Simon Cowell worried son Eric didn’t like him…and thought he’d be like a puppy

SIMON Cowell feared his son hated him when he was a baby.

The X Factor supremo welcomed his little boy Eric with partner Lauren Silverman on Valentine’s Day in February 2014.

But the 56-year-old admitted to American chat show host Jimmy Fallon that it took him a while to settle into being a first-time father, despite buying two puppies ahead of Eric’s birth to try and help him prepare.

He said: “This wasn’t something I was expecting but you know, it’s all been good.

“What I did was I practised by getting some puppies first, I did, I thought I’d get two puppies so I’m used to looking after things, they were called Squiddly and Diddly and then Eric arrived about six months later.”

When Jimmy asked if he had taken to fatherhood and if he was any good at it, Simon replied: “Well I wasn’t to begin with, I thought he was going to be like a puppy.

“Like you could throw thing and he would run to you.

“After eight months I said to Lauren, ‘I think he hates me’ because he didn’t do anything.”

Thankfully as Eric continued to grow and develop, so did the father-son bond.

He added: “And then one day I think he was watching me on TV and then he kind of got me, and we got this communication, and he started talking to me, and now we’re buddies.”

Jimmy, who is a father to two children, then asked Simon what cartoons he watched with Eric, causing Simon to pull a face when he mentioned Dora the Explorer.

He said: “Dora the bloody Explorer. If you’ve never seen it before they just say the same thing over and over and over again.

“After about three months I said ‘Dora’s gone on a long holiday, and she’s got lost and won’t be coming back.'”

When Jimmy admitted he’d started to look forward to watching the show, Simon recoiled in horror.

He said: “But it’s the same show every single thing, it’s like gates and swimming and that weird fox thing.

“It’s designed to make you two years old again.”