'American Idol' judge Paula Abdul denies report of show departure
By Christopher Rocchio, 11/17/2008
Paula Abdul has denied yet another rumor that she's leaving American Idol.
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A source allegedly close to the Idol judge toldOK! Weekly in a Friday report that Abdul was developing new television projects and was hoping to "transition" off the Fox mega-hit reality series.
"She knows that every season could be her last," an "Abdul insider" told OK!. "Now she's got a new secret venture that she's really excited about."
While the publicity firm that represents Idol's producers was unable to confirm or deny the rumor and Fox offered no comment, it was eventually denied by Jeff Ballard, Abdul's personal publicist.
"It's absolutely untrue," Ballard toldThe Los Angeles Times late Friday evening.
Friday's OK! report didn't represent the first time it's been reported Abdul was leaving Idol.
In 2006, Us Weekly reported that Idol's producers had considered approaching Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears to replace Abdul after she'd reportedly been "very difficult" to work with during the show's fifth season.
Abdul subsequently signed a new three-year contract with Idol in March 2006, however the following year, another Us report that the show planned to replace her with Courtney Love surfaced in February. Both Love's publicist and a representative for former executive producer Nigel Lythgoe subsequently denied the report.
Abdul's most recent non-Idol television venture was Bravo's Summer 2007 Hey Paula! docu-reality series, which Abdul herself later admitted was often "hard" and "disturbing" to watch.