Will Young has shed light on his fractious relationship with Simon Cowell. The singer, 47, spoke to Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball on their Dig It podcast, about his rise to fame on the music mogul’s show Pop Idol in 2002 and claimed Simon ‘hated him’ however insisted the frictions helped his career. He revealed that his entry into the latter stages of the competition was due to their being in inbalanced mix of men and women, before he went on to win the programme after an iconic battle with Gareth Gates. Will famously hit out at Simon on the show, when Simon branded his performance of Light My Fire by The Doors ‘distinctly average’, to which Will said: ‘I don’t agree with it. I don’t think it was average’ – a moment he admits helped him. When asked about his relationship with Simon, Will said: ‘Well, I mean, non-existent. I mean, he just sort of hated me. I don’t think he ever got over it…’But it was fine. But I didn’t know it was going to be like probably one of the most defining moments of my life… Will Young has shed light on his fractious relationship with Simon Cowell (Will pictured in 2001) The singer, 47, spoke to Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball on their Dig It podcast, about his rise to fame on the music mogul’s show Pop Idol in 2002 and claimed Simon ‘hated him’ however insisted the frictions helped his career (Simon pictured on the show in 2001)’I mean, it probably gave me a career because everyone was like, ‘Who’s this kid?’ They only put me in because didn’t have enough boys up to that point. Yeah. Really? Yeah. So, it was just a game changer.’ Will also told PA: ‘I have to remind myself how young I was and how powerful he was – and I stood up for myself and for others. And I am very proud of that. It was kind of my defining moment really.’ In 2024, Will said: ‘I also knew that I really disliked that man. I’d met him before on the This Morning boy band competition…’I remember thinking I really don’t like that man, and I went to a school where I was surrounded by quite unpleasant men. So, my radar for people who I perceive as unpleasant is quite on…’And I just want to be careful. I’m not saying that he’s abusive, but my radar is pretty good. So my reaction was on live TV when I came across him…’So it was, give myself a moment, but also I’m not going to stand, he needs to be put in his place. Because I had to sit and watch him make people cry for weeks, building up to my live performance in front of him. Will famously hit out at Simon on the show, when Simon branded his performance of Light My Fire by The Doors ‘distinctly average’, to which Will said: ‘I don’t agree with it. I don’t think it was average’ – a moment he admits helped him (Will on the show)’And I just thought, ‘no one’s telling this man. Why is no one telling him?’ And so I was like, ‘I’m going to tell him’…’I think people in the music industry, entertainment industry play on people’s desire. Your desire is going to make you do anything.’By that stage, I’d already had my first bout of depression. I’d lost someone close to me. I knew a bit of life. It wasn’t the be all and end all. And so I didn’t care about letting someone like him get away with it…’Whereas I think lots of people in subsequent programs, I think there has been some awful behaviour actually, which is pretty well documented.’