With the show's eighth season set to debut Tuesday night on Fox Television, DioGuardi told The New York Post that it took awhile to get right with Cowell, whom she said seemed to be irritated with her at first.

"Simon would say, 'Oh she's talking too much, she's this, she's that,' so I had to pull back a bit at first," DioGuardi, 38, told The Post. "I kept thinking, these people are very successful, and they're a big part of making the show such a huge success. I didn't want to upset them and I didn't want to come in and upset the balance of the show to the point where it breaks up the magic, but at the same time, I had to figure out a way to be myself."

DioGuardi, a songwriter and music producer who has had a hand in more than 100 albums for stars ranging from Celine Dion to Gwen Stefani, told the newspaper Cowell eventually expressed his irritation about her to her face, which she says has helped.