17 June 2026
Simon Cowell’s fiancée Lauren Cowell was left “mortified” when she was thrown out of the House of Commons after celebrating the UK’s upcoming social media ban for under-16s.
Simon Cowell’s fiancée Lauren Cowell was left ‘mortified’ after being THROWN OUT of House of Commons
The 48-year-old entrepreneur had been actively campaigning for the UK government to raise the age of consent for social media users to 16, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed this week that such a ban will come into force from spring 2027.
Lauren was in the House of Commons earlier this week to hear Technology Secretary Liz Kendall reveal the news, but she become overly-excited at the result and started clapping – resulting in her being removed from the UK Parliament house.
Speaking on This Morning, she said: “I’m so embarrassed. Actually, I can laugh about it now, but at the time it wasn’t actually very funny.
“I was there with a group of bereaved families, who I’ve been working and campaigning with, who are incredible, and some of my fellow campaigners.
“When Liz Kendall came out into the dispatch box to announce the official ban I was so excited, and I started clapping.
“The next thing I know there’s this woman, the speaker in the house, and she was like, ‘Remove that woman!’ So, I literally got taken out of the House of Commons and removed from where we were sat.
“It was mortifying. It was so embarrassing.”
Fortunately, Lauren was allowed back into the room.
She added: “But then they let me back in.
“It was really sweet, because [Member of Parliament] Jess Phillips came from downstairs and she came up and sat where I was and she just was like, ‘Are you OK?’ And she just gave me a hug and I was like, ‘I’m so sorry.’
“She was like, ‘Oh I don’t care about that. Are you OK?’ It was so lovely, but it was surreal.”
Lauren feels “elated” that the social media ban – which will include platforms Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X, among others – has been announced, but admitted there is “so much more” that needs to be done.
She and Simon have always banned their 12-year-old son Eric from social media, and previously didn’t allow him a phone.
Lauren admitted Eric does now have a phone, but there is “nothing on it”.
She explained: “We’ve been very strict with him about social media.
“In terms of having a phone, he does have … I guess you could call it a brick phone.
“It’s a smartphone in the sense that it’s like an Apple phone, but there’s nothing on it. It’s completely shut down.
“So he can text and WhatsApp, but that’s it.”
Eric’s dad Simon doesn’t own his own phone, after ditching his device eight years ago, and Lauren praised her fiancé as a “trendsetter”.
Lauren said: “It’s funny, because Simon was ahead of the curve with all this.
“He was one of the trendsetters with the no phone thing. He ditched his phone about eight years ago.
“I have to say, the difference that it has made on him, in a positive way, it’s been extraordinary.
“I think in terms of just reducing those distractions and the kind of the noise and that feeling, or that kind of pull, that we all inevitably have when you’ve got a phone sitting next to you, which is constantly just going off.
“I think by not having it, it has just eliminated all that for him, which has been really, really positive.”
