Having recently lost his beloved mum, Julie, the 55-year-old music mogul struggled to hold back tears as one hopeful auditionee gave a heartfelt performance of Labrinth's Jealous.
Springing into action, fellow judge, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, took control of the situation and with minimal communication quickly realised Simon was not in a position to speak or vote on Josh Daniels' stunning performance.
Despite handling the situation with what many would consider great poise and dignity, 32-year-old Cheryl admits the moment left her quite rattled.
The Newcastle-native, who had a high-profile spat with Simon after he made the decision to fire her from American X Factor in 2011, said: "To see tears coming from his eyes...it was a shock to me. I’ve never seen Simon emotional like that. I guess I went into a panic."
Explaining the predicament she found herself in, the Fight For This Love singer explained: "I wanted to protect him from anyone else noticing, at the same time as remaining poised and doing my job."
Speaking to The Sun, Cheryl, who recently lost her father-in-law, acknowledged the audition process can be trying at certain times, saying: "It got me right in the heart, that one, because Josh was giving a beautiful performance and I’ve never seen Simon cry. It was a tough day."
Echoing Cheryl, Simon opened up about the moment on Loose Women this week, saying: "Of course the lyric of the song and it was quite difficult because I thought, 'God this is going to be really hard to sit through this'. But then you've got to think of the contestant and it's his moment but yes it was very emotional."
Cheryl, who has navigated numerous struggles under the watchful eye of the public since her rise to fame in 2002, admits Simon's devastating loss has touched her deeply.
Explaining the impact 89-year-old Julie's death has had on their relationship, Cheryl simply said: "In the circumstances that have happened this year, I’ve seen a different side to Simon. It’s an awful situation to bond over, but it happens."
"You’re sat together for 12 to 14 hours a day and this person is going through incredible pain. Pain I can’t even understand myself," she admits.
It seems no matter how many ups and downs they go through, Simon and Cheryl share an incredibly special bond.
