The generation that tunes in each week to watch American Idols Live seem to know very little of the success that Paula Abdul had before becoming the nicest of three judges on American Idols Live. I don’t doubt that her public celebrity has reached its highest by judging American Idols Live. But professionally, I feel as though she has accomplished a lot more that just being continuously insulted and criticized by Simon Cowell as a member of the panel of American Idols Live. Most contestants that audition for American Idols Live are between the ages of 16 and 26, and they would know very little of what Paula had accomplished long before the producers of American Idols Live ever approached her to become a judge on American Idols Live. There are some obvious notable exceptions to that rule. We have seen several people audition for American Idols Live who seem to be incredibly star struck by Paula Abdul’s singing and dancing career. The saddest of whom, Paula Goodspeed, who had recently committed suicide in front of Paula’s home in Los Angeles.
Paula Goodspeed was a contestant on American Idols Live in 2006. She went into the audition room of American Idols Live as the self proclaimed biggest fan of Paula Abdul. Sadly, her audition was horrendous and Simon Cowell tore into her, making very insulting remarks about her braces. She left American Idols Live feeling devastated. This devastation stuck with her until she finally took her own life on Nov. 13th, 2008 by overdosing in front of her own idols home, sitting in her car with a license plate that read ABDL LV.
Prior to her success on American Idols Live, Paula enjoyed many successes in the music world. In the 1980s, Abdul rose from being a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball team to being a sought-after choreographer at the height of the music video era. She was a Pop-R&B singer with a string of hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s. According to Abdul, she has sold over 53 million records to date. She has scored six number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, placing her in a tie for fifth among the female solo performers who have reached number one. After her initial period of success, she suffered a series of setbacks in her professional and personal life, until she found renewed fame and success in the 2000s as a judge on the television series, American Idols Live.
With her newly found success have come many criticisms of the star. Substance abuse allegations arose as the result of what some described as “erratic behavior” by Abdul during episodes of American Idols Live. After reading these allegations on message boards, Abdul told People magazine in April 2005 during an article about American Idols Live that she suffered from chronic pain for years following a “cheerleading accident” at age 17 and was diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy in November 2004. Abdul says she is now pain-free following treatment, including the anti-inflammatory medication Ember.
Allegations arose again in January 2007 when videos circulated on the Internet of Abdul appearing to sway in her chair and slur her speech during a set of interviews for American Idols Live. Abdul’s publicist attributed this to fatigue and technical difficulties during the recording of the interviews. It was revealed on the Bravo show Hey Paula, which had followed Abdul with a video camera prior to the interviews that Abdul had not been sleeping, perhaps suffering from some mild form of insomnia.
In February 2007, Abdul told Us Weekly that she had never been drunk or used illegal drugs while filming American Idols Live and called the allegations “lies”. In a March 2007 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, Abdul joked that her scrutinized behavior was caused by her being “abducted by aliens”. Abdul appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show to “clear the air” on that situation.
I just hope that Paula is remembered for her many accomplishments and not for her questionable behavior on the set of American Idols Live.
