Simon Cowell has posted some new photos of his nine-year-old son Eric as they welcome a new family member (Picture: Instagram/@simoncowell)

Simon Cowell has shared a rare sweet snap of his son, and the likeness is truly uncanny.

Nine-year-old Eric is the apple of his X Factor judge father’s eye, and now Simon, 64, has shared a series of photos of him and he looks so grown up.

Usually keeping his son out of the spotlight, this is an uncommon occurrence for the Britain’s Got Talent judge – but it appears he couldn’t resist marking the moment they welcomed a new family member into the Cowell fold: German Shepherd mix puppy, Pebbles.

Eric posed alongside the most adorable puppy in the picture, as Simon enthusiastically captioned it: ‘LOVE.’

In one picture little Eric – who is truly the spitting image of his TV personality father – cuddled up to the puppy in a fluffy dog bed, and in another he hugged Pebbles on their sofa.

We’re a little worried about Simon’s house though, as all the furniture and even the dog bed are perhaps a shade too light for a bouncy, muddy pup…

Meet Pebbles (Picture: Instagram/@simoncowell)

Eric looks so much like his dad (Picture: Instagram/@simoncowell)

But the family seem totally smitten with Pebbles, as Simon first introduced the pup a few days ago with a picture of the pair bonding, alongside the caption: ‘Our family has had a new arrival… her name is Pebbles.’

In further photos, Simon posed alongside his now-fiancée Lauren Silverman, their son Eric, and 17-year-old Adam – Lauren’s son from her marriage to Andrew Silverman.

After proclaiming he would never have kids, since becoming a father the X Factor judge has said Eric is the ‘most amazing thing that ever happened to [him]’.

The whole family seem super smitten with Pebbles (Picture: Instagram/@simoncowell)

The TV mogul proposed to Lauren, 46, in Barbados 13 years after they met in that very same place, while she was still married to Simon’s then-close friend Andrew Silverman.

The pair began an romance in secret, but it was made public in 2013 when Lauren fell pregnant with Eric.

Simon once credited the arrival of Eric for saving him from a ‘dark place’ following the death of his parents.

‘After I lost my parents, I genuinely felt, Kelly, I would never feel that kind of love for anyone ever again,’ he told Kelly Clarkson on her TV show in 2021.

‘He’s the most amazing thing that ever happened to me. I adore him.’ 

He also described how his life was more ‘simple and fun’ since Eric arrived, and Simon had a total lifestyle overhaul on becoming a father.

Speaking on Lorraine back in 2019, he said: ‘I was like a vampire, I realised that I was going to sleep between 5 and 7 in the morning and then the trouble with that is, no matter if you get six hours, eight hours, you always wake up tired, that’s the problem…

Simon and Lauren Silverman are engaged (Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Lauren is also mum to 17-year-old Adam from her previous marriage (Picture: Instagram/@simoncowell)

‘So along with the diet, I changed my hours so I go to sleep at 10pm and I now have breakfast at 8.30am. It’s almost like a complete reversal.’

In 2020 Simon revealed he had lost four stone in one year due to switching to a vegan diet and introducing more exercise to his routine.

‘I think I have dropped, since I started this diet a year ago, 60lbs,’ he told Terri Seymour for Extra in May 2020 amid the first Covid lockdown. ‘I’m doing a bit of cooking. I’m exercising. Funny enough, more during this time as well, sticking to the diet.’

But he admitted Eric wasn’t exactly helping matters with his junk food cravings.

‘The only difficult thing is when Eric orders a pizza…,’ he continued. ‘That’s the number one thing I miss.

‘I was concerned how [Eric] was going to cope with all of this. He has been absolutely amazing… He is still able to do schoolwork, and now we are camping on the weekends in the garden.’

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The likeness is uncanny.