We knew it was bound to happen: American Idol judge Paula Abdul inspired a woman, Paula Goodspeed, to sit outside Abdul's LA home in a parked car. Perfectly normal, no? Anyway, Goodspeed reportedly committed suicide last night in said vehicle.
And because TMZ thrives under situations that are part devastating, part exploitative, the Web site has already dug up everything about this woman, except her social security number. But don't worry, that's on its way.
Here's what the TMZ stalkers have come up with so far:
• Great moments from the 2008 Olympics. [CityRag]
• Paula Abdul totally hates the new American Idol judge. [INO]
• The greatest love of Brad Pitt's life: George Clooney. [PS]
• Rihanna and Chris Brown are moving in together. We're going to continue not caring. [DListed]
• Pete Doherty desperately tries to stay in the spotlight by selling out Kate Moss and Amy Winehouse. [Yeeeah]
• Jennifer Aniston is sporting a new ring. OMG! Alert the media! [ICYDK]
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? "American Idol is adding a fourth judge: Grammy-nominated songwriter Kara DioGuardi. DioGuardi will appear at the judges' table with Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson on the eighth season of the hit show, which premieres in January."
• This girl needs to back off of Michael Phelps immediately or there's going to be trouble. [DListed]
• Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo hang out with Lindsay and Samantha in a desperate attempt to stay relevant. [PS]
• Felicity Huffman must have a death wish. [Yeeeah]
• Paula Abdul is undergoing neck surgery, because how else is she going to get more painkillers? [ICYDK]
• There's cheerleading in the Olympics? Really? [CityRag]
• Katherine Heigl got into a small tiff with a cop. Unfortunately, it didn't end in an arrest. [INO]
POOR PAULA "Paula Abdul has split from boyfriend, restaurateur J.T. Torregiani, her rep confirms to Usmagazine.com. The pair parted ways more than two months ago. Torregiani, 33 — a partner in the Dolce Group — has moved out of the American Idol judge's Los Angeles home. "
Here’s a little trivia: Ne-Yo used to be in a singing group with Corey Clark, the American Idol contestant/criminal who threw Paula Abdul under the bus when his career didn’t take off. They once appeared on Amateur Night at the Apollo. And they were bad. Ne-Yo’s lucky he got off that train before it crashed.
Paula Abdul attended a benefit for the Neuromuscular Disease Foundation last night in Hollywood, likely in hopes of an open bar. We're pretty proud of her, because despite looking like her typical loopy self, she actually seems like she knows her name and what year it is. So on a scale of one to 10, how drunk does Paula look?
[Source]
Every week, a bunch of “real” people say really stupid things on reality TV. These are their stories.
10. "The sun is never gonna go down on you, because you bring out so much sunshine, and everyone throughout the whole world through your singing." — Paula Abdul, American Idol
Every week, a bunch of “real” people say really stupid things on reality TV. These are their stories.
10. "This is a transvestite. I'm sorry. But you're a beautiful tranny." — Paulina Porizkova, America's Next Top Model
Tonight is huge in American Idol land, because the three contestants who survive Wednesday night's elimination will get hometown visits. And after the awful weeks Jason Castro has endured (Andrew Lloyd Webber being disgusted by his dreadlocks, PaulaGate '08), it would be fabulous to send him back to Texas where he can receive a vindicated welcome from his fans. Jason's fellow Texas A&M students are doing all they can to support him this week — issuing flyers, hosting watch parties and urging everyone to vote for a fellow Aggie in order to bring him back to College Station. But one cannot underestimate the cockroach-like survival skills of Syesha Mercado, who refuses to go away. And sure, she's got a nice voice. But wouldn't it be nice if someone made it to the finals who didn't feel the need to screech glory notes week after week? Jason doesn't look like he should be in a Disney movie. He sang in public only five times before he auditioned for Idol. He doesn't lose his sense of self in an effort to please the judges or the Bush lovers of America who think, just because he has dreads, he is a stoner and therefore evil. Somehow, he has survived thus far.
