Simon Cowell is on an unbelieveable roll. One of the highest paid TV execs of all time - he's worth around $175million - he is about to launch his new show The X Factor in the US and marry his fiance Mezhgan Hussainy.
It seems that this modern day Icarus can fly as close to the sun as he wishes. His wings will never melt.
Or will they?
I have two words for Simon Cowell: Susan Boyle.
The troubled singer is a mess. Last night her brother admitted to People magazine that his sister needs "24 hour care. "
Gerry Boyle said: "She needs to be looked after.
"The travelling and the whole [fame] thing is exhausting. She still has her anxieties," he added.
In an earlier interview he confirmed that she was experiencing "crushing loneliness."
Until 2007, the 48 year old singer, who suffered from learning difficulties as a child, lived with her mom in a small council house in Scotland. Since April last year, her life has become unrecognisable: a whirlwind of international celebrity.
The resulting cracks in her psyche are impossible to ignore.
After losing Britain's Got Talent she went to the Priory clinic suffering from exhaustion. Four days later she was moved to an apartment and put under the care of Dr Sarah Lotzof. Since an intruder broke into her Scottish home, she has a 24 hour guard stationed on her front door. (Is it to keep intruders out, or her in?) Last month, she was caught attempting to polish strangers shoes with a mop while shouting obscenities in an airport lounge. Last week, she collapsed en route to the South of France.
Susan Boyle is not in control of her vehicle. And if - or rather when - she crashes out for good, who are the public likely to hold responsible? The one person who has benefitted most from her sudden, stratospheric fame.
Simon Cowell.
He might argue that Britain's Got Talent and American Idol are "just talent shows" but he must be aware that he has put a fragile personality in a situation that - in all probability - will destroy her.
Simon, stop this madness before a human being's life is all but ruined. If you won't, I hope you can live with the consequences.
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What did Boyle do to hurt you, or hurt anyone for that matter.
As far as I can see, she sings and she ignores all the negativity from people like you because she's above that sort of thing.
People buy her music because they want to, they're not forced.
She creamed everyone on the charts and that made a lot of people angry.
If an artist that you like did the same thing, how would you feel about that?
That would be a good thing, right? Because you'd approve.
"Before Britain's Got Talent, I felt very lost and lonely. Then, I went on the talent show and everything changed."
"Before my life was average, mundane and a little boring. Now, it's exciting."
From her latest website message: "My travels will continue almost up until I begin making my next album. I say bring it on! I said recently in an interview that dreams do not have an expiry date – and I am thrilled to still be living mine. Here’s wishing all your dreams come true too."
Someone forgot to tell Susan Boyle that she used to be happy and now she's not.
Simon continues to confer with her and her family regularly, but there is only so much anyone can do. Susan is an adult, she is NOT, btw, handicapped, unless you consider a lack of sophistication and naivete a handicap. She is still the one making all the decisions. She is the one who has assured Simon many times that, although the media can be too much at times and she sometimes lets herself get exhausted, she would not change a thing in her life today. She has repeatedly commented in public that she is having the time of her life. No one is pushing her into all this.
The only people prepared to blame Simon Cowell for anything are people who either haven't been paying attention or those who would blame him for everything up to and including global warming. The idea that Simon Cowell's career well-being is in anyway so significantly tied to Susan Boyles that her fate would result in utter collapse for him is RUBBISH.
That's a great post and a true one. Susan has repeatedly said that she was happy and doesn't want it to end. Of course there are going to be times that she gets tired, Susan has said that at times she is prone to getting fatigued because she will sometimes push herself to much. Susan has mentioned how grateful she is to Simon and that she has a wonderful management team. If Susan is unhappy someone forgot to tell her.
i think an apology is needed.
He knew early on that she had a disability and knew that no one would be able to handle instant overnight fame.
She's done everything expected of her. Traveling, live performances, made the record that no one expected her to make, etc.
The few instances of "meltdowns" that we'ver heard about were far from meltdowns. So far I haven't noticed that she shaved her head or ended up in a clinic for a drug overdose or alcohol detox.
You make it sound like it's Susan that's at fault. That's not the case.
If she's really in such dire shape it's up to her management, and Mr. Cowell, to slow things down now before she gets worse. Of course they won't make any more money that way, will they?
Susan has never, from day one, done anything other than enter a talent show. She had no idea what was ahead for her. Had she had any idea of the treatment she'd recieve from the tabloids, from talent show judges, from freak entertainers, from has been theater actresses, there's no way she would have done it.
Remember what the last 10 months have been like for her, and think about where the blame lies.
It lies with Mr. Cowell and the tabloids. Pure and simple.
BTW, Susan Boyle has never been diagnosed with ANY type of disability. She did, at one time, make a comment that she felt she was "slow" compared to other children her age when she was very young. That can be said for many people who were slow to develop social skills early on.
She is not a child. There is nothing Simon Cowell or her family can do to force her. She makes her own decisions.
So, was she happy before and lonely now, or vice versa?
Susan Boyle: "It's hard for me - I have a slight disability and that makes it difficult to express myself verbally sometimes. So I express myself through singing."
Susan Boyle: "When I was born, they told my parents not to expect much of me because I was deprived of oxygen."
Even so.... she went to normal school, worked extra hard to get good grades.... and seems quite capable of making her own decisions, just as she did for years before she became famous and rich.
If you want some excellent debunking of the press's vendetta against Susan Boyle, I suggest reading The Anorak's coverage
The Media Manipulates Images To Make Susan Boyle Look Weak Minded
http://www.anorak.co.uk/232048/susan-boyle-celebrities/the-media-manipulates-images-to-make-susan-boyle-look-weak-minded.html
Susan Boyle Does Not Have Cancer And Not Mentally Ill
http://www.anorak.co.uk/232172/susan-boyle-celebrities/susan-boyle-does-not-have-cancer-and-not-mentally-ill.html
Also, her brother Gerry said several times last year that she had no mental problems and was just exhausted after all the fuss around Britain's Got Talent. Now the $$$$ is coming in he says she's a basketcase who needs permanantly looked after.
But if you believe and think people should be judged on National Enquirer style stories, I can't really take your article seriously. I think the people that are always on here arguing for the scientific soundness of homeopathy have more of a case. Just seems like you've got a vendetta against the woman.
I fear she will become a statistic from drowning in her own loneliness. She needs someone to truly care FOR her as a person and who will stick BY her come thick or thin. She only had that with her parents and now that they are gone, she is a lost soul.
According to her family, Susan is a stubborn, headstrong woman. Who will not do anything that she doesn't want to do. Something tells me that no one forced her into anything. She said in a recent interview that music was her only escape from the loneliness and unhappiness that she felt.