How Simon Cowell's tears helped me land CNN job, by Piers Morgan
Tough questions: CNN bosses were impressed with Piers Morgan's interview with Simon Cowell
Piers Morgan believes making X Factor chief Simon Cowell cry secured him his new talkshow on CNN.
The former newspaper editor said he submitted his interview with Cowell to cable TV station producers while they were looking for a replacement for Larry King.
He said after viewing the tape he was told he had landed the job and a £5.5m deal.
'Let's face it, if I can make the hardest heart in the world weep, then I've got to have a chance,' he said.
Cowell broke down in tears while being interviewed by Morgan on his British talk show when asked about his deceased father.
The usually hard faced X factor judge described his father's death as a 'horrible, horrible time' during the interview on ITV show Piers Morgan's Life Stories last year.
'You believe everyone is going to live forever and they don't and all the stuff you think you care about, the hit records and stuff like that, it's just meaningless.
'I can't admit things, that's why I can't go to funerals and stuff like that. I find it very, very difficult to deal with that kind of reality. I shut myself off totally because it affects me so badly.'
Morgan, who has shock jock Howerd Stern as his first guest on January 17th, said he is confident the American public will warm to him.
He replaces King,76, known as the doyen of TV interviewers with his show running for 25 years.
Plunging ratings led CNN to look for a new host, and Morgan beat off competition from US broadcasters to secure the slot.
Emotional: Simon Cowell showed his sensitive side while being questioned on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories last year
Morgan told TV show Entertainment Tonight he was confident he will be a success.
'I do have a particular style that I think the American public will find quite engaging. I like it to be entertaining, to be fun, lively,' he said.
'In terms of the ability to shape opinion around the world, and to bring the real character of world leaders and big celebrities and politicians and so on, to that kind of audience, it's almost unparalleled. So I find that very exciting.'
Morgan also told TV guide magazine he hoped to land the first US interview with Kate Middleton.
'I am working hard on getting that interview,' he said.
'I've known William a long time and I knew his mother Diana, very well. I spoke with her regularly on the phone.'
New job: Piers Morgan's new show starts on CNN later this month
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