Paula Abdul

I like Paula Abdul. She’s probably known to most people as the nice judge on American Idol, but I think her main gig was choreography. Paula Abdul was born on June 19, 1962 in California. She started taking dance lessons at an early age and was also a cheerleader in high school. After graduating high school, she went to Cal State Northridge for a minute. She was chosen to be a Laker girl (cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers) during her first year in college. Within months, she became head choreographer. She quit college shortly after that to focus on her new awesome gig of cheerleading.

Paula apparently was pretty good because The Jacksons hired her to do their choreography. Can you imagine telling Michael Jackson what to do? She went on to choreograph tons of videos for lots of famous people.

Even though she didn’t really have any vocal training, Paula made a singing demo in 1987. I don’t think she was spectacular with her vocals but at that time in the 80’s, a lot of popularity and success was based on music videos. Hello, MTV. Perky Paula was perfect to be successful at that time. I don’t think she was an awful singer or anything and she was perfect for this time period. Straight up, now tell me do you really wanna love me forever. Oh, oh, oh.

Trivia

• Was married to Emilio Estevez from 1992-1994.
• Choreographed videos for ZZ Top, Dolly Parton, Janet Jackson, George Michael, and Debbie Gibson.
• Appeared in two of Janet Jackson’s videos.
• Michael Bolton babysat her when she was seven years old.  I wonder if he sang to her.
• Paula is a big fan of Brian Wilson (the musician, not the pitcher) and The Beach Boys.
• Her idol is Gene Kelly. My idol is Phoebe Buffay.
• She was seven when she attended her first concert.  The group she saw was The Jackson Five.  Ten years later she was choreographing for them.
• She choreographed the big keyboard scene in the movie Big. That’s one of my favorite movies. Tom Hanks is awesome in that.
• There were rumors that she and American Idol contestant Corey Clark were a thing while he was on the show. I think she was just being her super nice self and he was being scum.

Health

Paula Abdul has had some issues that have come to light in the last several years. She suffers from bulimia and from a neurological disorder that causes chronic pain. Paula has appeared intoxicated on several different shows which she attributed to meds and no sleep. She says her pain that requires meds was caused by a cheerleading accident but has also used a car accident and plane crash as the reason. Mmmm…..all are good reasons for pain meds, Paula. Seriously, I hope she’s okay.

Paula was involved in a hit and run (she was the one who ran) in late 2004. I wonder if she maybe had too many pain meds in her system at the time. In 2006, she claims to have been attacked and as a result suffered a concussion and spinal injuries. (Code for more pain meds.) Abdul stayed in a rehab facility in 2008 but then claimed she never checked into a rehab clinic and has never had a drug abuse problem. That’s what a person with a drug problem would say. We have a huge opioid epidemic in the U.S. I hope Paula doesn’t become a statistic.

Paula Abdul seems like a very nice person with a big heart. I like that she was a compassionate and caring judge on American Idol. In the real world, I’m pretty sure there are mainly Simon’s out there who are all blunt and assholey. Be that as it may, I thought it was nice that Paula was there to break the fall for those who weren’t ready for the real world. If she is suffering from an addiction to opiates, I hope she gets help soon. It’s a serious thing.  Wishing her the best……