Simon Cowell says son Eric ‘saved him’ from ‘downward spiral’: I was ‘dying inside’

nypost.com:

Simon Cowell says that his son “without question” saved him during a very difficult time following the death of his parents.The “America’s Got Talent” judge opened up in-depth about his past on the latest episode of “The Diary of a CEO,” which was released June 10.Cowell’s father Eric, who his son was named after, died in 1999, while his mother Julie died 16 years later.

The former “American Idol” judge has 10-year-old son, Eric, with fiancée Lauren Silverman.“I think particularly when I lost my mum, I was on a downward spiral at that point.

I lost everyone, you know, I’ve lost my parents. It’s finality now. What I said about the material things I’ve got, everything just meant nothing at that point,” he said.“I was desperately unhappy, I wasn’t particularly enjoying my work and I just thought you know what I’m just going to become a vampire then, and I would work through until 7 or 8 in the morning,” he continued. “I would wake up at 2 or 3 in the afternoon and I actually got addicted to that kind of lifestyle.

I just loved the intensity. It was almost like because of the loss I’d had, I’ve got to find something else to fill it. And it was I’m just going to be a ridiculous workaholic, and I was very successful but I wasn’t happy, I really, really wasn’t happy.”Cowell and Silverman began dating in 2004.