Lauren Cowell was still married to her first husband when the couple announced they were expecting a child together.

Simon Cowell’s fiancée recalls getting pregnant while having an affair: ‘One of the hardest times of my life’

Lauren Cowell was still married to her first husband when the couple announced they were expecting a child together.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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June 16, 2026 11:49 a.m. ET

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Simon Cowell and Lauren Silverman in December 2025. Credit:

Dave Benett/Getty

- Lauren Cowell recalls learning that she was pregnant with Simon Cowell's child while still married to another man.

- The couple welcomed their son Eric in February 2014.

- Lauren admits she struggled to feel "joy" during the pregnancy, as the public scrutiny intensified: "I felt like I was walking around with a scarlet letter, everywhere I went."

Simon Cowell's fiancée, Lauren Cowell, is offering a rare peek inside her "terrible" divorce and the relationship that followed.

During a Tuesday visit to the *Happy Mum *podcast, the entrepreneur — who has legally changed her last name to Cowell ahead of the couple's nuptials — admitted that finding out she was pregnant with their son Eric marked one of the "hardest times" in her life. At the time, Lauren was already married to businessman and real estate developer Andrew Silverman, with whom she shares son Adam. But discovering that she was pregnant with Cowell's child changed everything.

"There's so many emotions that went with that, because it was the end of my marriage, obviously," Lauren said, when asked to reflect upon the pregnancy. "Looking back on that time, it was one of the hardest times of my life because I'm so— I don’t want to say regretful, because I don’t regret anything… Do I wish it had happened a different way and that I could go back and change certain things? Of course I do."

She added, "But I think everything happens for a reason."

Lauren, 48, and Simon, 66, welcomed their son Eric on Feb. 14, 2014, after a tumultuous period in the public eye.

Simon Cowell, Lauren Cowell and their son, Eric.

Dave Benett/Getty

Lauren explained that despite the turmoil, she knew she was ready to welcome their son into the world.

"It was just one of those moments where I knew it was right and that was what I wanted and that Simon was the person I wanted to spend my life with," she shared. "And so, however we got there and however it happened, I just believed that it was meant to be."

She continued, "As much as I wish I could go back and take away the hurt and take away the pain that it caused for my ex-husband and for Adam and for my family and for various people, it happened. So the emotions were intense and they were wide-ranging."

In 2012, rumors surfaced that Lauren and Simon were quietly seeing each other, despite her marriage to Silverman. Simon's representatives initially denied the romance rumors. A year later, the couple announced they were expecting a child together and that the Silvermans had filed for divorce.

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Looking back on that period, Lauren admitted that she struggled to connect with the "joy" of her second pregnancy as the weight of public opinion weighed on her.

"I felt like I was walking around with a scarlet letter, everywhere I went. New York, even thought it's a big city, it's really small," she said. "The way that people would look at me… and I was on the cover of every magazine and it was just news stories about it because of Simon being Simon. It was just awful."

At the time of her split from Silverman, a source also told PEOPLE that Lauren had been "unhappy in her marriage" for a while and that she was "ecstatic to be with Simon." In his own statement, her estranged husband said his "top priority" was to protect their then 7-year-old son, a sentiment which Lauren echoed in her own statement on the matter.

"I am committed to sorting things out with Andrew as amicably as possible to ensure the well-being of our son," she said, per PEOPLE. "I would hope for some space and privacy in order to work through this."

Simon Cowell and Lauren Cowell.

Addressing the strained relationship she had with her ex-husband at the time, Lauren noted that she is "very proud" of the relationship they have built in the years since.

"When I got divorced … it wasn’t a great situation at all. It was terrible,” Lauren recalled on the podcast. "I feel really proud to say that … we are many years past that point. My ex and I, we do have a very nice relationship."

Silverman has since remarried, while Lauren is gearing up for her own wedding. After nearly a decade together, Cowell proposed to Silverman on Christmas Eve in 2021 while on a family vacation in Barbados (where the couple first met).

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Lauren added that since all the public drama, she has busied herself by keeping her "head down and working on herself.

"A part of me knew that if it was somebody else in my shoes and I was looking in from the outside, I would think exactly the same thing," she said of all the disparaging comments that flew her way. "So I was just like, 'It's fine, it's cool, I deserve it.' But now as I've gotten all these years in, I feel for me that I've done the work on myself, I have forgiven myself, I have done whatever I need to do to make peace with the situation."

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