Simon Cowell on 'Having year off is going to be healthy thing'

Talent judge Simon Cowell, the mastermind behind One Direction thinks that the band's upcoming extended break is necessary.

Speaking at the London premiere for the new season of X Factor Wednesday, Cowell explained to the Daily Mail that he knew the break was coming, and that he's going to let them make their own decisions regarding the matter.

"I've known for a while that they were going to take this year off. They had to because of their workload," Simon said. "I did what I've always done with the guys and said you make your own decisions and I hope you stay together, but you've got to want to do it yourself so they're smart guys, they'll work it out."

The One Direction boss, who formed the boy band in 2010, doesn't plan on pressuring the boys to come back either.

"I hope so, but like I said, it's not going to be because of any pressure from me," Cowell said about whether or not he thinks they will return. "It really has to be, like we said in the beginning, this is an opportunity, you won it, and I've always had that attitude with them. They're nice guys and they're loyal so it'll be fine."

He added that the success surrounding One Direction can be very overwhelming. "Look, even though they're young, that is a grueling schedule and after a while I could see they were exhausted, so when they said. 'How do you feel about it?' I said, 'Do whatever you want.' Having a year off is going to be a healthy thing."

The band announced on Monday over Twitter that they were not breaking up despite rumors and were instead planning on taking an extended break sometime next year.

One Direction has also recently released a new music video for their hit single Drag Me Down, the band's first single since former member Zayn Malik announced his departure back in March.

One Direction is currently performing across North America as part of their On the Road Again tour.