A star said goodbye to Simon Cowell at a party, and their farewell inspired the talent judge to slim down in stunning fashion.

During the taping of a television show, Simon Cowell doesn’t look like himself – and someone notices. So, as they say goodbye after the show has wrapped up, this person tells Cowell how different he looks, and how much he needs to take care of himself. The reality TV judge is usually the one to give criticism; but this time, it’s him in the hot seat.

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Supposedly, Cowell didn’t turn down the advice he had received on that occasion. Instead, he made a promise to do just as suggested and to lose some weight. And soon enough, updates started to pour in from Cowell. He started cutting treats from his diet and forewent specific foods to drop a stunning 20 pounds.

Cowell revealed his slimmed-down silhouette when he wowed on the red carpet for the Britain’s Got Talent quarter-finals. And as Cowell’s supposed confidant has claimed, he has one person to thank for such a noticeable change in his look. And that’s not to mention the changes to his overall life that he owes to this person.

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Simon Cowell made his way into the music industry after taking on a handful of jobs that apparently didn’t suit him. One of these roles included a stint as a runner on the set of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Eventually, his dad got him a job in the mailroom at EMI Music Publishing, where he worked as an executive.

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Cowell would ditch that job, too, but he had found his niche in the music industry. In the 1980s he set out from EMI to work with different labels. First came E&S Music, which he started with his one-time boss at EMI. Then, Cowell started Fanfare Records, which had a hit song in 1986 with “So Macho” by singer Sinitta.

Next, Cowell hopped to BMG, where he formed S Records under the larger label umbrella. He started out by producing novelty recordings – he released albums for the Power Rangers and the World Wrestling Federation, for example. Then, he got an even bigger break in 1995, when he convinced actors Robson Green and Jerome Flynn to record “Unchained Melody” after performing it on their British TV show Soldier Soldier.

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Green and Flynn’s version of “Unchained Melody” went on to become the U.K.’s best-selling song of 1995. Plus, their album topped the country’s charts that year, too. Cowell later shared that the duo – performing as Robson & Jerome – had earned him his first million. And he had only just begun.

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Next, Cowell started signing more pop and novelty acts, including the Teletubbies and Westlife. This latter group are an Irish boyband who have shifted more than 50 million records internationally. So, with a track record of success in the industry, Cowell had leverage to pitch his next idea. This was a TV show called Pop Idol.

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The singing competition gave Cowell access to the show’s top-two finishers. These were Will Young and Gareth Gates, both of whom recorded number-one singles under Cowell’s label. Still, Cowell’s greatest successes were yet to come – he next earned a spot on the judging panel for the first season of a show called American Idol.

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This program brought Cowell overseas to serve as a talent judge for the singing competition. He instantly became a pop culture phenomenon for his blunt feedback. Cowell typically delivered a phrase such as, “I don’t mean to be rude, but…” This might then be followed by some particularly harsh words for bad singers who auditioned for the show.

Cowell stuck with American Idol for the next eight years before making his exit in January of 2010. At that point, the show had become a staple in U.S. television – and on the ratings charts. For seven seasons, it led the Nielsen ratings, maintaining the most significant stretch of time ever at the top.

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Leaving Idol didn’t signal the end for Cowell, of course. In fact, half a decade earlier, he had become a judge on the British music competition called The X Factor. Once again, Cowell had a hit show – and he ushered winning talent such as singer Leona Lewis into his record label Syco.

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The American version of the show, The X Factor USA, brought Cowell on as a judge. On the first series, a singer from his team named Melanie Amaro won the competition. In the next year, he helped to form the girl group Fifth Harmony, who would go on to skyrocket to international stardom. He won the next season with the duo Alex & Sierra, too.

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But Cowell didn’t stop with those two reality competitions. His company Syco went on to develop a talent show of their own – one that would be open to performers of all kinds, not just singers. The Got Talent series had both British and American iterations, with the latter garnering weekly audiences of some 12 million people.

Britain’s Got Talent – with Cowell on the judging panel – helped to launch the careers of many singers, most notably Susan Boyle. Her audition wowed Cowell and the rest of the world. Global media shared and re-shared Boyle’s stunning first appearance, drawing attention to her and to the show Cowell had developed.

Since then, Cowell has continued to stay busy with reality TV gigs, both as a judge and as a show creator. For instance, in 2015 he started the program La Banda, through which judges formed a Latino boy band. He also created American Inventor, a show meant to uncover new product ideas, and a BBC-based dance competition for charity called The Greatest Dancer.

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Throughout it all, Cowell has become a well-known figure – and not just for his blunt personality. The reality show veteran tends to rock a similar wardrobe at all times. And in 2012 the Guardian’s Hadley Freeman pointed out his go-to styles. She wrote that Cowell had “two uniforms du choix.”

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Freeman went on to describe Cowell’s pair of signature looks as “a black or white T-shirt with jeans or a half-unbuttoned white shirt with jeans.” Because he’s a celebrity, his routine looks don’t go unnoticed. Nor, for that matter, do any changes to his face and figure, which have been pointed out by fans as of late.

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For instance, in May 2018 photographers snapped Cowell on his way into America’s Got Talent auditions in Pasadena, California. Although he happily greeted fans awaiting his arrival, he didn’t look like himself. The Daily Mail described him as looking “tired and slightly disheveled.” But the talent judge’s face looked rounder than usual, too.

As it turned out, Cowell’s doctors had already noticed that he had let himself go. In late 2017 he fainted and fell down the stairs due to low blood pressure. At that time, doctors also told Cowell he needed to switch things up and take better care of his health. They suggested he drop some of his favorite foods – hamburgers and jam pastries among them.

