'I never thought Simon could love anyone more than himself! Piers Morgan admits he was 'gobsmacked' when his close friend became a father at 54.
And father-of-four, Piers admitted he had some doubts as to whether the notoriously vain music mogul - who welcomed son Eric with his girlfriend Lauren Silverman in February - 'could ever love anyone more than himself'.
However, Piers was pleasantly surprised and exclusively told MailOnline, ahead of his appearance on the Clare Balding Show at 10pm on BT Sport 2, on Friday, that becoming a dad has changed the former Mr Nasty and he is now 'much more cuddly'.
Piers explained: 'I haven't met Eric yet but I had dinner with Simon and Lauren recently and she is a terrific lady.
'When I found out he was going to become a father I was gobsmacked. I never thought there would be room in Simon's life for anyone except the person he loves most in the world - himself.
'I watched X Factor recently and I like having Cheryl back. It's great with her and Mel B and Simon seems to have gotten his mojo back. He probably would have had to grovel. And he treated her so terribly in America that she deserves it.'
While Simon admitted defeat when Strictly Come Dancing beat X Factor in the ratings war when the two shows went head to two weeks ago, with 8.4 million live viewers compared to X Factor's 7.6 million, Piers warned that Simon will be plotting how to ensure it never happens again.
He said: 'He hates losing so I am sure he is in a filthy mood. He's so competitive. He will be plotting his fight back against them. They may have won the battle but I wouldn't count on them winning the war.'
Read the full interview at Mail Online
