AceShowbiz - Simon Cowell is bracing for the "torture" of judging his son Eric's audition on the next series of "Britain's Got Talent". The music mogul, 63, who shares the nine-year-old with his long-term partner Lauren Silverman, 46, says the boy is "serious" about vying for a place on his ITV1 show as he wants to be in a "rock band" and is obsessed with Green Day.

"Now (Eric's) decided he's going to audition for 'Britain's Got Talent'. That is going to be total torture. I mean, of all the things I've ever done, this will probably be the hardest. But he's really serious about it. I swear. I think he wants to be in a rock band. He loves Green Day," Simon told Entertainment Tonight.

Simon previously said he hoped Eric would follow in his showbiz footsteps but from "behind the camera."

His admission came as he opened up about how discovering therapy at the age of 63 has lifted a "weight" from his shoulders. He said going into counselling made him realised he no longer wants to know about his TV ratings, and said he wished he had seen a therapist "10 or 20 years ago" - and has stopped using his mobile phone.

Simon told the Daily Mirror, "I wish I had done (therapy) 10 or 20 years ago… it's like a weight has lifted off my shoulders."

He is the first guest on the Mirror's "Men in Mind" podcast, which will see some of the UK's biggest male celebrities open up about their mental health.

Simon added he had suffered from depression for years, and Covid was a "catalyst" for his blues and he had become "petrified" of catching the virus.

He said therapy helped him get to the root of his obsessions with TV success, adding about his life after counselling, "It's quite incredible because it now doesn't feel like you're chasing something. You're just making something you like in the hope that other people like it as well. If they don't, they don't."