London, Apr 15 (ANI): Simon Cowell has sensationally confessed to having a secret affair with former X Factor judge Dannii Minogue.

The reality TV mogul claims he was like a schoolboy for the Australian star who he started sleeping with after she joined the panel 'The X Factor' in the UK alongside him in 2007.

Details of the affair have been revealed in a book entitled 'The Intimate Life Of Simon Cowell,' written by former BBC journalist Tom Bower.

In the book, Cowell speaks about the affair - though Minogue and Cowell had both denied it in 2008 when it was alleged to have taken place (before she got together with Kris Smith).

I had a crush on her. It was Dannii's hair, the sexy clothes and the t**s. I was like a schoolboy, the Daily Mail quoted him as saying in the book.

She was foxy. She was a real man's girl. Very feminine.

It was genuine love, he said.

Although it's also claimed in the book that the 52-year-old felt he was not ready for a relationship having split with long-term girlfriend Terri Seymour.

The book describes how the singer became Cowell's target when he changed the X Factor judging panel in 2007 to include her, allegedly calling her a 'new toy'.

And that same year, he said: Dannii reckons there's a picture on The X Factor website where I'm staring at her bottom.

I probably was... but I think most people would if they were sitting next to her. She was probably sticking it out on purpose.

Every guy in the world fancies Dannii. She's become a sex symbol since joining the show, and the contestants love her. She's got that Sophia Loren, movie-star sex appeal, I love sitting next to her, he had said.

In 2008 Minogue denied a photo that she was close to the X Factor mogul after a photo where she was apparently holding hands with Cowell in the back of a car was published.

We were not holding hands. But no one believes me. It was the angle of the picture, she had said.

It's also alleged that he took pleasure in the rift between Sharon Osbourne and Dannii.

And the book also claims that Cowell attempted to sleep with another Australian pin-up Natalie Imbruglia as recently as last year.

It says that he invited her aboard his yacht Slipstream, having already had a brief fling with her.

However, they had nothing more than a kiss and a cuddle according to the book. (ANI)