So here's my plea: Vote for Jason tonight. If you need any reminders of why he's awesome, click through for one of his first public appearances ever. CONTINUED »
Paula Abdul unleashed more of her crazy last night at Lupus LA's Orange Ball while presenting an award to physician Daniel Wallace, who she claims helped save her business and professional life. While making her speech, she admitted, "No one understands me. By the way, are you singing two songs tonight?" Um, awkward.
Offstage, she went into one of her famous rants, going from one end of the happy scale to the other:
I have fun poking fun at a situation that’s so ridiculous. I’m the queen of taking the seriousness out of [it] … I loved that people laughed, it was funny. Honestly, it was a silly thing [that happened on Idol]. We were all confused … I did exactly what the producers told me to do … It’s all good.
Pain is very daunting — it creates isolation. For me, the smile on my face oftentimes is not met with how I feel inside.
It's safe to say we are all quite lucky that Paula doesn't let us know how she feels on the inside, because no one could ever come back from that.
[Source]
Every week, a bunch of “real” people say really stupid things on reality TV. These are their stories.
10. "If Flav sends me home after everything … I'll sneak back into his house and snip off his testicles in the middle of the night." — Sinceer, Flavor of Love 3
Ryan Seacrest got very touchy during last night's American Idol results show when talk turned to the Paula Abdul snafu heard 'round the world. Instead of confronting the situation head-on, Ryan insisted on getting defensive and simply saying that the rumors aren't true. Um … except there were about 100 rumors going around, and that doesn't clear anything up. But nice try.
So who got kicked to the curb? CONTINUED »
American Idol's Neil Diamond night was just as disastrous as I feared, and it's safe to assume everyone not named David is in danger of getting axed tonight. Everybody was off their game, including sobriety princess Paula Abdul. Once each contestant had performed their first songs of the evening, Ryan asked the judges to offer their comments; naturally, Paula began giving Jason Castro her critique of both his songs, one of which had yet to be sung. Her excuse: "This is hard."
So what happened? Conspiracy theorists are crying foul, saying the show is fixed and she had written the critiques beforehand, but we're talking about Paula Abdul here. It's quite possible that she just mixed the wrong meds.
It took American Idol seven seasons, but it seems the show has finally driven one of its contestants to a mental breakdown. I knew something was coming last week when Brooke White's performance of Mariah Carey's "Hero" progressively got faster and faster and her voice got shakier and shakier, but what happened last night was one of the most uncomfortable things I have witnessed on television — and I've sat through two seasons of Rock of Love.
Brooke, who sang "You Must Love Me" for Andrew Lloyd Webber night, forgot her lyrics 5 seconds into the song and requested that the band start over. The look of sheer terror on her face as she realizes she has no clue what word comes next is cringe-worthy, but that doesn't come close to the awkwardness that takes place when even Paula is left speechless from Brooke's panicky performance. CONTINUED »
Every week, a bunch of “real” people say really stupid things on reality TV. These are their stories.
10. "You're going to see some never-before-seen footage that you've never seen before." — Bret Michaels, Rock of Love 2
Every week, a bunch of “real” people say really stupid things on reality TV. These are their stories.
10. "Do I think he made a mistake? Obviously. Like, hello … I'd be into me." — Kelly, The Bachelor
Despite it's tremendous shortcomings as a source of entertainment, American Idol reportedly works amazingly well as a charity. Though official's at the show's benevolent arm, Idol Gives Back, have so far refused to release their official data for last year, the nonprofit is said to have raised about $76 million and distributed it relatively well.
“Sometimes celebrity or entertainment-industry-based charities might not be the most sophisticated organizations in distributing the money they raise,” said Dr. Irwin Redlener, the president and a co-founder, with the musician Paul Simon, of the Children’s Health Fund. “But the ‘American Idol’ group got up to speed more rapidly than I’ve ever seen before. And they did a tremendous amount of investigation and due diligence among the organizations that could be potential recipients.”
See what happens when you don't let Paula Abdul handle anything?
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