Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell could command a salary of $108 million to $144 million if he continues with American Idol beyond the coming season, according to a British newspaper.

Cowell, who serves as the most polarizing — and thus the most entertaining — judge on the Fox hit has been offered "three to four times" his current annual appearance fee of $36 million, a source close to Idol executive producer Simon Fuller tells the U.K.'s The Guardian.

Read how Ryan Seacrest keeps Idol pitch-perfect

A Fox spokesperson ... read more 23 Comments

American Idol judge Simon Cowell may be on his way to becoming TV's "best-paid star."

Cowell has teamed with billionaire British retailer Sir Phillip Green to create a global entertainment firm that will own and produce TV content, according to Financial Times. The new company will include Cowell's existing projects, Britain's Got Talent and The X-Factor, but will also launch new programming.

Check out photos of Cowell on Britain's Got Talent, Idol and more.

More importantly, however, Green — a close friend of Cowell's — has been advising him in his contract negotiations with Idol producer 19 Entertainment. Cowell has been... read more 8 Comments

Simon Cowell wants you to know that even he makes mistakes.

The brutally honest and oft-grumpy judge of American Idol and Britain's Got Talent said so himself in a lengthy editorial in the U.K.'s Daily Mail Saturday, in which he addressed several controversies surrounding the British talent show. His primary focus: the rise and fall of Susan Boyle.

"I'm the first to hold my hands up and admit I've made mistakes," Cowell wrote. "Looking back on it all, it has become clear to me that we didn't handle the situation with Susan as well as we could have."

Even so, Cowell decided his side of the story needed to be heard. "You can't complain when people turn the tables and criticize you. And I don't," he wrote. "The show has been accused of being a cruel circus that sets out to exploit the vulnerable in a cynical bid to boost ratings. And I, of course, am inevitably portrayed as the evil ringmaster. So love the shows or hate them, the time has finally come for me to set a few things straight."

Cowell recalled thinking that Boyle ... read more 5 Comments

Piers Morgan insists that the scantily clad body seen in a new U.K. ad for Burger King is all his. Despite claims that the image has been manipulated, the America's Got Talent judge told TVGuide.com that "the picture speaks for itself."

"People who've met me are totally unsurprised by the quality of my physique," he added. The often cocky Brit said he doesn't do anything specific to buff up, but does...

Susan Boyle is on the mend after being hospitalized Sunday night. 

"She is recovering well," Max Clifford, a rep for Britain's Got Talent judge Simon Cowell, told the Associated Press after speaking with Boyle's brothers. 

"They are saying they weren't surprised by what happened, due to the speed of everything that happened, with her getting worldwide fame in seconds," he continued. "Provided she's given..." read more 1 Comment