Simon Cowell Says Cheryl Is Mad, a Very Bad Mentor on X Factor

Though, until not long ago, Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole were on the same side – against fellow X Factor judges Louis Walsh and Dannii Minogue, judging by his latest interview, Simon seems to have had a change of heart.

We also noted a while back that Cowell himself admitted there was a lot of feuding backstage the popular ITV televised singing competition, with Simon siding with Cheryl and Louie with Dannii.

Now, Cowell has turned on his old ally, branding Cheryl in a recent interview cited by the Daily Mail “mad” and saying she was the worst possible mentor any X Factor candidate could ever ask for.

“The slogan of this year’s show was ‘Embrace the madness’ and Cheryl says she can’t work out if she is embracing it or actually going mad,” Simon says of Cheryl who, this year, was nearly killed by malaria and went through a painful and very public divorce from her husband, whose cheating ways came out to light in the media.

“It’s a fine line. But Cheryl has always been mad. Look into her eyes and you will see total madness. She was always fighting it, but it was there ready to come out. I’ve had the most bonkers conversations with her,” Cowell adds.

He then goes on to say that Cheryl has been trying to copy everything he does lately, including the salute she does when a new weekly show starts. However, as far as mentoring goes, she’s no good.

“Cheryl is kind of a mini-me. She even copied that salute from me. I did it on American Idol. […] If I had to choose a mentor other than myself, if I was a contestant, I’d want to be mentored by Dannii,” Cowell says.

To illustrate his case, he says that Cher Lloyd, to whom audiences said Cheryl is partial because she reminds her of herself when she was younger, actually looks up to him and not Cheryl.

“Cheryl sees something of herself in Cher – it’s vanity! Some might even say narcissism!” Simon blasts. Not that the other judge, particularly Louis, are any better.

“Louis doesn’t listen to his tracks, doesn’t care, hasn’t got a clue and all he does is tell them to cry,” Cowell says.

In the meantime, Dannii Minogue is also doing her share of talking to the media, saying in a separate interview that, if anything, she’s worth double the money the other judges are getting for the position as judge, the Mail also reports.