Simon Cowell is "Mr Family Man".

Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell

The 57-year-old music mogul's close pal Amanda Holden is amazed by how much he has changed since welcoming son Eric into the world two years ago.

Writing in her column for Fabulous magazine, Amanda shared: "Simon told me this week how special his Christmas in the Caribbean was because Lauren's son from her first marriage Adam, 10, was able to join them and little Eric on holiday. It meant a lot to have both boys there.

"It's hard to believe that just a few years ago Simon was the archetypal bachelor - look at him now: Mr Family Man."

Meanwhile, a source previously claimed that Simon - who has Eric with his partner Lauren Silverman - turned his back on spending Christmas with his exes this year in favour of a cruise around the Caribbean with Lauren, Eric and Adam.

They said: "This Christmas is a real turning point for Simon because he has been allowed to spend it with Adam and he is taking it very seriously by cancelling his usual holiday with the harem. Instead, he is whisking Lauren and the kids off to sail around the Caribbean."

And Simon previously confessed his girlfriend Lauren is the one who "calls the shots".

He explained: "Yes [Lauren calls some of the shots] but for all the right reasons - if you're not careful you can almost burn yourself out - you've got to have that separation."

Simon enjoys having Eric with him when he's working on his television shows and is currently teaching him the importance of sharing.

He added: "Right from the beginning I thought I'm going to teach Eric how to share, so I said 'Can I have some of your milk' and he went 'no' and I said 'You have to share everything Eric' and it took me about a week ...

"He does [know when to be quiet] but what's funny is he gets to see me watching the shows sometimes and when he likes something he's a really good barometer, so he's in training."