Simon Cowell says he wants to "publicly apologise" to people left red-faced following the sordid revelations in his unauthorised biography.

The X Factor mogul attended the launch of the book, Sweet Revenge: The Intimate Life of Simon Cowell, at London's Serpentine Gallery and admitted that he hid under his "pillow" during the serialisation in Britain's The Sun newspaper.

The tome reveals details of his alleged fling with Dannii Minogue and his desire to sleep with Cheryl Cole among other kiss-and-tell tales.

"I wish to publicly apologise to anyone I embarrassed," he said contritely. "I have tried to keep my private life quiet a bit and I do have to apologise to certain people and certain members of my family. That's the score.

"Ten years ago if I had read someone would be writing a book about me saying I made loads of money and shagged loads of girls I would have said, Great!'

"I spent the week hiding under a pillow and I couldn't bear to look at The Sun. I knew it was bad because friends were sending me sweet messages saying, Are you OK?'"