71 Facts About Paula Abdul

Paula Julie Abdul was born on June 19,1962 and is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality.

Paula Abdul began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographer for the Laker Girls, where she was discovered by The Jacksons.

Paula Abdul was one of the original judges on the television series American Idol from 2002 to 2009, and has since appeared as a judge on The X Factor, Live to Dance, So You Think You Can Dance, and The Masked Dancer.

Paula Abdul received choreography credits in numerous films, including Can't Buy Me Love, The Running Man, Coming to America, Action Jackson, The Doors, Jerry Maguire, and American Beauty.

Paula Abdul received 17 MTV Video Music Award nominations, winning five, as well as receiving the Grammy Award for Best Music Video for "Opposites Attract" in 1991.

Paula Abdul received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography twice for her work on The Tracey Ullman Show, and her own performance at the American Music Awards in 1990.

Paula Abdul was honored with her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and is the first entertainer to be honored with the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards' Hall of Fame Award.

Paula Abdul is Jewish: her father, Harry Abdul, is of Syrian Jewish heritage and was born in Aleppo, Syria, raised in Brazil and emigrated to the United States.

Paula Abdul's mother, Lorraine, was a concert pianist, from Minnedosa, Manitoba.

Paula Abdul began taking dance lessons at an early age in ballet, jazz, and tap.

Paula Abdul attended Van Nuys High School, where she was a cheerleader and an honor student.

Paula Abdul was discovered by The Jacksons, after a few of the band members had watched her while attending a Los Angeles Lakers game.

Paula Abdul was signed to do the choreography for the video to their single "Torture".

Paula Abdul choreographed sequences for the giant keyboard scene involving Tom Hanks's character in Big.

In 1987, Paula Abdul used her savings to make a singing demo.

At the 32nd Grammy Awards, Paula Abdul won her first Grammy for Best Music Video for "Opposites Attract".

Paula Abdul was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Straight Up", but lost to Bonnie Raitt's "Nick of Time".

Paula Abdul saw continued success with her second studio album Spellbound, which saw two additional number-one singles: "Rush Rush" and "The Promise of a New Day".

In 1991, Paula Abdul starred in a popular Diet Coke commercial in which she danced with a digital image of her idol, a young Gene Kelly.

Paula Abdul was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in December 1991.

Paula Abdul promoted Spellbound through the Under My Spell Tour, which was named by an MTV contest for fans.

In 1997, Paula Abdul co-wrote a song called "Spinning Around" with record producer and composer Kara DioGuardi, which was intended to be her comeback single from a new album, but the plan never materialized and the song was later given to Kylie Minogue.

That year, Paula Abdul appeared in the ABC television film Touched By Evil, playing a businesswoman who discovers that her boyfriend is a serial rapist.

Thereafter, Paula Abdul served as the choreographer for several film and theater productions, including the 1998 musical Reefer Madness and the cheerleading scenes in American Beauty.

Paula Abdul co-produced the 2001 pilot for Skirts, an MTV television series about a high school cheerleading squad; Paula Abdul was set to appear as the head coach.

Paula Abdul seemed especially kind compared to fellow judge Simon Cowell, who was often blunt in his appraisals of the contestants' performances.

When she realized that Cowell's over-the-top judging style was heartbreaking for many young contestants, Paula Abdul was horrified and she considered leaving the series.

In 2006, Paula Abdul appeared on the third series of The X Factor UK as a guest judge during the auditions, sitting alongside judges Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh.

Abdul's behavior as depicted on the series was described as "erratic" by comedian Rosie O'Donnell and was criticized by audiences and critics, and Hey Paula was cancelled after a single season.

In 2008, Paula Abdul returned to music charts for the first time in nearly thirteen years with the single "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow", the first track on the album Randy Jackson's Music Club Vol.

The song debuted on On Air with Ryan Seacrest, and Paula Abdul performed it during the pre-game show for Super Bowl XLII.

The moderate success led to reports of Paula Abdul beginning work on a new album, but this never materialized.

Paula Abdul made a brief guest appearance on an episode of the British television series Hotel Babylon, which aired in the United Kingdom in February 2008.

In May 2009, Paula Abdul debuted her latest original song to date, "I'm Just Here for the Music" on the Ryan Seacrest Radio KIIS-FM show and performed the single on the American Idol.

