Simon Cowell & Lauren Silverman Welcome A Baby Boy On Valentine's Day

Simon Cowell and his girlfriend, Lauren Silverman, have welcomed their first child together on Friday (14th February). The baby, a boy, was born in New York at 5.45pm and weighed 6 lbs., 7 oz. according to People Magazine. The baby, whose name is yet to be released, is Cowell's first child. Silverman has an eight-year-old son from her previous marriage.

Simon Cowell and Lauren Silverman in Los Angeles in December 2013. 

The couple have been together since July last year when the news broke that Silverman was expecting the X-Factor judges' child. Silverman was married at the time to a close friend of Cowell's, Andrew Silverman. The couple soon separated and finalised their divorce in December. 

The news of Cowell expecting a child came as something of a surprise as he had previously claimed he would find parenting difficult. In 2009, Cowell reportedly replied to a question about parenthood: "God, no. I couldn't have children. If I had them here drawing on the walls I'd go nuts. You've got to be up at a certain time, got to listen. When all you want to do is sit in a corner thinking." In 2012, little more than a year before the news of Silverman's pregnancy broke, he seemed to be more open to the idea of parenthood. He even said, in an separate interview, that he had probably missed his chance at having children, having started to consider parenthood only later on in life (he was 52 at the time of the interview).

More recently, Cowell has been interviewed by Ellen DeGeneres and seemed to have come to terms with the impending arrival of his child. He was, understandably, frantically preparing for the birth. As People reports, Cowell listed the various aspects of preparing his house for the arrival of the baby, he said: "There are a lot of boring things that happen when you have a baby," adding how you have to remove "sharp edges, cigarettes, alcohol" and even "baby proofing the toilet." He added that cigarettes may be the one thing he will not give up and has even designated a space for his controversial habit, saying "I'll have a smoking room!"

Congratulations to Cowell and Silverman on the arrival of their child!

Lauren Silverman in December.

The couple have been together since the news of the pregnancy broke in July 2013.