That Zany Paula Abdul?

by Jimmy Diderot

This article is not going to be a slam on Paula. Paula Abdul seems to be a kind person with a wonderful, encouraging spirit; and, the American Idol program is fortunate to have her presence. That having been said, one can't help but observe that her recent remarks could be quite accurately described as bizarre. You see, while contestants Heather Cox and Brenna Gethers were standing together on the Idol stage, after being informed that they were voted off, Ryan Seacrest asks Paula why things had not worked out for Heather and Brenna. Paula answers, "Simon said because one of them ate pizzas and the other ate salad." Paula then begins laughing. Seacrest, perplexed, reminds them that they're live, on-the-air.Paula manages to briefly regain her composure. You see, a few minutes later, during the next cuts, Paula declares, "What did you tell me? Simon gave me advice and said on 'x-factor'- he always refers to a fortune cookie and says the moth who finds the melon finds the corn flake always finds the melon and one of you didn't pick the right fortune."Wow! An interesting thought that occurred to me--as I sat baffled in my living room watching this--was that, at that moment, millions of people, simultaneously, were also sitting in their living rooms equally baffled. Talk about the power of television. Furthermore, on-line: the blogs and forums were buzzing with people claiming Paula was frequently drunk or high on the show.Now, Paula's always been a little, let's say, intriguing: I always thought of her as having a pretty quirky sense of humor. However, lately, her humor has increased exponentially. I decided to do a little investigative work to explore the origins of this fascinating and mysterious woman.Paula Julie Abdul was born June 19, 1962 in San Fernando, California: her parents were Hans and Lorraine Abdul; she has a sister also. At a very young age, Paula was quite taken by "Singing In The Rain," and, thus began her worship of Gene Kelly and her obsession with dance. As a student at Van Nuys high school, she led her cheerleading squad, and, this enhanced her understanding of choreography.After high school, Paula attended Cal State-Northridge, where she studied radio and television; however, her true love was dance and choreography; thus, Paula didn't complete her collegiate studies. Instead, she got a job with the LA Lakers cheerleading squad. Paula soon became head choreographer of the group. And, from all reports, the cheerleaders Paula led were brilliant. And, most importantly, while in this cheerleading capacity, she was noticed by the Jacksons, who hired her as an assistant dance choreographer for the Victory Tour.The skill and expertise Paula displayed lead to a job in choreographer capacity for Janet Jackson during the Control period. Janet's album was a magnificent success, and, Paula's reputation grew, leading to further work on The Tracy Ullman Show and videos for the Pointer Sisters, ZZ Top, Duran Duran, and others. One thing lead to the next, and Paula released her own album in 1988: Forever Your Girl. The song "Straight Up" propelled Paula into superstar status. The Forever Your Girl Debut boasts six number-one singles. Paula followed it up with Spellbound and Head Over Heels.Paula married Emilio Estevez during her world tour. They divorced after two years in 1994. She soon after married Brad Beckerman, but, sadly, that marriage also ended in divorced after a year and a half. So, Paula's acting interest returned in 1995, and she made brief appearances on Spin City, Cybill, The Single Guy, All That, and other programs, including made-for-TV movies. Paula even made her own exercise videos. Paula, at this time, was still struggling with her bulimia, but, she was learning to overcome it. There's a Paula quotation about this that I like a lot:"...the conventional way never worked. I've always had to go through the back door, the side door, crawl on my belly, but I hone in on what my strengths are... and I stay there until I can use that as the next stepping stone."As we all know, in 2002, Paula landed the dream job: getting to be one of the three judges on Fox's American Idol. Paula is always very kind and encouraging to the contestants. Along the Idol way, of course, there have been scandal and rumor. Former contestant Cory Clark claimed on ABC's "Primetime Live" that he had an affair with Paula, who, he claimed, was giving him advice on how to succeed on the show. A 600 hour investigation found no validity to Clark's story.All that anyone can responsibly say on the topic is that Paul has been diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, which is reported to be quite painful. As a result, she's undergone twelve operations, and, naturally has been prescribed pain killers. Objectively, this is not a solid basis for the accusations. Furthermore, upon further reflection, Paula's incredible success would seem to indicate a person who has her act together. After all, she's received two Emmy Awards, two Grammy's, two People's Choice, and five MTV awards, among others. My conclusion is actually quite simple: Paula Abdul is a really nice, fun, extremely talented and hardworking woman with a way quirky, off-beat sense of humor sometimes. Furthermore, people should give someone the benefit of the doubt before they make reputation-damaging claims that have no supporting evidence. It would seem that some of her strange remarks are quite innocent, and, at worst indicate a woman with an eccentric sense of humor. To read more about the judges and the American Idol competition, please visit http://www.kpickler.com.

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