Simon Cowell said he was “terrified” of burn-out from running his production company and decided to put his health first.
The music mogul and TV personality said he wanted to spend more time with his eight-year-old son, Eric, rather than maintain his “unhealthy addiction to work.”
Cowell, 62, told The Sun: “I made the decision that my main job would be being on TV, not running a production company.
“It was just all becoming too much.
“If I’m being honest, I was very nervous about burn-out. I wasn’t feeling ill, I was just terrified that would happen to me.
“I’m a great believer in doing something before something bad happens, rather than waiting for something bad to happen.”
“I was thinking a lot about that during the past two years. I’ve seen it happen to people, close friends of mine, where they get burnt out, and you don’t want to be in that place.
It comes after the TV judge took a tumble over his electric bike’s handlebars, while not wearing a helmet, during a ride near his home in west London in February this year.
Cowell was photographed with his arm in a yellow cast covered in doodles by Eric, whom he shares with his fiancee Lauren Silverman.
The accident was his second on an electric bike, following a crash in August 2020 in which he broke his back and underwent six hours of surgery to have a metal rod inserted.
Shortly after the incidents he was forced to miss Britain’s Got Talent auditions after testing positive for coronavirus.
He told The Sun: “Because of Covid, it had such an impact on everyone and what I took away from it was you have to put your health first.
“You have to make it your number one priority.”
Cowell said a consequence of reducing his workload was that he was able to spend more time with his son, picking him up from school and having dinner with him every night.
“He’s really a sweet little boy and I love him to death,” he said.