Simon Cowell thinks Harry Styles' recent success is so golden.
The music executive and the "As It Was" singer have a whole lot of history as it's been more than a decade since Simon mentored Harry and his One Direction bandmates on The X Factor U.K. Since the group's 2015 split, Harry's solo career has taken off and Simon can't help but feel proud to have played a part of his success.
"It's brilliant," he exclusively told E! News at the opening night of & Juliet on Broadway in New York City on Nov. 17. "I mean that's the reason why we made these shows if I'm being honest with you, if we didn't find stars like Harry there would be no point at all in doing what we do."
Simon added, "It's always a thrill and he absolutely deserves the success and all of it."
Harry nabbed five Grammy nominations for his third album Harry's House on Nov. 15, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year for "As It Was" as well as Best Pop Vocal Album.
The American Idol alum's comments come just a few months after One Direction fans got a behind the scenes look at how the group was formed. In September, The X Factor shared a previously unreleased clip of Harry and bandmates Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Liam Payne being grouped together by judge Nicole Scherzinger.
"They're just too talented to get rid of and they've got just the right look and the right charisma on stage. I think they'll be really great in a boyband together," Nicole told fellow judges Louis Walsh and Simon in the video. "They're like little stars, so you can't get rid of little stars, you know? So you put them all together."