Simon Cowell on Building Next Big Boy Band & Showing Off His Private World (Exclusive)

Simon Cowell is putting it all on the line for his new documentary “Simon Cowell: The Next Act,” showing a side we’ve never seen before! 

The doc focuses on Simon’s quest to find singing superstars and build a boy band like his famous One Direction. 

“Extra’s” Terri Seymour spoke with Simon about deciding to put his entire life on display while searching for the next big thing.

He said, “The idea came, honestly, about three years ago. I hadn’t signed a band for years and probably the best times I’ve ever had in my life were working with bands, so why don’t we see if we can do what I used to do, which is audition people and hope, pray, we find some great people and what if we filmed the whole thing?”

His idea was a surprise to his very private fiancée, Lauren.

Simon noted, “I told Lauren in Barbados, I said, ‘Um, got some news for you.’ She said, ‘What?’ ‘I’m going to put together a boy band.’ And there was a film crew and she went, ‘Well, does that mean we’re filming everything?’”

While she wasn’t planning to be part of the documentary, Simon pointed out, “Then we started to film, you know, she was around so much, she just kind of got used to it.”

In the end, Lauren was “a big part” of the documentary.

Simon kept it real, saying, “There was some amazing times. There was some terrible times.”

They even included their 11-year-old son Eric, who just might follow in his dad’s footsteps. 

Cowell dished, “He loves music. He’s got great taste in music.”

While Simon is unsure if he’ll do another docuseries like this again, he shared, “I’m glad I did it. If nothing else, just to give these boys a shot and that in itself, you know, means a lot.”

Cowell called it one of the “hardest” things he’s ever done in his career.