Shortly after Paula Abdul’s manager announced that “it does not appear” the dancer-singer will return to American Idol next season, fans took to Twitter to show their support for the embattled judge.

Using the hashtag “#keeppaula,” they have been Tweeting like crazy.

Matt Giraud, Anoop Desai and Danny Gokey — who are now on the Idol live tour – also each took time out to join the “Keep Paula” campaign.

Season 7’s Syesha Mercado Tweeted, “No Paula = No American Idol.”

Katrina Darrell, the contestant known as “Bikini Girl” who clashed with new fourth judge Kara DioGuardi, wrote: “They don’t need a 4th judge, especially an insecure know it all kara. Keep Paula add bikini girl as 4th judge if they need.”

Abdul took to her Twitter page to thanks fans for standing by her.

She wrote: “I”m actually moved 2 tears upon reading the enormous amount of tweets showing me your kindness, love & undying support. God bless all you! If it weren’t for you, this specific time and situation would feel a lot worse! xoP”

Abdul’s manager told the Los Angeles Times that the judge has yet to be offered a new contract for the upcoming ninth season. The announcement came as Idol host Ryan Seacrest inked a $45 million, three-year contract.

Said Abdul’s manager David Sonenberg: “She’s not a happy camper as a result of what’s going on. She’s hurt. She’s angry. . . . Very sadly, it does not appear that she’s going to be back on Idol.”

Source, Bauer-Griffin

As Paula Abdul’s American Idol counterparts continue to ink deals to return to the series for its upcoming ninth season, the judge’s manager says his client will ditch the FOX show unless producers change their tune.

“Very sadly, it does not appear that she’s going to be back on Idol,” Abdul’s manager, David Sonenberg, who has yet to receive a proposal for her return, told The Los Angeles Times. The new season is set to premiere in January.

“I find it under these circumstances particularly unusual; I think unnecessarily hurtful,” he added of the holdup. “I find it kind of unconscionable and certainly rude and disrespectful that [Idol production companies Fremantle and 19 Entertainment] haven’t stepped up and said what they want to do.”

According to Sonenberg, who began managing the star in June, he told the network Abdul would “love to be on the show,” but has not heard back as to any sort of proposal.

“She’s not a happy camper as a result of what’s going on. She’s hurt. She’s angry,” Sonenberg said. “I think at this point we’re going to be considering everything, including some kind of a competition show. She has tremendous ideas for a whole variety of shows.”

During an appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman last month, the Idol vet — who has judged wannabe superstars since the show’s inception in 2002 — was cryptic about a return.

“I never said [I wasn't returning]. I just said that I’m not sure,” she joked. “It’s called, um, ‘negotiating.’”

This week, Idol’s Ryan Seacrest inked a three-year, $45 million deal to continue on as host, tripling his previous salary of slightly less than $5 million per season. Judge Randy Jackson is signed onto the series through 2011, while Kara DioGuardi has also expressed interest in returning.

Simon Cowell’s future remains up in the air, however.

He has said he may leave the show when his contract is up at the end of next season. British reports claim he has asked to be paid in excess of $100 million a season.

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Paula Abdul took to the airwaves on Detroit’s WKQI’s Mojo in the Morning radio show today to refute the claims made in Ladies Home Journal that she was at one time addicted to painkillers and that she had gone to rehab for the addiction.

On the show Paula said,

“I’ve never checked into a rehab clinic. I’ve never been addicted or abused drugs, and I’ve never been addicted or abused alcohol. I’ve never even been drunk in my life.”

Paula went on to say, about the supposed rehab stint, that she had simply checked in a spa,

“It’s a spa. I was there for almost three days having fun doing spa stuff. It’s not a clinic. It’s not a detox place. It’s a luxurious spa. It’s like taking a mini vacation. I just wanted to chill out and get messages and maybe a manicure and pedicure.”

When asked if she was going to sue the magazine, Paula said that it was something her ‘handlers’ would deal with and that she would issue a formal statement to the press shortly.

Ladies Home Journal, for it’s part says, “We stand by our reporting and are happy that Paula decided to share our journey with us.”

So there you have it.

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photo: fame

In a shocking new interview, Paula Abdul reveals that her reliance on painkillers got so bad she could have died.

As a dancer, Abdul, 46, says she turned to a combination of painkillers — including regular shots of lidocaine — and Chinese medicine to get her through her grueling routines.

“I couldn’t cancel my tour. I didn’t want anyone to count me out,” she says in June’s Ladies’ Home Journal. “I tried to keep everything hush-hush.”

Adds Abdul, “I’m an old school professional. Never let them see you sweat.”

