposal.
A source told The Sun: “Lauren was absolutely stunned and never in a million years expected Simon to pop the question. She burst into tears - happy tears - and obviously said yes straight away.
“Lauren has been Simon’s rock over these past few years - supporting him when he broke his back, and through thick and thin generally. They make a wonderful couple.
“Whilst Simon never thought he was the marrying type, he’s realised he’s met the woman of his dreams - and couldn’t be happier. In the words of Beyoncé, it was time to put a ring on it.”
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Cowell met Silverman when she was married to property developer Andrew Silverman. Their affair later became public, and by the end of July 2013, news broke that Lauren was pregnant.
The X-Factor creator was quite the ladies man with a fair share of relationships and short-lived flings in the public eye.
Here is a full rundown of Simon Cowell’s dating past:
Jackie St Clair (1970s)
Former Page 3 model dated Cowell back in the 70s, and the pair have maintained a strong friendship after their split.
She had an ongoing feud with Sinitta – another of Cowell’s ex-partners.
Paula Hamilton (1977)
Paula Hamilton, one of the most famous faces of the 80s, said that she and Cowell were childhood sweethearts.
“I couldn’t read or write until I was 11. So I was called stupid and bullied by teachers. Simon was really important to me because he stopped them picking on me,” she told the Daily Mail.
She has also been very open about Cowell being the one who took her virginity aged 16.
Sinitta (On-off romance)
The pair met in the 80s and had a notorious on-off relationship over 20 years.
The pop sensation was asked whether she and Cowell had officially ended their romance, to which she told New! Magazine: “There was always an element of ‘well, it’s never really over.’
“But when Eric was born, that was it. I would never come between his family.”
Louise Payne (1995)
Cowell and Page 3 model Payne shared three years of their lives together.
Cowell popped the question a few weeks into dating – but later broke off the engagement because he wasn’t ready to have children.
Georgina Law (2000)
Following his called-off engagement, Cowell had a brief fling with a second Page 3 model – who later sold a story to the tabloids.
“I met Simon at the Spearmint Rhino Club where I used to work occasionally. This was before Pop Idol so he wasn’t famous. He is a lovely man and we had a casual relationship for about six months. We weren’t proper boyfriend or girlfriend, but we’d see each other regularly,” she said.
Terri Seymour (2002)
Seymour was one of Cowell’s longest relationships, with the music mogul rumoured to have given her a £6million ‘parting gift’.
The pair still remain friends to this day.
Dannii Minogue (2007)
Cowell soon moved onto Minogue for a short-lived fling that he eventually admitted.
“I had a crush on her. It was Dannii’s hair, the sexy clothes, and the t**s. I was like a schoolboy. She was foxy. She was a real man’s girl. Very feminine. It was genuine love,” he said in an interview.
Mezghan Hussainy (2009- 2012)
Hussainy was a makeup artist on American Idol, who Cowell was immediately infatuated with.
Cowell later ended up proposing in 2010, but they later called it off in 2012. As a parting gift, Simon allegedly bought Hussainy a multimillion-dollar mansion.
Carmen Electra (2012)
In a relationship that everyone had forgotten about, the pair first met when Electra starred as a guest judge on Britain’s Got Talent.
Their relationship reportedly ended when she found Simon getting cosy with his current fiance, Lauren Silverman. Despite this, Electra still called him “awesome and very charming.”
Lauren Silverman (2013- now)
This brings us to now.
Cowell has finally settled down with Lauren Silverman after romancing the socialite while still married to his friend Andrew.
Silverman and her ex-husband divorced when news of their affair broke and the announcement of her pregnancy with Simon’s child.
