Standing aboard her lover Simon Cowell’s rented 200-foot yacht off the coast of St. Barts, an eight-months-pregnant Lauren Silverman did not exactly look glowing as the couple celebrated their babymoon, six weeks before the arrival of their son.
The 36-year-old wore anti-seasickness bracelets and a forlorn expression — what should have been a romantic break, a last hurrah before the endless rounds of feedings and diaper changes, had not quite shaped up that way.
An insider told The Post: “It was rather unfortunate, but Lauren wasn’t well. Perhaps it’s to be expected if you’re very heavily pregnant and on a boat.”
But it wasn’t just the nausea dampening her mood. The extended Christmas and New Year’s Caribbean vacation, which ended Monday, had been more of a frat-house blowout than a cozy sojourn, with fun-loving Cowell, 54, spending more time with his cronies than his baby-mama.
“During the first week [at the luxury Sandy Lane complex] on Barbados, they were always with friends and family and were rarely on their own,” adds the insider. “It was hardly ever just him and Lauren.”
In fact, Silverman and her family — including her son Adam, 8, her parents and her sister — stayed at the Fairmont Royal Pavilion Hotel, up the road from Cowell’s “party central” apartment at One Sandy Lane.
The unorthodox sleeping arrangements enabled Silverman to comply with a custody agreement banning Cowell from meeting her young son by her ex, Andrew. Andrew, after all, was cuckolded last spring when the TV mogul and former best friend impregnated his wife while they were still married. (The agreement also states that Adam can’t call anybody else “Dad.”)
According to a source at Silverman’s hotel, when it was time for her to see Cowell, the brunette paced the lobby and talked about needing to meet her “appointment.” Her beau would send a taxi for her, and then after 90 minutes or so, she would return to her family.
It was especially hard for Silverman because, most other times, Cowell insisted on hanging out with his entourage, including at least two old flames.
Sinitta, 49, the British-American singer who awkwardly revealed in September that she’d aborted her own baby by Cowell in the 1980s, showed up with her two kids and her publicist.
According to Cowell’s friends, Silverman doesn’t like Sinitta but she has come to accept that her flamboyant presence in his life is non-negotiable.
Most evenings, Cowell, and a group of pals that included Terri Seymour, 38 — his former fiancée with whom he split in 2011 and later gifted a $4.6 million house in LA — would dine at the Lone Star restaurant on St. James’ beach. Others at the table: Seymour’s boyfriend, Clark Mallon, Cowell’s brother, Tony, and Cowell’s buddies, retail billionaire Philip Green and the British TV hypnotist Paul McKenna.
Silverman often accompanied them, but declined alcohol because of her condition and seemed distracted, according to a restaurant source.
But Greg Grundy, a writer and photographer who bumped into the couple on Barbados, said the couple appeared fairly happy together. “I saw them on the beach one day, and they were very happy to pose for me. We were joking that he was Mick Jagger, she was Jerry Hall and I was (photographer) Terry O’Neill. She curled up around him, and he looked like he was loving the attention,” Grundy says.
“There has been gossip in Barbados that they aren’t happy together, but when I saw them, they were all smiles. It’s fair to say, though, that they didn’t spend that much time together out here.”
After Silverman’s family and son returned to New York on New Year’s Day, she must have thought that would change.
The pair had marginally more privacy for the remaining 10 days, spent aboard Cowell’s $450,000-a-week vessel, complete with private chef, a butler and a crew of 14. But there was still a steady stream of visitors, including Scandinavian model Victoria Silvstedt, who stopped by to party.
While her carefree boyfriend was photographed skimming the surf on a Jet Ski and sipping cocktails with bikini-clad women, Silverman often stayed below deck, battling queasiness.
And, if the mom-to-be was hoping for a marriage proposal, Cowell, who seemed so head-over-heels for her only this summer, didn’t oblige.
“Simon is concentrating on the baby,” a close source says. “There are no plans for a wedding. They will not get married until well after the baby arrives and they are not engaged.”
This must be a source of great disappointment to Silverman, who has somehow managed to put up with all of Cowell’s idiosyncracies, particularly his so-called harem.
Word is that they have not yet settled a prenuptial agreement to the satisfaction of either side: Cowell has a $350 million fortune to protect. Silverman has agreed in principle that there must be a prenup, but they haven’t finalized it.
Many wonder if Cowell is really in a hurry to wed at all, as he has previously been vocal about not wanting to settle down. He has said that a renewable contract like a dog license would be more sensible than a marriage and he would never be sure he could be faithful to one woman.
He said in the early days of her pregnancy that he was planning to be a hands-on dad. “Obviously, I would never expect to bring a baby up without a proper father,’’ he told E! News.
To this end, Cowell is currently having his homes in LA, New York and London reconfigured for the baby, with a nursery for the tot and a smoking room for him.
According to “Extra,” where his ex Seymour works as a TV reporter, the baby, a boy, will be called Simon Eric, after Cowell and Cowell’s adored late father. In October, the father-to-be told “Access Hollywood”: “The first time I saw it [the baby] on a scan, I called him ‘Tad’ because he looked like a tadpole. I still want to call him Tad. I never wanted kids before. Now I’m completely the opposite.”
If it were only that simple.
Due to the demands of her divorce, Silverman faces a $50,000 penalty if she allows Cowell to meet Adam, and will temporarily lose custody if this happens more than twice.
The Draconian condition will be in force until early 2015, and looks certain to make for a difficult first year for Silverman, sabotaging any attempts at creating a blended family.
At the moment, Cowell is in the UK, focusing on his Syco TV and music empire and preparing to film a new season of “Britain’s Got Talent,” starting with auditions on Saturday. Silverman remains grounded in New York for the birth of the baby, due Feb. 28. The first-time dad plans to fly out from England and be by her side during the delivery at a Manhattan hospital.
And after that? Silverman may end up crossing the Atlantic twice a month so that she and her newborn can have daddy time at Cowell’s main residence in London without Adam being around. Under the terms of the custody deal, Adam must be schooled in New York, spending alternate weeks throughout the year with his mom and dad.
It might be a complicated arrangement, but Max Clifford, Cowell’s spokesman, tells The Post, that the love between Silverman and Cowell will overcome the hurdles. “Simon has always said to me that he will get married one day and he is 100 percent in love,” says Clifford. “I have never seen him so madly in love as he is now. I’ve never known him happier. So maybe he will get married next summer.”
Others who know him well, though, suspect that even if they do get hitched, it will be a thoroughly “modern marriage.” After all, Cowell conducted a steamy romance with British model Jasmine Lennard in 2006, despite being engaged to long-suffering Seymour. As he told an interviewer from the Guardian two years ago, he prefers to be alone, and to have his own space. “I’m quite odd,” he said.
That may be a lesson which Silverman is only fully learning now.