Random House It's not often you see Simon Cowell cowering from criticism.
But if you ask the ex-American Idol judge, that's exactly what he did after awkward admissions he made about various paramours became tabloid fodder with the publishing of Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell, an unauthorized biography by author Tom Bower.
While giving a thumbs-up to the bawdy book at a launch party at London's Serpentine gallery Wednesday night, Cowell offered a mea culpa to his celebrity guests, saying extracts of the tome that were published in the U.K.'s Sun newspaper made him want to hide in shame.
"I want to publicly apologize to anybody I embarrassed because I have tried to keep my private life quiet a bit, and I do have to apologize to certain people and certain members of my family. That's the score," the Telegraph quoted the 52-year-old impresario as saying.
Sweet Revenge has generated a slew of headlines since hitting store shelves in the U.K. this week, particularly since it revealed Cowell romanced former X-Factor judge Dannii Minogue, sought an affair with fellow panelist Cheryl Cole, made discomforting remarks about many of his contestants and discussed his excessive use of Botox.
"I will be honest with you. I spent last week under a pillow in my bedroom. Newspapers were banned," the music executive turned TV mogul told the crowd.
While he cooperated with Bower for the juicy tell-all, Cowell added that it may have inspired him to pull out the pen as well.
"While we are here tonight, I'm going to announce something quite exclusive: I am not going to [do] any more television for the next year. I have decided I am going to write a book," joked Cowell. "It may change, but I am going to call it The Sordid Sex Life of Tom Bower and we are going to be spending a lot of time together."