Paula Abdul settles sexual assault lawsuit against American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe
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Paula Abdul and Nigel Lythgoe in a file photo from 2013. She has settled her lawsuit against Lythgoe, a long-time producer of American Idol.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LOS ANGELES – American singer Paula Abdul has settled a lawsuit that she filed against English television producer Nigel Lythgoe, accusing him of sexually assaulting her when they worked together on US reality shows American Idol (2002 to present) and So You Think You Can Dance (2005 to present).
A notice of settlement was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Dec 12, ending a case that had resulted in Lythgoe’s exit in 2024 as a judge on So You Think You Can Dance, a show he helped create. He had vehemently denied the accusations and was fighting the lawsuit in court.
The details of the settlement were not disclosed. In a statement, Abdul, 62, said she was “grateful that this chapter has successfully come to a close and is something I can now put behind me”.
Lythgoe, 75, who was one of the producers who made American Idol a phenomenon in the US, said in a statement that, like Abdul, he was glad to put the issue behind him.
“We live in a troubling time where a person is now automatically assumed to be guilty until proven innocent, a process that can take years,” he said.
He said in the statement that “I know the truth and that gives me great comfort”.
In Abdul’s lawsuit, which was filed in late 2023, she said that during one of the early seasons of American Idol, which premiered in 2002, Lythgoe shoved her against the wall of a hotel elevator, grabbed her genitals and breasts and began “shoving his tongue down her throat”.
After leaving American Idol, she joined Lythgoe as a judge on So You Think You Can Dance in 2015 and 2016, and her lawsuit said that he again made advances during that time.
She alleged in the suit that Lythgoe assaulted her again when she visited his home to discuss work, accusing him of groping her breasts and buttocks while trying to kiss her. The suit said she did not report the encounter out of fear of retaliation.
In court papers, lawyers for Lythgoe had called the accusations false and a “form of character assassination” on him. In the filing, they questioned her credibility and pointed to “adoring” text messages and e-mails from Abdul to Lythgoe that they argued showed her “true feelings” about the producer as a long-time friend.
Abdul sued under a California law that allows people making sexual assault accusations to file claims outside the statute of limitations for a limited period of time. The law revives claims arising from allegations dating as far back as 2009. Her lawsuit’s assault claim was later narrowed to focus only on the allegations arising from So You Think You Can Dance, which fell within that window.
In her statement, Abdul called the case a “long and hard-fought personal battle”, saying she hoped her experience could “serve to inspire other women facing similar struggles to overcome their own challenges with dignity and respect, so that they, too, can turn the page and begin a new chapter of their lives”.
She had previously dismissed production companies behind American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance as defendants in the case. A trial had been scheduled for August 2025. NYTIMES
