Simon Cowell has admitted he is a more content father now

As we all know Simon Cowell became father to baby Eric with Lauren Silverman in February this year and it seems to have brought out the softer side of the famously cruel X Factor judge.

“If you’d seen me 18 months ago and said ’Simon, back at home now you’ve got two dogs and a six-month-old baby,’ I’d go ’Yeah, right!’ It was never going to happen, but it did. And I’m enjoying my life now,” he told Radio Times magazine.

Taking after daddy pic.twitter.com/O16zcTZEL2

— Simon Cowell (@SimonCowell) August 13, 2014

He said that he was happier now that Eric knows who he is.

“The first five months were weird. Eric didn’t have a clue who I was – I could have been anybody.

“But the last two weeks have been good – he’s started to recognise me, and as everybody knows, I demand recognition!

“He’s a cutie. I had a really nice day yesterday, working from home, with him and the two dogs in the garden,” he added.

Cowell said that returning X Factor judge Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, was also “incredibly happy” thanks to her second marriage to French restaurateur Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini.

I still can't believe my lil buddy Cheryl got married. Had no idea. He is a great guy. Am very happy for them.

— Simon Cowell (@SimonCowell) July 17, 2014

“I didn’t know Ashley well but the few times I met them together I thought they were more like brother and sister. I didn’t quite get that husband-wife thing,” he said of her first husband Ashley Cole.

“But this guy is confident and charming. She’s changed. She’s fun again.”

“I can’t remember her new surname to save my life. I think she’s married someone with a surname you can’t pronounce so she will become Cheryl, like Madonna and Beyonce. It was the grand plan to become a one-name artist,” he added.

Fernandez-Versini has replied to her X Factor boss saying “I’m going to have a word with him about getting married. He jokes about being too tight to get married, but I don’t think he is. He’s very generous.”

We just love this softer side of Simon.

We wonder if it will shine through in the upcoming series?