But that became increasingly difficult for Abdul, who had suffered debilitating pain caused by an unusual series of accidents (including a cheerleading mishap at 17 that injured a disc in her neck).

By 2005, she was diagnosed with “reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome,” a chronic neurological disorder that causes severe pain. It resulted in teeth-chattering and shingles-like lesions.

Abdul says she wore a patch that delivered a pain medication about 80 times more potent than morphine and took a nerve medication to relieve her symptoms.

Sometimes, she adds, she also took a muscle relaxer.

But the pain got so bad it that it often left her sleepless and caused her to “get weird,” she says. (more…)

Paula Abdul denies dissing new American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi.

The tabloid OK! claims that Abdul said the Fox show “doesn’t work” with four judges. DioGuardi later fired back, saying she was “hurt” by the criticism.

But before Wednesday’s Idol show, Abdul changed her tune, telling Entertainment Tonight that her comments were “taken completely out of context.”

“I was actually referring specifically to the use of ‘guest judges’ in seasons past, not Kara [DioGuardi] or this season,” she said. “I am thrilled to have her by my side each week on American Idol.”

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Paula Abdul was so shaken by the apparent suicide of an obsessed fan outside her Los Angeles home three weeks ago that she hasn’t slept there since.

“I’ve been staying in different homes and hotels, and I have security with me,” she tells PEOPLE.

“It was very tragic and very upsetting to hear,” Abdul says of the death of Paula Goodspeed, a fan who auditioned for American Idol’s fifth season. “She had tried to do this before, and it was just heartbreaking … It was in the middle of Hollywood week, and it happened while I was actually working at the Kodak Theatre, and it was devastating to hear.”

While producers were informed shortly after police discovered Goodspeed’s body, no one let Abdul know until after they had finished taping Idol for the day. “It wasn’t fun,” Abdul says.

The tragedy came in the middle of an extremely busy time for Abdul, who, besides working on the new Idol season, recently taped a new MTV cheerleading squad competition special, Rah!, (which airs in January) and has been preparing to launch her Forever Your Girl accessories line on HSN Monday night.

Yet work, she says, “gives me diversion. I always feel like if I can divert my brain to something else then I’ll be okay. That’s why I like to multitask.”

She is also thankful to others for their help during the ordeal. “I have my family, and I have my good friends who’ve completely opened their hearts and their doors to me, which is great.”

Abdul says she is now preparing to put her house on the market: “I am in the process of looking for another place to reside.”

Reagrding details of Goodspeed’s obsession, Abdul has been told not to talk about it, given the ongoing police investigation. “I’d love to tell you so much more,” she says, “but I’m holding my tongue.”

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VIDEO ABOVE IS PAULA GOODSPEED ON SEASON 5 OF AMERICAN IDOL.  So sad.

A car with a dead woman inside found parked outside Paula Abdul’s house in Los Angeles on Tuesday night is registered to Paula Goodspeed, a former American Idol contestant and self-described “really big fan” of Abdul.

Police have not confirmed the identity of the woman – an apparent suicide victim – but suggested she was an infatuated fan of Abdul.

The woman’s car featured a license plate “ABL LV” and had a photo of Abdul hanging from the rear view mirror, according to Fox News video taken at the scene. A DMV check of the license showed that the car was registered to Goodspeed, 30.

“This has been ruled an apparent suicide,” said LAPD officer April Harding, “and the coroner’s office is now investigating. The body was found around 6 p.m. Tuesday.”

Abdul was at the studio at the time the body was found and wasn’t aware of it until she was told by the network, her rep says.

Abdul Expresses Shock

“I am deeply shocked and saddened at what transpired yesterday,” Abdul said in a statement. “My heart and prayers go out to her family.”

Los Angeles station KTLA quoted police Capt. Jim Miller as saying the woman had an infatuation with the American Idol judge.

Goodspeed’s Idol audition was prominently featured by the show, and in her interview with host Ryan Seacrest, she clearly expressed her affection for Abdul.

“I really like Paula Abdul a lot. She’s really cool,” said Goodspeed when asked about her inspiration during the Idol audition process. “I’m a really big fan, and I made life-sized drawings of Paula. I’ve been drawing ever since I was a little kid, and my first drawing was of Paula Abdul.”

Goodspeed Panned by Judges

But after singing her rendition of Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary,” the woman was roundly panned by the show’s judges.

“It was terrible, what was that?” said Randy Jackson. In addition, Simon Cowell made disparaging remarks about her braces: “I don’t know how you can sing with all that metal in your mouth.”

Abdul, who lit up when Goodspeed said her name was Paula, said, “Speechless, don’t know what to say” after hearing the song.

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