One Direction need break after 'unbelievable' schedule, Simon Cowell tells GMB

One Direction need to take time off after an "unbelievably" busy schedule over the past five years, Simon Cowell has told Good Morning Britain.

The boy band are due to take a break from March 2016 but Cowell told Susanna Reid that none of them know what they want to do next.

One Direction have insisted the break does not mean they are splitting up.

In an exclusive interview, Cowell also spoke about dealing with the death of his mother, who died earlier this year, and revealed he does not think the winner of this year's X Factor will come from his Overs category.

Discussing One Direction's plans, he said: "I think they've got to take some time off. That schedule after five years was unbelievable.

"It's not until they stop, that's going to be when they're going to realise how tired they are. And then they're going to decide what they want to do next.

"I don't think any of them have got a plan right now."

This weekend sees The X Factor contestants visit the Judges’ Houses, but Cowell admitted he does not have high hopes for his category and wanted to get the Girls group.

The 56-year-old swore and appeared annoyed when he was given the Overs category, something he said his late mother Julie would have been disappointed by.

Cowell said her death during the summer had been tough to deal with but he still feels her presence.

Cowell with his mother Julie, who died this summer. Credit: PA

"I deal with it because I always believe she's still here," he told GMB. "It's the same with my dad. I always feel their presence.

"Once you get over that initial shock then you deal with it in a different way."

There has been much discussion about Louis Walsh returning as a judge on The X Factor after he was dropped from the show, and while Cowell said he could not just bring him back, he admitted he likes the idea of having a guest judge.

"He's like the ghost," Cowell said. "When he was on the show I would always have people complaining about him. Now he's gone it's like 'why isn't he there?' I don't know what's going to happen."