Simon Cowell refuses to take the blame for Cheryl’s and Jean-Barnard’s marriage split.
Simon hit back at claims earlier this month from Cheryl’s ex, that Simon and the X Factor were to blame for their split.
Simon told Dan Wootton from The Sun: “Their marriage breakdown had nothing to do with me — that’s complete nonsense.
“You don’t blame the show for the breakdown of the marriage.
“Me and him have certainly never had a conversation about it, I can assure you of that.”
Simon also spoke about an incident which happened at the X Factor in 2014. Jean-Barnard made a threatening gesture towards Simon when he chose another act over Cheryl’s in the sing off.
Simon claimed the French restaurateur got overexcited and even began 'screaming' when Cheryl's acts were in jeopardy.
Simon said: “There was one night where his behaviour was out of order.
“She had an act in the bottom two or something.
“He was up on his feet.”
Simon, then demonstrated how Jean-Bernard, took his finger and ran it across his own throat in a slit throat gesture while staring him down.
Simon took the decision to take Cheryl aside to talk to her about her husband’s behaviour.
He said: “I went, ‘Hang on a minute, this is a competition, it is not my fault’.
“I said to Cheryl it might be better if he doesn’t come down and watches it at home and jumps on as many sofas as he wants.”
This was the last time JB attended the show.
Simon admits: “It was stressful last year I think, unnecessarily stressful.
“You make a series and the public don’t agree with what you have done and you just live with that the whole series. That does put pressure on you.
“Cheryl probably picked up on that a bit and with the marriage breaking down at the same time, it is not an ideal place when you are on live TV every week.”
Simon said he met up with Cheryl at the Syco party recently “She looked great I thought at the party, the best I have seen her in a long time.
“Body language was good and she looked healthy.
“She is on good form but I think she misses working with me if I am being honest with you.”
