Why Simon Cowell Wouldn't Change His Scary Bike Accident

It's been two years since Simon Cowell's bike accident, but he wouldn't change the outcome if he could. Back in August 2020, the music mogul was testing a new electric bike in the courtyard of his Malibu home when he fell onto his back. "It could have been a lot worse," he told ExtraTV in February 2021. "When I saw the X-ray, I really nearly could have smashed my spine into pieces, so I literally wouldn't have been able to walk."

Knowing that he broke his back "the minute I landed," Cowell was rushed to hospital. He subsequently had surgery to repair the damage, which resulted in metal rods and screws being inserted into his spine (via People). Not knowing how to explain the injury to his young son Eric, Cowell's fiancée Lauren Silverman "said something to him because he came in... and I was lying in bed and he said, 'Daddy, you're like Iron Man,' and I thought that was the sweetest thing and it meant a lot."

Despite the metal rods, screws, and pain Cowell experienced following the accident, you could say it's given the star a new lease of life.

"That expression 'get back on your bike,' with me, it was literal," Simon Cowell told The Daily Mail, adding, "I feel better than I did because I exercise so much more." Despite being a "millimeter away" from being paralyzed, Cowell wouldn't change anything. "Honestly, if I could rewind, I would have gone through the whole thing again. Just because I feel better now," he explained. "Yeah, even though it hurt like hell at the time."

In another interview, he even went so far as to say that breaking your bad wasn't so bad after all. "I mean it wasn't great for 3-4 weeks but after that you get through it," he told People. "I had to do so much exercise now. I actually feel better than I did before the accident." That's not to say he didn't struggle with the injury. "I've never been in this situation in my life where you literally can't move," Cowell told ExtraTV. "The pain was off the charts... But you've got to stay positive."

Simon Cowell had another bike-related accident in February 2022 — and this time he wasn't wearing a helmet. As a source told The Mirror, Cowell was riding an electric bike in London when the bike "slipped on a wet patch" and he "went flying over the handlebars into the middle of the road" at 20mph. Thankfully, the only major injury he sustained from that accident was a broken wrist which he had put in a cast.

"I'm a bit of a nutter. I'll definitely wear a helmet next time," Cowell told The Daily Mail as he was leaving his London home with Silverman. According to the newspaper, Cowell's friends have since said that "he is ready to give up cycling" following this accident "despite being an enthusiatic bike rider after narrowly avoiding serious injury."

While Cowell hasn't confirmed that he's staying off the bike, he did get a telling-off from his son. When Eric asked whether Cowell was wearing a helmet, "I went, 'Of course I was.' He went, 'You weren't, were you?' I said, 'I was,' He said, Okay, pinkie, and we never break a pinkie,'" Cowell explained during an interview with ExtraTV. "I was like, 'Okay, I wasn't,' and I got the biggest telling off... That was the worst part of it." Thankfully, it's a "lesson learned now" for Cowell when it comes to electric bikes.