Simon Cowell says he’s planning to take six weeks a year off to concentrate on the ‘important things in life’.

That’s after claims the X Factor guru had a mental breakdown due to his gruelling workload.

In an updated chapter to his book, biographer Tom Bower said that Simon had to withdraw from filming auditions for the US X Factor when his lifestyle saw him change into a “weird vampire”.

However Simon denies the accusation made in the book ‘Sweet Revenge’.

Speaking to ITV1’s Daybreak, Simon told Ross King at the launch of The X Factor USA: “I did turn my phone off for six weeks. I had a lot going on.”
/> But X-factor presenter Dermot O’Leary says he doesn’t expect Simon to feature in the live rounds of this year’s show:

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