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But someone else takes credit for Cowell’s stunning weight loss, which he revealed in the summer of 2019. Vocalist Sinitta – whose song “So Macho” became record exec Cowell’s first hit in 1986 – said on an episode of ITV’s Lorraine that she deserved some credit for the change in his looks.

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Sinitta and Cowell didn’t just have a working relationship in the 1980s, though. The pair used to date, until Sinitta dumped him to start seeing someone else. And although they broke up in 1984, she and the talent judge have remained close friends. Sinitta has even appeared on The X Factor as a guest mentor.

It was during The X Factor filming in 2018 that Sinitta told Cowell to make a change, she said. As she described on Lorraine, they had finished taping. She said, “Ryan Seacrest, Paula Abdul, Diane Warren, everybody was there, and as we were leaving I was kissing [Simon] goodbye and saying thank you.”

Their private farewell gave Sinitta the chance to speak to Cowell about his obvious weight gain. She recalled, “As I said goodbye I just whispered in his ear, ‘Baby, I’m really sorry to say this but I love you so much and I’ve got to do this. You’re too handsome, you’re too fabulous to let yourself go like this.’”

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At that point, Sinitta said, “I had my arms around him because we were hugging. I kind of grabbed him a little bit around the love handles and around the waist, and his little cheeks.” She then reminded her ex-boyfriend how much she cared about him so she knew that her advice came from the right place.

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Sinitta said to Cowell, “Do you know I just want you to be healthy and I want you to look good and feel good and this is not you and you need to address this?” Indeed, she had a history of keeping his health in check. She said, “He’s used to me kind of being on him about his things, about health.”

Sinitta described how health had been a focus when she and Cowell went on vacation together in the past, too. She said, “I’d always make sure we had power plates and exercise bikes and everything. Because we once found we’d put on 10 pounds in two weeks on a yacht holiday.”

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As such, Cowell was used to Sinitta’s good influence and intentions. He not only accepted her criticism, but supposedly told her that he’d look completely different by the next time they saw one another. In the meantime, the singer said that her ex-boyfriend sent her routine updates on his progress.

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Sinitta recalled, “I’d get little updates, like ‘I’ve gone vegan,’ ‘I’ve gone vegetarian,’ ‘I’ve stopped eating sugar,’ ‘I’ve stopped eating wheat.’” And from there, Cowell started to slim down. “He’s gotten his act together and he’s looking and feeling fantastic,” Sinitta said. She shared more specific side effects of his weight loss, too – he has more energy and can think clearly.

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Of course, the world learned about Cowell’s dramatic transformation when he appeared on the red carpet before Britain’s Got Talent’s quarter-final taping. At that time, Cowell joked about his transformation to The Sun, “If I was on a 1 to 10 scale of being handsome, I was an 8 and and now I’ve gone to an 11.”

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Although Sinitta took credit for Cowell’s transformation, the reality star himself said that multiple factors had inspired him to slim down. As previously mentioned, he had fallen down the stairs in 2017. That, he said, reminded him that he was “not invincible… It was a huge shock.” He knew he had to take better care of himself then – and not just for his own good.

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Cowell went on, “They think I fainted because I had low blood pressure and so I have got to really take good care of myself to sort that out. After all, I am a dad and have more responsibility than ever.” Indeed, he and his girlfriend Lauren Silverman welcomed their first child – a boy named Eric – in February 2014.

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Cowell did confirm what Sinitta said about his dietary changes, though. He had switched to a vegan diet rather than an ephemerally popular regimen. He told Access Hollywood, “The secret is, don’t follow one of the fad diets, because there’s just too many, and they contradict each other… You just have to cut out the obvious.”

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Cowell also promised potential practitioners that such a change would improve their sense of well-being, too. Just as Sinitta had shared, Cowell said, “You’ll feel better. My memory’s better, I feel better, so I didn’t find it difficult.” As an added incentive, he then revealed, “I can still drink beer, so I’m happy.”

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Although many people lauded Cowell’s trimmed-down appearance in the summer of 2019, others wondered if he had just lost weight. In 2015 the reality TV star admitted that he had received fillers in the past. According to the Daily Mail, he said, “I probably did have a little too much Botox a couple of years ago, because everyone on TV has it.”

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Cowell’s appearance in 2019 sparked a similar debate. After all, not only had he lost weight, but as The Sun noted, “he showed off a completely smooth head, brighter-than-ever teeth and remarkably wrinkle-free neck.” The paper had experts weigh in on the work that Cowell may or may not have had to achieve his stunning new look.

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Dr. Nyla Raja suspected that Cowell may have gone a little overboard with facial fillers. In her own words, “I suspect Simon’s fallen complexion is a combination of weight loss and also too much Botox. Injectables don’t need to be overdone and they don’t really need to change your appearance.”

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Dr. Aamer Khan said that Cowell’s weight loss could have caused his face to appear different, too. He said, “Simon Cowell has lost a lot of weight recently and that weight loss is clearly showing in his face. Especially in his mid face, which appears to have dropped slightly, altering his appearance.”

For his part, Cowell has said in the past that he prefers other treatments to Botox. He said, “There’s lots of things you can do now. You don’t just have to stuff your face with filler and Botox… For me it’s all about having clean skin. If you have clean skin, you look better. But you have to be very careful with some of this stuff.”

Indeed, it’s clear that Cowell is careful with more than just his skin these days. The TV star has overhauled his diet to improve his health and memory, and such changes have helped him lose 20 pounds. And, although he has yet to confirm, his ex-girlfriend and friend Sinitta may have had a hand in inspiring his huge change.