Simon Cowell may ridicule mentally challenged contestants on American Idol, but he’s not always that cruel offscreen. A maid cut her hand on a broken glass in his hotel room and he wrapped a towel around her gash and had a friend rush her to the hospital. The rude British reality show star even paid the injured woman’s hospital bill:

In Manhattan before jetting to LA for his smash show’s season opener, Simon was in his hotel suite… when he heard the crash of glass in his bathroom – and a woman screaming! Racing into the john, he found a hotel housekeeper writhing in pain on the floor, gushing blood where her hand had been ripped by a broken drinking glass. Grabbing a towel, Simon wrapped it around her wound and hustled her down the elevator to his waiting limo – yelling at hotel staff for help. A colleague drove with the housekeeper to the emergency room, then Simon’s driver chauffered her home after she was patched up…

Mr. Nasty-But-Nice [even] paid for her treatment – which included several stitches – and told the hotel to bill him for any pay she’d lose.

[From The National Enquirer print edition, Mike Walker’s column, January 29, 2007]

That guy Mike Walker of the Enquirer has a lot of hero stories involving TV stars, but it could be true. I would bet Cowell was motivated by a desire not to get sued rather than humanitarian reasons, but it’s still a nice story.

In a recent interview with television-focused site MeeVee, Cowell said that he knew Jennifer Hudson would make it big the first time he saw her, and said “When that girl came into the room, I went, ‘Oscar.'” Yeah, right.

Simon also said that he couldn’t make American Idol without his fellow judges wacky Paula and yes-man Randy. He said that without Paula’s colorful behavior, the show would be boring.