London, Sep 10 (IANS): Music mogul Simon Cowell suffered a breakdown as the strains of managing his working life including a portfolio of shows including "The X Factor", "Britain's Got Talent" and "America's Got Talent" became too much for him.

According to contactmusic.com., Cowell reportedly had to take a step back from auditions for this year's "X Factor" in the US after he feared his lifestyle was making him into a weird vampire.

"I don't want any more tablets and pills. I'm cutting out the lot, including cigarettes. I desperately need peace. I'm craving normality. I've got to work out my demons and come out of it," Cowell told his close friend and "X Factor" colleague Louis Walsh, said Tom Bower in an updated new chapter of his book, "Sweet Revenge , The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell".

"I have to get back to where I was years ago. I had to stop reading texts at three in the morning and making calls later and later. I wanted peace, Cowell added.

The 52-year-old told friends that the pressures of constantly flying between the US and the UK were getting too much for him and said: "My life was like a night shift. I'd forgotten the sensation of the morning."