(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Simon Cowell has admitted that he went on a blind date with Denise Richards when she was heavily pregnant.

The X Factor judge, 51, told radio host Howard Stern that the meeting with the actress was "bizarre" but that he really liked her.

Simon and Denise were apparently set up by mutual friends to meet at the Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel.

"She turned up eight months pregnant and had a dog in her handbag," Simon laughed.

When Howard said that it must have been a "real turnoff," Cowell said it was "a little bit".

"But she is gorgeous. I liked her a lot, I think she's cute, funny, a bit wacko... but I like that," Simon added in her defence.

Denise is mother to two daughters with ex-husband Charlie Sheen; Sam, seven, and Lola, six and she adopted baby Eloise Joni over the summer.

Simon is now dating makeup artist Mezhgan Hussainy and the pair became engaged last Spring although the British mogul said he was "not sure" if they were still betrothed to be married.

When Howard pushed Simon on why he was so secretive about his relationship and accused him of going through the pretence of having an engagement when he did not plan to marry, the former American Idol judge ended talk on the subject.

"If we were having this conversation off the radio I could have a normal conversation," Simon retorted. (C) Cover Media