SANTA MONICA (California) - TERRI Seymour, the ex-girlfriend of 'American Idol' judge Simon Cowell, has won a restraining order against a woman who choked her after the show's finale.

Records show a judge granted Seymour's request for a three-year order after a hearing on Tuesday in Santa Monica.

Her attacker, Janice Thibodeaux, pleaded guilty last week to misdemeanour battery. She was sentenced to three years of probation.

She was arrested in May after police say they saw her choke Seymour. Seymour also works as a correspondent for the show 'Extra'. Thibodeaux claimed she choked Seymour as retaliation for Cowell playfully choking fellow judge Paula Abdul on the show a week earlier. -- AP