Simon Cowell and his son Eric have joined forces with Hachette Children's Group to create a new entertainment brand.
Simon Cowell and Lauren Silverman
The 60-year-old music mogul, his six-year-old son and Hachette have announced the creation of a new entertainment series called WISHFITS, with the partnership launching in 2021 with the publication of three picture-led children's books.
Simon - who has confirmed that a portion of his profits from the venture will go to Shooting Star Children's Hospices and Together for Short Lives - shared: "To be able to write a series of books with my son Eric has been magical.
"This idea was inspired three years ago by a very special friend of ours who runs a Children's Hospice charity. I told her one evening about some of the funny animals my son Eric and I would invent, starting with the Cog and the Dat. And how every evening the two of us would think of the most unlikely animal we would like to have as a pet.
"We would come up with some very strange new animals and the naming of the animals was Eric's favourite thing! She loved this idea so much she encouraged me to turn this into a book series."
Simon - who has been in relationship with Eric's mother, Lauren Silverman, since 2013 - stressed the importance of encouraging the "creativity and imagination" of children.
The 'Britain's Got Talent' judge also claimed that "kids have better ideas than most adults".
He added: "I met with an amazing company called Tongal who have a global community of creators. We loved the idea of thousands of creative people being part of the development of our idea.
"The reaction, support and imagination we got back was truly inspiring and helped us to bring this to life.
"I really do believe it's important to encourage kids' creativity and imagination. I also believe kids have better ideas than most adults."
Meanwhile, Eric said: "My favourite WISHFITS right now are probably the Snog and Dat and Cog and the Chimpanpoo!
"I really hope that one day I can meet them all!"
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