Simon Cowell, the Svengali's Second Act

From 1D to Fifth Harmony, the TV and music mogul owns pop culture. Now 56, he’s going in front of the camera again as he heads to America’s Got Talent, talks Harry Styles solo, plays with his 2-year-old son and reveals a certain sentimentality about American Idol: ‘I like to torture myself’

- Rob Tannenbaum

As soon as Simon Cowell enters the judges’ holding room at the Pasadena Convention Center, he’s being filmed. Two TV cameras, a still camera and three booms follow him to a corner, where a Dunkin’ Donuts banner hangs over a table of coffee and doughnuts. It’s not clear whether Cowell, who’s wearing sunglasses indoors, genuinely wants caffeine or is smartly giving some TV airtime to a sponsor of America’s Got Talent.

Cowell, 56, knows this building well -- in 2002, during the first season of American Idol, the show he helped create and, let’s face it, dominated in its prime, the first round of auditions was held here. ButAmerica’s Got Talent, he says, “is more fun than Idol. After you’ve heard 10,000 singers, you think, ‘Bring on a dancing dog.’ ”

By 4 p.m., auditions begin. A Swedish woman plays three trumpets at once, which impresses judge Mel B, the former Spice Girl: “I’ve never seen that before.”

“I think there’s a reason for that,” replies Cowell, before adding, “It looks good, but it sounds terrible.” Most of the 2,000 audience members boo him.

In the 12th row, stage left, Cowell’s son, Eric, sits with a nanny and the boy’s mother, Lauren Silverman. Eric is an energetic 2-year-old, with huge coal eyes and plump cheeks. He looks at a TV monitor that shows his dad, then up at a large screen where his dad is about 20 feet tall, then back to the monitor. “He’s so confused,” says Silverman.