Paula Abdul

American singer with Syrian-Brazilian-French-Canadian ancestry. She grew up in North Hollywood, was in community theater by seven and a student of jazz and tap dance by ten. With a scholarship at Bell Lewitzky Company, she was a Cal State Northridge major in TV and radio study and a member of the Los Angeles basketball dance troupe, the Laker girls. In her dance career she choreographed a Jacksons/Mick Jagger video.

She signed with Virgin America on 13 August 1988 and did a debut release "Knocked Out" in 1989, a commercial pop song and dance album that made U.S. No.41. By 1990, she was a top artist with star status and world concerts.

Bulimic for 15 years, from age 16, she revealed on TV in 1995 that she had binge-purged, resorting to vomiting and liposuction to keep slender until rehab clinic in July 1994.

In January 1992 she became engaged to actor Emilio Estevez., They married on 29 April 1992 and were together for two years. She married sports fashion entrepreneur Brad Beckerman on 25 October 1996, Beverly Hills.

On 24 March 2005 in Los Angeles, the singer and judge on “American Idol” was fined and placed on probation after being found guilty of a hit-and-run driving incident. The accident occurred in December 2004 when she clipped another car on the San Fernando Valley Freeway in California. One reporter joked that it was her first hit in years. In May 2009 she admitted that she had been addicted to prescription pain killers for the last several years. She revealed that she was in constant pain from debilitating injuries heaped on her body through cheerleading, dancing, a 1992 car accident, and a 1993 plane crash. She went on to say that her time in a detox program during November-December 2008 had allowed her to win her battle. On 4 August 2009 Abdul announced her decision to quit her role on the popular television show "American Idol.