Simon Cowell's partner, Lauren Cowell, née Silverman, has revealed her biggest worry about raising their son Eric, whom they welcomed in 2014.
The 48-year-old entrepreneur told The Mirror that social media has been a "nagging fear" of hers and Simon's, exacerbated by the 12-year-old recently downloading Snapchat on her phone.
© GC Images"He would always take my phone to put music on in the car, and obviously, I'm driving, so I can’t look at what he’s doing. I knew nothing about it, and how it actually worked," she old the publication.
"Social media has been something that has been a nagging fear for both Simon and me for a long time,” she said. "It's why we held off before giving Eric a phone."
But, since it was downloaded, Lauren has since removed the app from her phone, and, revealing that Eric has his own phone now, said he's only able to use it to text friends.
© FilmMagic"We've gotten Eric a phone, but there is no social media on it. He's not allowed on any apps, on any social media. He doesn't have Snapchat. I've now removed everything, so he literally can text and WhatsApp his friends."
Since the ordeal, Lauren has joined the Raise the Age campaign, alongside dozens of bereaved families who are calling for a new law similar to the one implemented in Australia in December, to raise the legal age to using social media to 16.
"This really shouldn’t even be a political discussion…it should absolutely be a discussion of what is in the best interest and the safety and protection of children, full stop,” she says. “I would say this directly to members of parliament and to Keir Starmer, I’d like to urge him as a father to do the right thing," she said.
Becoming a Cowell
Lauren's admission comes after she opened up about officially changing her surname from Silverman to Cowell.
Talking exclusively to HELLO!, Lauren said: "We're engaged, so the plan is that we'll get married eventually, but changing the name wasn't a big, dramatic thing. We both felt it was time; it’s really about the unit of our family. I just didn't feel as though I wanted to keep my ex-husband's last name any more. I would love to get married one day, but I'm not focused on that piece of paper."
