Los Angeles, Apr 15 (IANS): 'Britain's Got Talent' judge Simon Cowell says he has finally quit smoking cigarettes after decades of puffing away.

He once smoked up to 40 cigarettes a day and was always seen with a packet by his side when travelling in cars, as well as regularly smoking in meetings, reports 'Mirror.co.uk'.

But he has been trying to cut down since son Eric was born and now seems to have quit with the help of a vape cigarette.

Cowell said: "I'm going to say yes I've quit. I'm vaping so I'm not quite out of the woods, but I don't smoke cigarettes. I have not had a cigarette in about three or four weeks."

He further mentioned, quoted by 'Mirror.co.uk', "I mean it was really, really tough. But you probably heard I lost my voice a few weeks ago, when that happened obviously I couldn't smoke. And then I realised. You know what, if I can get through four days, I can do a week. I could do a week, two weeks, et cetera, et cetera. And then I just thought, well, this is the moment."

Simon said quitting smoking was part of a general change in his lifestyle to be healthier, which had happened following his E-bike accident in August 2020 which almost left him in a wheelchair.

He said: "There is that moment when something like this happens in a big accident. And you are lying there. And you are completely helpless, and there's nothing you can do about it. It's the worst feeling in the world. And so at that point, you just realise health is more important than anything else. But I had said those things before. And I didn't really think about it properly. Now I really, really think about it. Which is if you want to have a happy life, as much as you can, you've got to put health number one."