Paula Abdul Settles Sexual Assault Lawsuit With Former ‘American Idol’ Producer

Paula Abdul and former American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe have reached a private settlement a year after she first sued him on sexual assault allegations, according to court documents obtained by Rolling Stone.

Financial details of the settlement weren’t disclosed in the court documents. In a statement to Rolling Stone, Abdul said she was “grateful that this chapter has successfully come to a close and is now something I can now put behind me.”  

“This has been a long and hard-fought personal battle,” Abdul said. “I hope my experience can 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.”

As Lythgoe said in a statement: “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. “That is why, like Paula, I am glad to be able to put this behind me. I know the truth and that gives me great comfort.”

Abdul sued Lythgoe at the end of 2023, alleging that Lythgoe assaulted her during the shooting of one of American Idol’s initial seasons back in the early 2000s, then again in 2014 when she was a judge on So You Think You Can Dance. Abdul also sued the American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance production companies, but settled with them back in April. Abdul alleged that Lythgoe assaulted her in a hotel elevator during the first incident, claiming that “Lythgoe shoved Abdul against the wall, then grabbed her genitals and breasts, and began shoving his tongue down her throat.”

The second assault, she alleged, occurred at his home. She claimed that she attended believing the dinner to be a “professional invitation.” “Lythgoe forced himself on top of Abdul while she was seated on his couch and attempted to kiss her while proclaiming that the two would make an excellent ‘power couple,” the suit alleged.

Lythgoe vehemently denied the allegations, calling them “a smear campaign.”

“To say that I am shocked and saddened by the allegations made against me by Paula Abdul is a wild understatement,” he said in the statement at the time. “For more than two decades, Paula and I have interacted as dear — and entirely platonic — friends and colleagues. Yesterday, however, out of the blue, I learned of these claims in the press and I want to be clear: Not only are they false, they are deeply offensive to me and to everything I stand for.”

Since Abdul first sued Lythgoe, four more women came forward anonymously as Jane Does with sexual abuse allegations as well. Two women who were on the tv show All American Girl sued in January, a third sued in February on allegations that Lythgoe sexually assaulted her in a car in 2016, while a fourth alleged in March that he sexually assaulted her at his home in 2018.

Lythgoe was dismissed from suit brought by the All American Girl contestants back in July. “Today was a good day,” he said in a statement at the time. “We’ve always said that these claims were meritless and now the court has agreed. I hope and expect that this will be the first of many similar wins as I continue to fight to clear my name.”