Simon Cowell's fiancée Lauren Silverman has opened up about her son Eric's adorable friendship with Katie Piper's daughter, Belle. The mum-of-two revealed the special bond between the nine-year-olds whilst she gave a speech at The Katie Piper Foundation earlier this week.
In a heartfelt moment, Lauren described Katie and her children as like "family," while speaking at a star-studded lunch at Daphne's restaurant in Chelsea, London.
Lauren and Katie were initially introduced after Katie and Simon first teamed up to launch the Foundation in 2009.
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"I joined Simon in his crusade alongside Katie around 9 years ago," Lauren explained. "Of course, Katie and I are friends and we met when our children were little, they're just a month apart, Belle and Eric, so we've seen them both grow up and so it's quite like a family."
© Zak WaltonBack in 2017, Katie Piper first revealed that her daughter Belle had formed a sweet friendship with Lauren's son, Eric. Taking to Instagram, the Loose Women star shared a picture of Belle attending Eric's dinosaur-themed birthday party, which was thrown by his father Simon. She captioned it: "Surprise guest at Eric's birthday - First time Belle has seen a real dinosaur."
During her speech on Wednesday, Lauren also commended Katie for her incredible work with the Foundation. "I wanted to host this lunch today as this is something that means so much to me," she said.
© Zak Walton"Katie is the most incredible ambassador for what she and the Foundation does - but for me the pivotal moment was when I went with Simon to the rehab facility in Liverpool that we helped build. We had never seen it first-hand, so when we had the opportunity, I was so emotional because here I was seeing what they do and the extent of the work they do and it's really brilliant."
Established over a decade ago, the Katie Piper Foundation is the only UK based charity to deliver both mental and physical rehabilitation to adult survivors of burns and traumatic scarring.
© Zak WaltonThe fundraising lunch, which was exclusively hosted by Lauren Silverman and Katie Brindle, featured a star-studded guest list. Amanda Holden, Princess Beatrice, and Kelly Hoppen were among the attendees.
Speaking to HELLO! Princess Beatrice said: "The work they do is incredible, it was really moving to hear from Catrin [Pugh] too. What a lovely lunch."
© Zak WaltonCatrin Pugh is a burns survivor and physiotherapist at the Katie Piper Foundation. Katie herself also spoke on stage and detailed her motivations for setting up the charity.
"What would you do if you no longer recognised yourself? I'm not talking about ageing gradually I'm talking about in an instant, you looked in the mirror and she wasn't looking back at you?" she began.
© Zak Walton"When your world is turned upside down in the most unimaginable way what should you do? How do you pick yourself up and start again? This is the dilemma facing survivors of burns and traumatic scarring up and down the country. This is just one of the reasons I set up the Foundation 14 years [ago].
"For those that don't know the history, it was born after a personal experience. A man that I dated and who I rejected went on to hire a stranger to throw acid in my face. Since that day of founding the charity, survivors haven't stopped contacting us on a daily basis, in desperate need of support to go on and live their lives on their own terms. Our survivors are not what they've been through or what they've done; they are what they've conquered and overcome. And the same goes for all of us."
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