Simon Cowell suffered 80s financial crisis

2 Apr 2009  

Music millionaire SIMON COWELL was left broke by the last financial meltdown in the 1980s, and had to rebuild his fortune from scratch.
 
The record label boss and American Idol judge is one of the richest men in the music industry, but he reveals he hit rock bottom the last time the stock market crashed and lost everything he owned.
 
Cowell, 49, tells the National Enquirer, "I had my own credit crunch 20 years ago. My crash was caused by circumstances similar to those today. The stock market collapsed, and I was borrowing too much. I was in negative equity and owed the banks money.
 
"It was a wake up call. I vowed then never to borrow money again. If I could afford something, I would pay cash for it. If I couldn't, I'd wait. It took about five years to get back on my feet, but I did it."
 And the Brit reveals he even enjoyed the freedom of being poor - for a short while: "Funnily enough, it's not a bad memory, because at the time I was living beyond my means, and I came down with a heavy crash.
 
"In an odd way it was a very good thing for me. There was a weird sense of freedom at having absolutely zilch, but still having the energy and desire to change my life for the better."