Years after becoming a pop culture staple due to his role as a judge on American Idol, Simon Cowell is still booked and busy. Considering how frequently Cowell's work is discussed, it's also a novelty whenever we get to hear him talk about his personal life. Yet I wasn't expect to learn Cowell once planned to preserve himself by having his body frozen. He put the kibosh on that, though, when he learned they could “chop your head off.”
It's definitely not uncommon for people to be cryogenically frozen in sci-fi movies and TV shows, though real life is another story There was, of course, the bizarre fact about Walt Disney supposedly being frozen after he died (which turned out to be just a wild rumor). Simon Cowell spoke about his own experience with freezing while talking with The New York Times interview. I'm honestly not sure what surprised me more with this interview -- Cowell's initial desire to be frozen or the reason he backed out:
So, yes, I did think for a while: We’re all going to eventually, unfortunately, die. What if then I’ll just freeze myself? That was before I was a dad. Then someone told me they chop your head off, and I think your brain’s frozen. So then the idea of coming back as some kind of robot in 3,000 years time, it’s like: Forget it. No. I’m not interested.
Yeah, that sounds very Terminator-like, and I don’t blame the man for changing his mind. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, there are actually two ways to be cryogenically preserved. A person can either have your entire body frozen or do neuropreservation, in which only the head is saved in order to preserve personalities into new bodies grown from stem cells. It all still sounds like something straight out of one of the best science-fiction movies, and I’m surprised all of this can be a reality.
Even though Simon Cowell’s post-mortem plans no longer involve being cryogenically frozen, he still told The NY Times about his faith making him optimistic about what comes next. Here’s his explanation:
I do believe in God, and I really do hope and believe that there’s something good that happens afterward. I don’t know what it is. My mum had a lot of faith, which genuinely made her happy. And I started to think a lot about that. Not because I’m getting older or I’m going to die tomorrow. Just, does it make me happy? Actually, yes, it does.
I see where the TV personality is coming from. What he seems to be saying is that when a person trusts that there’s something good beyond this lifetime, they can be provided with a sense of relief. Quite frankly, to me, that sounds like a better prospect than decapitation.
Of course, Simon Cowell doesn't seem to be dwelling to heavily on death as he remains busy in the entertainment industry. His honest critiques of performers have still been dished out amid the 2025 TV schedule, given his status as long-running judge on America’s Got Talent and Britain’s Got Talent. Also, he's about to mark the debut of his 2025 Netflix release, The Next Act, which is a docuseries about him trying to find the next big boy band. As Cowell was the man responsible for signing One Direction after their X Factor audition, I can’t wait to see what kind of talent he's able to spot now.
While it would appear that Cowell won't be cryogenically frozen after his death, I'd like to think that he'll live on in other ways due to his excellent work. And, of course, he also has a legacy in his 11-year-old son, Eric. So, all in all, I think we can put this discussion on ice. (Pun completely intended.)
Check out Simon Cowell: The Next Act, which will available to stream with a Netflix subscription starting on December 10th.
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