'Horrible cheat' Simon Cowell

Jul 10, 2009, 5:00 GMT

Simon Cowell was a "horrible cheat", according to his ex-girlfriend.

Sinitta - who dated the 'American Idol' judge for around 16 years on and off - admits her relationship with him was tough as they were apart so much due to work commitments.

Asked if they did date for such a long time, 40-year-old Sinitta replied: "On and off, because Simon was a horrible cheat!  He was a horrible cheat.  He was always disappearing and stuff, you know, and I'd have to work and he'd almost be laughing as he waved me off on a plane to Japan, like, 'Great, I'm going to have a really good time while you're away.' I'd be crying he'd be laughing! He reckons that I broke his heart, but he definitely broke mine.

"We'd break up because he'd do something awful and I'd go off and find somebody else. Then he'd see me with somebody else and not like that and wait for it to fall apart. He'd do weird things to p**s my boyfriend off, and then, of course, I'd go back to him.

Sinitta also opened up about the start of their relationship, admitting he was initially romancing one of her best friends.

She explained to Heat Radio: "I had a huge crush on him. He actually liked a friend of mine, who was triple timing him, and he just really surprised me one day, by saying, 'You know what, I don't really like her, it's you I like.'   You know when you don't kind of believe it, because we were such buddies? But it was fantastic, because I thought he was really cute."