The 51-year-old music mogul - who is now engaged to make-up artist Mezhgan Hussainy - explained he was set up by a mutual friend on a "blind date" with the 40-year-old actress, who turned up "eight months pregnant with a dog in her handbag".

He said of Denise: "We had a bizarre kind of blind date several years ago. She`s cute. She turned up eight months pregnant and had a dog in her handbag."

The `X Factor` judge admitted while he thinks Denise - who has daughters Sam, seven, and Lola, six, with ex-husband Charlie Sheen, as well as adopted baby daughter Eloise Joni - is "gorgeous, funny and a bit of a wacko", her being heavily pregnant put him off.

Asked whether Denise`s impending motherhood was "a real turnoff", Simon told Howard Stern`s 101 Sirius XM Radio show: "A little bit. But she is gorgeous. I liked her a lot. I think she`s cute, funny, a bit of a wacko, but I like that.

"We met up afterwards."
sections: Celebrities