Britain’s Got Talent judge Simon Cowell has encouraged all men to make one change in their life to help their mental health.

The 63-year-old has spoken about his mental health and the change he discovered when he spoke to a therapist for the first time which had a “super positive effect” on his life.

Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, he said: “When I see my friends, the first thing I talk about is how therapy has had this super positive effect on my life.

“I wish I had done this 10 or 20 years ago...it’s like a weight has lifted off my shoulders.”

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Simon, who is a father to nine-year-old Eric, revealed he has weekly therapy sessions and was the first guest on The Mirror's new Men in Mind podcast, which will see some of the biggest stars open up about their mental health.

“If you’d said to me, ‘Simon, we’re going to be sitting down..in your garden, talking about mental health,’ I’d be going, ‘Have I lost my mind or something’,” explains the Syco founder.

He added: “I’m not a doctor, I’m not an expert, but in my own way I’ve started to understand it more and done things myself for my mental health in a positive way.

"Now I am happy to talk about it to encourage others too.”

Simon said the coronavirus pandemic was the “real catalyst” when he realised he needed someone to talk to.

He said: “I’ve suffered from depression over the years...but that was just something I just thought, ‘Well, that’s my character trait. I get down,’ and it’s something you deal with. And then I suppose COVID was the real catalyst.”

The record executive also discussed how the death of his parents affected his mental health.

Simon’s father died of a heart attack on the same day he celebrated his first number one with Irish boyband Westlife.

Years later, his mother Julie died in 2015, 24 hours before he was due to appear on The X Factor panel for the opening audition rounds.

“It was really difficult. I’m in pieces but then I’m on TV,” Simon told The Mirror.

“There were moments afterwards where it was really, really hard. And of all the times in my life, that was the hardest because it was just total finality.

“My mum and dad had gone, that was it.”

Simon Cowell says therapists ‘don’t judge you, they listen to you’

He went on to recall the first time he met his therapist, saying: “I made the appointment and I sat down, really embarrassed and I said, ‘Look, I just don’t know where to start’.”

“But within about 20 minutes it was as if I’d known him for 10, 20 years. He put me so much at ease. And you realise you’re talking to a professional and they don’t judge you, they listen to you.”

He also offered the following advice to men when it comes to talking about their mental health: “There’s nothing to be fearful of and no-one’s going to look at you or judge you differently.”

“I think particularly men, as a kid especially, it was always, ‘don’t cry…be a man.

“But it’s nothing to be ashamed of and it’s healthy to almost go the other way.

“We’re not all made of steel and there’s going to be times in our lives where you just need somebody to talk to.”