SIMON COWELL BREAKS DOWN IN TEARS AS HE PAYS TRIBUTE TO 'SWEET BOY' LIAM PAYNE

Simon Cowell wiped away tears as he remembered Liam Payne's The X Factor audition 15 years ago.

Netflix has released Simon Cowell: The Next Act, a six-part docu-series which follows the iconic music producer as he puts together his new boyband.

But midway during filming in October 2024, news broke that former One Direction star Liam Payne had died at the age of 31 after falling from a third-floor balcony in Argentina.

Payne was discovered on The X Factor in 2010 when he auditioned as a solo artist before he was put into the band One Direction who came third on the show but reached global success when the series finished.

Cowell, who mentored One Direction on The X Factor, paused his Netflix series The Next Act to pay tribute to the late Liam Payne who he will "genuinely miss".

READ MORE: Netflix cameras capture Simon Cowell's sad admission as he says 'I miss it'

READ MORE: Liam Payne's heartbreaking final moments and tragic mistake that sealed his fate

As Cowell sat down to talk about the star's tragic passing, he paused before saying: "Sorry. Oh God."

He put his head in his hands, wiping away tears as he admitted: "It's hard, you know?"

Cowell continued: "When I call his [Payne] mum and dad and just thinking 'God...' How do you cope with that?

"I remember thinking 'what a sweet, humble boy.'

"He was just so normal and down to earth. He always had a sparkle in his eye. I remember that.

"And his face, in that moment, everyone adored him.

"You just don't know how you feel about someone until you lose them, you know? And whoa.

"We're just gonna miss him, genuinely miss him."

"I can't say anymore at the moment", he said before Cowell shared that he needed to go away and spend some time on his own to "just think", leaving behind his partner Lauren Silverman and their son Eric.

The Britain's Got Talent star later met with the remaining Next Act contestants as well as their parents to get real about the reality of fame.

He shared: "The commitment is huge. If you commit, you commit. And there's a lot to think about.

"There are going to be things written about you that aren't true which is frustrating, things that are said about you that are frustrating

"Sometimes you can answer back. Often you can't.

"If you've decided that music is your career, what comes with it is huge. And you've got to have really thick skin to get through it."

Simon Cowell: The Next Act is available to watch on Netflix

2025-12-10T08:04:40Z