The Times cited reports Paula Abdul had been earning as much as $5 million per season and that she was reportedly seeking as much as $20 million to return.

Paula Abdul claimed her departure from Idol was not about money, but that she had to stand on principle.

In January 2010, Paula Abdul presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to choreographer Julie McDonald at the 11th Anniversary show of The Carnival: Choreographer's Ball.

In January 2011, Paula Abdul began appearing on the short-lived CBS reality competition series Live to Dance, where she was an executive producer.

In May 2011, it was announced that Paula Abdul would rejoin Cowell on the first season of the American edition of The X Factor.

In January 2012, Paula Abdul announced that she would not return as a judge for the series' second season.

In October 2012, Paula Abdul served as a guest judge during week four of the All-Stars version of Dancing with the Stars.

On July 9,2013, Paula Abdul was a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance.

In October 2013, Paula Abdul was named as a judge on the revamped So You Think You Can Dance Australia, which aired on Australia's Network Ten from February 9 through May 1,2014.

Paula Abdul was present as a permanent member of the judge's panel for all episodes of this season.

Paula Abdul later became a permanent judge of the American version starting with its twelfth season.

In January 2017, Paula Abdul announced that she would not be returning as a judge for its fourteenth season because of her tour schedule.

In June 2014, Paula Abdul made a cameo appearance on the Australian soap opera Neighbours and shared scenes with established character Karl Kennedy.

In 2015, Paula Abdul made a guest appearance on the comedy sitcom Real Husbands of Hollywood on its season 4 premiere.

Paula Abdul was shown in a comedic scene with Arsenio Hall where she was trying to kick Hall out of her pool house.

In November 2016, New Kids on the Block announced that Paula Abdul would be touring with them and Boyz II Men on their Total Package Tour in 2017; her first tour in 25 years.

Paula Abdul performed a medley of her greatest hits at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards, closing out the show.

Paula Abdul performed at the fourteenth series finale of America's Got Talent with Light Balance Kids, Brian King Joseph, and Tyler Butler-Figueroa to surprise Cowell.

In October 2020, it was announced that Paula Abdul would serve as a panelist for Fox's reality competition, The Masked Dancer.

Paula Abdul married actor Emilio Estevez in 1992, and divorced him in 1994.

In 1995, Paula Abdul stated that the reason for their divorce was that she wanted children and Estevez, who had two children from a previous relationship, did not.

Paula Abdul married clothing designer Brad Beckerman in 1996, at the New England Carousel Museum in Bristol, Connecticut.

Paula Abdul is observant in her Jewish faith, and is proud of her heritage.

In 2003, Paula Abdul was reported as a practitioner of Transcendental Meditation.

In December 2004, Paula Abdul was driving her Mercedes-Benz on a Los Angeles-area freeway when she changed lanes and hit another vehicle, but did not stop or render assistance.

In March 2005, Paula Abdul was fined US$900 and given 24 months of informal probation after pleading nolo contendere to misdemeanor hit-and-run driving.

Paula Abdul was ordered to pay US$775 for damage to the other car.

On November 11,2008, a 30-year-old woman named Paula Goodspeed was found dead in her car outside of Abdul's Los Angeles home in Sherman Oaks, California.

In May 2005, ABC's news magazine Primetime Live reported claims by season 2 American Idol contestant Corey Clark that he and Paula Abdul had had an affair during that season, and she had coached him on how to succeed in the competition.

Allegations arose again in January 2007 when videos circulated on the Internet of Paula Abdul appearing to sway in her chair and slur her speech during a set of interviews.

Paula Abdul's publicist attributed this to fatigue and technical difficulties during the recording of the interviews.

In February 2007, Paula Abdul told Us Weekly that she had never been drunk or used illegal drugs, and called the allegations "lies".

Paula Abdul has said that she was injured in a plane crash in 1992 during her Under My Spell Tour, necessitating 15 cervical surgeries.

In May 2009, Ladies' Home Journal posted an article on its website that said that Paula Abdul told them she stayed at the La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California for three days the previous year to recover from physical dependence on prescription pain medications.

Later that same week, in an interview with Detroit radio station WKQI, Paula Abdul rejected the article's accuracy.

Paula Abdul told the radio station she never checked into a rehab clinic and never had a drug abuse problem.

Paula Abdul received a Phonograph record star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame.