Paula Abdul
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Tragedy struck American Idol this week:

Season five contestant Paula Goodspeed - a mentally troubled Paula Abdul fan - was found dead outside the home of the American Idol judge.

"Ms. Goodspeed's mother had gone to [the sheriff's department] to report her daughter missing, and advised them that she might be suicidal," said Los Angeles police Capt. James Miller. "The sheriffs determined that Ms. Goodspeed may be up in the vicinity by Paula Abdul's house. Our officers discovered her vehicle parked on the street, and found her inside. She was unresponsive to officers."

The death has been ruled an apparent suicide.

Here's a video of Goodspeed's failed audition. In light of recent events, it's disheartening to hear how obsessed she appeared to be with Abdul:

Paula Abdul was excited to see Barack Obama elected as the future President of the United States last week.

Actually, that emotion might not cover it.

“I was crying!” said the American Idol judge. “You feel such a sense of pride that you can’t even articulate how good you feel. It’s unbelievable! I have chills. I was just so excited. I was texting everyone: ‘Peace has begun.’ And then I was texting everyone, ‘I don’t have to move to Vancouver now!’”

Abdul extrapolated on what she liked about Obama:

“[He is] so calm, and so serene, and he is so confident and sure of himself. There’s a calming effect that just feels so good. I feel like it’s a universal shift towards kindness, towards patience, towards peace. That’s the only way I can explain it.”

In light of the tragedy that befell Jennifer Hudson and her family, everyone associated with American Idol are reaching out to the former finalist.

“This is a horrific tragedy and my thoughts and prayers go out to Jennifer and her entire family,” Paula Abdul said. “The time I had to get to know Jennifer and forge a wonderful friendship with her while she was on Idol was very special to me, and I personally can’t imagine a greater loss for any family.”

Simon Cowell echoed those sentiments: :

“I was horrified when I heard the news. This is an appalling tragedy. My thoughts right now are with Jennifer, and her family.”

Paula Abdul and Kara Dioguardi are former roommates.

We wonder how the new judge and popular songwriter would react, though, if she heard Abdul essentially taking credit for her career.

Here's what Paula said to OK! about the new addition to American Idol:

"Kara and I are good friends.... I started the whole evolution of what her career's become, because I found her on the streets of New York.  She was an aspiring song writer, and I said, 'are you good?', and she said, 'yeah' and I heard her demos and I convinced her to quit her job and move to LA in my house."

Here's your first look at the new quartet of American Idol judges together.

Kara Dioguardi joined Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson at auditions in Manhattan yesterday for season eight. It begins in January.

Paula Abdul has known new American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi since 1999.

Now, the somewhat insane singer tells Perez Hilton that she can't wait to work alongside Kara, despite rumors claiming she's concerned over the addition of a fourth panelist.

"I've been talking about her for years," Abdul said. "I hope the audience gets excited and accepts it. Sometimes its been hard when we've had four judges in the past. They always wanted four judges since the beginning. It'll be good to have two girls, and two guys. Kara's like a sister to me."

Are you excited for Kara DioGuardi on American Idol?

Paula Abdul is difficult to read.

On one hand, she sounds quite laid back about the recent American Idol blunder, during which she judged a Jason Castro performance that hadn't happened yet.

“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,” she said. “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.”

On the other hand, well, let's head what Abdul had to say about living in pain.

“Pain is very daunting — it creates isolation,” said said. “For me, the smile on my face oftentimes is not met with how I feel inside."

What's wrong, Paula?

After a rushed night of American Idol - during which the contestant each sang two Neil Diamond songs - the performance that stood out the most was that of Paula Abdul.

In mangling her critique of Jason Castro, and actually focusing on a rendition that hadn't taken place on the show yet, Abdul set a new, low standard, even for herself. (Watch the debacle now).

Anyway, Entertainment Weekly was on the scene last night. On reporter recounted the situation from her eat in the audience:

Ryan invited all the Idol contestants on stage and then had the judges run through their thoughts on the first half of the show. (Stage manager Debbie Williams had to step on stage herself to motion the Idols to come out to the stage, as if, perhaps, this half-way check-in wasn't entirely planned.)... then, with executive producer Nigel Lythgoe and Debbie watching from the wings, it was Paula's turn.

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We mock Paula Abdul a lot on this site because, well, have you ever heard her American Idol critiques/rants?

But we have nothing but praise for the occasionally wacky judge for her - and many others' - actions as part of the Idol Gives Back special.

Here's a shot of Abdul hugging a child from tomorrow night's broadcast. Please remember to tune in, call in and help out with a donation:

It's here, folks!

As she grades potential American Idol champions, such as Jason Castro, Paula Abdul is also releasing a music video for her latest song, "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow."

Take a look: