Simon’s ex Jackie St Claire is on the left

I know we don’t pay much attention to Simon Cowell, but this story is pretty interesting. Simon, 51, has been engaged to makeup artist Mezhgan Hussainy, 37, since this spring. Only it looks like they’re not moving forward with their wedding because Simon refuses to give up old habits, namely working 16 hour days and continuing to take his ex girlfriends out to dinner and on vacation with him. This new is in Hello!, which also has an interview this week with one of Simon’s privileged exes, Sinitta, who seems to be giving Hello! this information off the record. Last month we heard some questionable quotes from Simon in which he supposedly admitted that he’d slept with a jaw-dropping 2,000 women. I find that hard to believe when he’s recycling so many of them. Here’s part of Hello!’s report:

Friends of the couple have confirmed to Hello! that their romance has become increasingly shaky in recent months. “They never set a date but at one point they were planning a wedding,” a source tells us. “But it all started to coll when Mezhgan moved in…

“What people should realise about Simon is that he is married to his work and his career. For him, money, fame, success and power is [sic] everything.

“They are still together and he loves Mezghan and wants to make a relationship work. But will he ever marry her? I can’t see that happening. He is too much of a bachelor and too focused on the Simon Cowell empire.”

Celebrity make-up artist Mezhgan, 37, who was born in Afghanistan and raised in the US, has in turn told friends she is becoming increasingly concerned at the amount of time her fiance spends with two of his ex-flames – former glamour model Jackie St. Clair, 51, and one-time pop star Sinitta, 41, who is now Simon’s right-hand woman on The X Factor.

“It is a four-person relationship,” a friend of Mezghan tells Hello! “What woman is going to stand for that? Of course she is unhappy at having to share Simon with two other women but there seems to be no choice…

“They haven’t split up, but Mezghan says she never gets to spend any time with Simon on his own. He works 16-hour days and spends a lot of time with Mezghan – and other women, particularly Sinitta and Jackie.”

Simon’s friend says of the unconventional set-up: “To Sinitta and Jackie he’s like the golden goose. He takes them to the best restaurants and offers them both security. He also can take them on yachts that most women could only dream of.

“Simon does it because he likes his familiarity. He likes to hang out with people he knows. That is why he spends so much time with both Jackie and Sinitta. They know and understand him and do everything they can to keep him happy. Both of them love being around someone who is so successful.”

Despite the doubts of some friends that not all is well in Simon’s love life, however, his spokesman Max Clifford tells us: “Simon and Mezghan are as happy as they have ever been. She has gone back to LA to see her family and there is no problem in their relationship.”

[From Hello! Magazine, print edition, November 1, 2010]

It sounds like Simon has a kind of “mistress” arrangement with the other two women and expects his fiance to put up with it. At least he isn’t married yet, and I doubt he’ll ever be. Simon’s last girlfriend, Terri Seymour, ex Sinitta said that he was a “horrible cheat“ and that he was manipulative and “always disappearing.” He’s up to his old tricks and expects the women in his life to be on board. The ones who aren’t will probably get cut out.

Simon and Jackie October 2010:

Sinitta, Simon and Jackie St. Claire, January 2010

Simon and Sinitta, September 2009

Simon and Mezhgan, 9/18/10. (Barcroft/Fame Pictures)