AceShowbiz - Simon Cowell gave Susan Boyle the option of walking away from her budding music career when he feared she was cracking under the pressure of stardom. Boyle gained international recognition after auditioning for the music mogul's U.K. TV show "Britain's Got Talent" in early 2009 - a clip of her singing spread across the internet and gained her legions of dedicated fans.

But Cowell admits he hadn't fully considered the effect Boyle's sudden rise to fame would have on her and began to fear for the fragile star as the competition reached its final stages. The music mogul became so worried about her state of mind, he offered Boyle the chance to quit the show and return to her native Scotland.

In an interview with his "Britain's Got Talent" 's co-star Piers Morgan, he says, "In the middle of the live shows - and it was quite public - what happened is that she buckled under the pressure. I brought her into my dressing room on the Friday and basically said to her, 'You have a choice at this point and if you want to leave the show, you can still walk away, you know, proud for what you've achieved. But if this is too much, we're going to support you on this decision'."

"But there was absolutely no way she was going to leave this competition and I made it clear to her at that point. She looked me in the eye and said 'Simon, I want to compete, I want to take part in the competition. I want to prove all the people wrong who doubted me'."

Boyle finished second in the series final and was subsequently admitted to rehab suffering from exhaustion. She went on to launch a music career, topping the charts in both her native Britain and the U.S.