Simon Cowell quits smoking after having puffed up to 40 cigarettes a day for decades

Simon Cowell revealed he has given up his bad habit of smoking after having smoked up to 40 cigarettes a day for decades.

The music mogul said he has been trying to quit ever since his son Eric was born and found the ability to finally put a full stop to it about three or four months ago.

"I'm going to say yes I've quit. I'm vaping so I'm not quite out of the woods, but I don't smoke cigarettes. I have not had a cigarette in about three or four weeks,” the Britain's Got Talent judge said.

"I mean it was really, really tough. But you probably heard I lost my voice a few weeks ago, when that happened obviously I couldn't smoke.

“And then I realised. You know what, if I can get through four days, I can do a week. I could do a week, two weeks, et cetera, et cetera. And then I just thought, well, this is the moment.

"So touch wood, maybe that's it. I mean, it had to happen sooner or later,” he added.

He went on to add that giving up on smoking cigarettes was part of a general change in his lifestyle to be healthier, which had happened after he met a life threatening accident in 2022.

"There is that moment when something like this happens in a big accident. And you are lying there. And you are completely helpless, and there's nothing you can do about it,” Cowell explained.

“It's the worst feeling in the world. And so at that point, you just realise health is more important than anything else. But I had said those things before.

“And I didn't really think about it properly. Now I really, really think about it. Which is if you want to have a happy life, as much as you can, you've got to put health number one."