Paula Abdul is out.

After eight seasons, she confirmed late Tuesday that she is leaving the hit Fox show American Idol.

“With sadness in my heart, I’ve decided not to return to Idol,” Abdul, 47, Twittered. “I’ll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all being a part of a show that I helped from day one become an international phenomenon.”

“What I want to say most, is how much I appreciate the undying support and enormous love that you have showered upon me,” she added. “I do, without any doubt, have the BEST fans in the entire world and I love you all.”

Her announcement comes weeks after her manager hinted the singer-dancer was leaving the show because there was no contract on the table.

In a statement Tuesday, a Fox TV rep said: “Paula Abdul has been an important part of the American Idol family over the last eight seasons and we are saddened that she has decided not to return to the show. While Paula will not be continuing with us, she’s a tremendous talent and we wish her the best.”

Added host Ryan Seacrest (via Twitter): “I am shocked and saddened about Paula.” He said he “cant’ imagine” a judge’s panel without her.

With Abdul’s exit, the number of judges returns to three, with Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi, who announced Monday she will be returning.

Taping begins Thursday.

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Despite word that Paula Abdul likely won’t appear on American Idol next season, fellow judge Simon Cowell isn’t worried.

“She’ll be fine. She’ll be on the show,” he tells Extra. “I don’t get a lot of say. I’ve just made it clear that I want Paula on the show.”

Added host Ryan Seacrest (who just inked a $45 million, three-year contract): “I think as far as I know, you’ll see everybody back. I hope so.”

David Sonenberg, Abdul’s manager, raised concern over the weekend, telling the Los Angeles Times that the singer-dancer hasn’t been offered a contract yet.

“She’s not a happy camper as a result of what’s going on. She’s hurt,” he told the paper.

Meanwhile, a grass-roots “Keep Paula” campaign has launched on Twitter to keep Abdul on the show.

Matt Giraud, Anoop Desai and Danny Gokey — who are now on the Idol live tour – are among the alums who’ve taken time out to join the campaign.

Over the weekend, Abdul took to her Twitter page to thank 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”

Source, Bauer-Griffin

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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