Simon Cowell’s son Eric, 9, auditioning for this year’s Britain’s Got Talent – and his dad is dreading it

SIMON Cowell’s son Eric will be the star act on the next series of Britain’s Got Talent.

The ITV show boss revealed Eric, nine, wanted to audition for his dad when the show begins next year.

Simon, 63, said: “He’s decided that he’s going to audition for Britain’s Got Talent.

“That is going to be total torture.

“I mean, of all the things I’ve ever done, this will probably be the hardest.

“I said, because he does play drums, ‘Are you going to drum?’ and he said he wants to sing.

“I went, ‘Oh God no’.”

Despite Simon’s reservations, he went on to admit that the school-boy was deadly serious about getting up on stage when the show returns to the London Palladium next year.

Speaking backstage at the American version of the talent show, Simon added: “I think he wants to be in a rock band. He loves Green Day.

“He is really serious about it.

“I always promised him, ‘No, you stay on this side of the camera darling, stop’.

“I don’t know what it is. Maybe because all of these kids are auditioning and now he wants to be up there with his friends.”

Simon, who launched Britain’s Got Talent back in 2007, sits on the judging panel alongside Alesha Dixon, Amanda Holden and Bruno Tonioli – who replaced David Walliams in the line-up earlier this year.

The music mogul has previously taken Eric along to filming, along with his fiancée and Eric’s mum, Lauren Silverman.

Simon took a step back from the spotlight last year in a bid to focus on Eric and to spend more time with him – after spending years focusing on his music business and TV shows including The X Factor and Walk The Line, which was axed after one series.

He told The Sun: “I wanted to spend more time with Eric — you only get this age once.

“Being able to pick him up from school every day, have dinner with him every night, all that kind of stuff, I’m able to do that now.”

Simon also revealed in April he was looking to expand his family with Lauren, 46, who he started dating in 2012.

He told us of giving Eric a sibling: “I was thinking, ‘It would be nice to have another.’

“Being a dad is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I love every second I spend with him.

“So then I’m thinking the next step is he’s going to be a teenager.

“Those years when they’re young — I had such an amazing experience all through those years, and I was thinking about it probably because of that.

“Eric has got a lot of friends and we do a lot of things together as a family.

“But you never know with kids if they’re happy being on their own or how would he feel if there was another one?

“So look, will it happen? I don’t know. But I would love another kid. I really like being a dad.”