He famously hates weddings – I’m privileged Simon Cowell’s making a speech after giving me away, says Lucy Spraggan
HE was once the scariest talent show judge around with withering put downs and an icy eye roll.
But these days Simon Cowell, 64, has softened into a doting dad with a huge heart.
And nowhere will this be more evident than when he makes a speech at X Factor legend Lucy Spraggan’s wedding to fiancée Emilia Smith this summer after giving her away.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun ahead of the release of a reworked version of her single Sober with Robbie Williams this Friday, Lucy, 34, said the Simon she knows is very different to the one most people know from TV.
She said: “It’s funny because everybody else knows Simon on TV, like I know Simon in a different capacity.
“I’ve had many emotional conversations with Simon and he is going to do a speech. And I don’t know if it will be emotional because there’ll be a room full of other people in there, but yeah, I mean, I know a very good and very wholesome version of Simon.”
The presence of such a high-profile guest is likely to cause a bit of a stir on the big day, and Lucy admits she’s warned a friends not to get too carried away with selfie requests.
She said: “I’ve said to some of my friends, like if you ask Simon for a selfie… I will just have to be like, I want us to not worry. I just want him and Lauren and Eric to have a great day. And I want everybody to have a great day.
“But no, like it’s kind of just like arranging it for anybody. Like he’s just willing and happy to be there. And he famously hates weddings.”
Lucy revealed last month how she asked Simon to give her away while staying at his Malibu home.
The music mogul and Lucy – who is estranged from her biological father – have built a strong relationship over the last four years after Simon apologised for failing to support her following a horrific sexual assault during her time on The X Factor in October 2012.
He was honoured to be asked, telling her he would “absolutely love to”.
And Simon was pivotal in orchestrating her collaboration with Robbie, who Lucy played support to at a huge outdoor gig at the Sandringham Estate last summer.
Lucy explained: “Simon’s been going through the back catalogue and trying to work out what songs we’re going to use in the future for this reworked album. And he got a hold of Sober and he’s like, ‘I love this song. Do you know who should hear this song?’
“He was like, ‘Robbie has to hear this song’. I was like, ‘oh my God, I’m supporting Robbie in July’. He’s like, ‘no’.
“And then I met Robbie at Sandringham and we had a chat for like 25 minutes in the dressing room and then I was like, ‘have you heard the song Sober?’ And he was like, ‘yeah, we’re working together on it, aren’t we?’ And I was like, ‘what the f**k?”
The pair pieced the track together remotely and Lucy was thrilled with the outcome, promising it’s vintage Robbie.
“Robbie comes in in the middle and then it gets so Robbie towards the end.
“He’s very, he’s very prominent on him and on this. And he sounds very mature on it as well.”
It’s funny because everybody else knows Simon on TV, like I know Simon in a different capacity.
Lucy Spraggan
TEETOTAL
The track documents Lucy’s past reliance on alcohol and her determination to move away from the guilt and shame she felt when drinking.
She said: “The thing that most people don’t realise is that a lot of us use alcohol to cope with things. So when you remove that, you need to find other things.
“You need to be able to be in touch with yourself enough to know that, oh, like, ‘I’m really stressed’. So I need to manage that stress. So I never think to myself, ‘oh, maybe I’ll just go and have one drink’ because I’m confident enough now I dance at weddings completely sober, like that’s hardcore sobriety stuff there.
“But I don’t need anything to fall back on. I’ve got myself.
“I think a lot of people are taught that sobriety is this horrible, laborious, stressful, sad and lonely experience. But sobriety has been, I’ve been so supported. And I think it’s my superpower and I have zero shame about my drinking days or anything like that.”