Simon Cowell's six-word response to Sharon Osbourne's digs as Amanda Holden leaps to his defence

Simon Cowell is caught up in a war of words between Sharon Osbourne and Amanda Holden - but comments about him are 'like water off a duck's back'

Simon Cowell has been in the news a lot lately thanks to the feud hotting up between Sharon Osbourne and Amanda Holden.

The pair have been hurling insults since Sharon appeared on the ITV reboot of Celebrity Big Brother and she didn’t mince her words when it came to former pal Simon, who she worked with on the X Factor back in the Noughties.

From blasting his appearance, to saying she was “furious” he cost her a big job on the American version of The Masked Singer when he didn’t renew her X Factor contract, Sharon was brutally honest about what she really thought of Simon.

Revealing they no longer speak, the 71-year-old shared the reason why and said: “I missed a huge gig. That's why I was furious. I went mad when they told me and then he called me." In the angry rant, she said she wouldn't work with Simon again for "all the money in the world" and also made a swipe at her former friend for "wearing the same thing for three decades" as she fumed over what he had done to her career.”

She added: "He would not call Louis or I. He is very, what’s the word? Snotty. Simon just is. He has his little posse around him, the same people he’s had for years, and that’s who he talks to. He’s not really one of these guys who’ll be like, 'Hey great. You’ve given us a call. How are you doing? Yada, yada, yada. He’s not one of those ‘checking in’ on friends to see if you’re doing OK. We were, in the beginning, the three of us, really close friends. But then he kind of left our group and went on. But no, he’s weird as far as friends go. Very, very closed off."

This led Simon’s pal Amanda Holden, who he works with on Britain’s Got Talent, to leap to his defence and brand Amanda “bitter and pathetic”. She told MailOnline: “I hated seeing certain people in a reality show dissing Simon – he’s the person who’s given them all the chances, given them a lot of money and a lifestyle they probably wouldn’t have had.”

Giving Amanda an “education” on her achievements – and how Simon needed her and not the other way round – Sharon, who is worth a reported £341 million with husband Ozzy, quipped the money she made from his shows “went on a few handbags”.

But the music mogul clearly isn’t too bothered about the war of words surrounding him – or what Sharon thinks of him – as while she and Louis Walsh were both in the Big Brother house he issued a six-word response to what they had been saying and told OK! magazine: “I think they could both win.” Amanda, who always has Simon’s back, has previously said Simon and Sharon have a “love/hate relationship” and that any comments Sharon makes about him go unnoticed as they are “like water off a duck’s back”.

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