The gloves have come off for Paula Abdul.
As you recognize, the 61-year-old singer filed a bombshell lawsuit in opposition to the TV producer Nigel Lythgoe in December, claiming he had sexually assaulted her twice. The first alleged assault occurred throughout “one of Idol‘s initial seasons,” and the second occurred sooner or later throughout her two seasons as a So You Think You Can Dance choose. Nigel has gone on to disclaim the accusations. (FYI, he has been hit with three different sexual assault lawsuits since then) He even filed a authorized response to her lawsuit this week, together with emails and posts he believes show they’d nothing however a pleasant relationship between them.
Related: Nigel Lythgoe Said He ‘Wanted To Be The Next Person To Abuse’ Paula Abdul Years Ago
In the authorized paperwork obtained by TMZ, Nigel bashed Paula as a “well-documented fabulist, with a long history of telling wild stories that are untethered from reality and are primarily designed to attract attention and make Abdul appear to be the victim of dreadful misfortune.” Yeesh. The response featured a number of non-public emails, messages, and posts the pop star allegedly despatched him that featured “adoring” language. For occasion, one message despatched on September 12, 2014 learn:
“Hi sweetheart — thank you for this lovely ‘gift.’ Please forgive me for not calling yesterday. Forever grateful to have you in my life! Love, love LOVE YOU! XO P.”
Another despatched on June 20, 2014, stated:
“Thank you for the beautiful flowers — they were exquisite! But, I have to say the kicker was the birthday card last night. I am still howling! I truly appreciate our friendship and am looking forward to launching our project.”
His response cites different examples of Paula publicly talking kindly about him, between 2009 and 2015. She tweeted his @dizzyfeet deal with one Thanksgiving, “I’m grateful that I met you too, Nigel!” With all of this in thoughts, Nigel feels these messages “show how Abdul really felt about Lythgoe during and after the time she now alleges abuse occurred.” He requested the courtroom to dismiss the lawsuit and to have Paula cowl his lawyer charges.
But now, Paula is firing again at Nigel! Her lawyer Melissa Eubanks slammed the dance competitors choose for victim-shaming his former co-worker whereas failing to acknowledge the ability he had over her profession:
“He held the cards to her career in his hand and he knew it.”
As for the emails? The lawyer defined that the messages in his authorized response have been merely Paula placating his ego with “positive messaging and seeming adoration … defenses that many women like Ms. Abdul had to adopt to deal with men who abuse their power.” And her authorized workforce pulled out some receipts of their very own, too! Paula claims to have a number of textual content messages displaying blatant sexual harassment from Nigel. She alleges the producer texted her on March 8, 2014, writing:
“When you get back to LA will you please make love to me! Slowly and lovingly!”
When Paula didn’t reply on the time, Nigel added:
“I’ll take that as a YES then!”
On April 10, 2014, Paula messaged him about SYTYCD auditions in Las Vegas — and he had a completely inappropriate response! He replied:
“I’ll come if you promise a big wet kiss! With tongues! Is a small grope of the ass asking too much?”
It wasn’t till a number of months later, in July 2014, Paula claims Nigel admitted he was out of line when he texted her. But he tried to brush off the state of affairs, saying:
“You love me like a relation I love you like a girlfriend. I could easily be your f**king cousin? Ha Ha.”
At this time, Nigel has not addressed the newest accusations from Paula. But this authorized battle between them is definitely getting heated. Reactions? Let us know within the feedback beneath.
[Image via Jennifer Hudson Show/YouTube, MEGA/WENN]
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