Simon Cowell Getting Married "Within the Next 10 Years"

When cornered about his engagement on The Tonight Show, Idol judge tells Jay he can do the flowers

It is indeed fun watching Simon Cowell squirm.

Just when you thought the most interesting thing Cowell would have to say on The Tonight Show would be about his supposedly hate-hate relationship with Ellen DeGeneres, Jay Leno asked the lifelong bachelor about the suspiciously large diamond ring girlfriend Mezhgan Hussainy—who later joined the duo onstage—is sporting.

"Well, I do have somebody in my life now, Jay, yes. And I kinda made a decision this year to make somebody happy, so that's how I…it's called giving back," Cowell said, gallantly comparing getting engaged to making a donation to charity.

Not that he was being rude or anything...

"I was asleep, I think," the magnanimous Brit quipped, before adding more seriously, "No, look, I bought her the ring in London."

Cowell then confirmed that the wedding will take place "within the next 10 years" and Jay can "do the flowers" if not be the best man, but he's not sure if the nuptials will take place in the U.K. or the U.S.

"These are the kinds of questions you have to answer!" Leno insisted.

But while wedding plans were the topic du jour, Cowell did address the rumors that he and DeGeneres don't get along.

"There's a lot of stuff being written about it," he acknowledged. "We get on fine. We don't see each other before the show, we do the show. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree, but I did take it quite personally when she moved away from me, yes. 

"No! I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Cowell said, though he also admitted to missing Paula Abdul.

"I talk to her all the time," he said. "She was great fun, and it is a different show without her; but, you know, something will happen with me and her at some point."

And no matter how this season plays out, he's leaving when it's over.

"I thought about it for a long time," the outgoing Idol judge said. "I was thinking for the last couple of years, you know, it was nine years, I had a fantastic time, best time in my life, but it just felt time to leave, hopefully on a high. So...I'm having a good time."

(Originally published March 8, 2010, at 6:49 p.m. PT)