Julia Carliles life-changing 175K surgery happened after she met Simon Cowell Tue 9

America’s Got Talent fans may be surprised to find out Julia Carlile’s surgery was paid for by Simon Cowell. The AGT: Fantasy League star, a member of the dance group Mersey Girls, revealed the news on the January 8 episode. She’s a Britain’s Got Talent season 11 star whose openness about her scoliosis affecting her career inspired the former stone-faced judge.

Simon Cowell was reunited with the teen dancer he helped in the past when she danced for judge Mel B’s fantasy team on the show. It was back in 2017 when Simon paid for Julia’s surgery. The America’s Got Talent star said he “completely changed her life” as her dance career could have been lost to scoliosis.

Julia Carlile opens up on surgery

Julia Carlile underwent surgery for scoliosis in 2017.

“We’ve all been dancing together since we were literally tiny and it’s what we all wanted to do as a career,” explained Julia, who turns 22 later this month.

“That didn’t end up happening for me. I was diagnosed with a condition called scoliosis, a curvature of the spine, and I was told my dance career would end after I get surgery to fix that,” she added.

Julia said: “So we were like, ‘Let’s go out with a bang before my surgery,’ so we applied to Britain’s Got Talent. That’s when we ended up getting on the show and I met Simon.

“He completely changed my life.”

Mersey Girls joins AGT Fantasy League

Mersey Girls are representing Mel B on AGT: Fantasy League. In a video package, Julia explained her dance group “had the time of our lives dancing” on the Britain’s Got Talent stage.

They didn’t win but received the Golden Buzzer from judge Alesha Dixon. Now Julia has recovered, she’s been able to dance again. The Mersey Girls are now “ecstatic” to be on Mel’s dream team.

The group performed to Trust Fall by Pink, with the girls being moved to tears. “It was very good, and it is a beautiful story and I’m really moved… but I don’t know if it’s great,” Howie Mandel said.

Julia politely responded, “I do have two metal rods in my spine, I try my best.” Mandel then told her, “You’re fantastic and I’m very proud of you, young lady.”

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Simon Cowell ‘changed her life’

Simon “completely changed her life” when it came to paying for Julia Carlile’s surgery, which cost £175,000. She feared she would no longer be able to dance due to her scoliosis but the judge helped.

She said: “There was a surgery here in America, which meant I would be able to dance after, but it was over in America, I’m from the U.K., so Simon said he’s gonna help me get that surgery.”

“So he flew me out. My dream was taken away from me, and in a split second, Simon just gave that dream back to me. I can dance now, for the rest of my life,” Julia Carlile said of her surgery.

The operation involved straightening Julia’s spine. She has since undergone several more procedures, some of which she has documented on her social media pages.

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