London, Feb 19 (IANS) Simon Cowell's mother has revealed that she was shocked to hear that her son plans to get married.

Julie Cowell, 84, revealed that she received a phone call from her music mogul son telling her he had got engaged to make-up artist Mezhgan Hussainy and she couldn't hide her delight.

'I'm shocked. I was the first person he called to say he was getting engaged,' femalefirst.co.uk quoted Julie as saying.

'He's very contented with her. She's a lovely woman and I'm delighted she's so happy. I thought I would have departed from this world before Simon got married. I'm so happy he's committed to this girl,' she added.

However, Simon's publicist Max Clifford claims he is not ready to tie the knot.

'I spoke to Simon in London, just before he took his flight back to Los Angeles. I asked him, 'Look, are you engaged? Is it true?' and he said, 'No! No. I'm not engaged,'' Clifford said.

'They are an item. Yes, they're happy. But they're not engaged,' he added.