Paula Abdul Blasts Nigel Lythgoe For 'Victim Shaming' Her By Sharing Private Emails

Paula Abdul has spoken out about Nigel Lythgoe's response to her sexual assault lawsuit, claiming that the "So You Think You Can Dance" judge was "victim shaming."

In her response, Abdul, through her lawyers, blasted Lythgoe for "cherry-picking" from years of messages to try and discredit her allegations.

In Lythgoe's recent filing, he used private emails as alleged proof that he never sexually assaulted the Grammy Award-winning singer.

Iconic singer Abdul broke her silence less than 24 hours after the producer of "American Idol," Lythgoe,  branded her sexual assault allegations as false and called her a "pathological liar."

On March 5, Lythgoe released a scathing response to Abdul's claims, along with private emails as proof of his innocence.

In her reply to the former "SYTYCD" judge, Abdul said, via her lawyer: "Mr. Lythgoe's answer to Ms. Abdul's complaint is classic victim shaming. Mr. Lythgoe fails to appreciate that he held a position of power over Ms. Abdul. He was a producer on 'American Idol' and 'SYTYCD' and she was the talent. He held the cards to her career in his hand and he knew it."

It continued, "It thus is no surprise that Ms. Abdul placated to his ego with positive messaging and seeming adoration. These are the defenses that many women like Ms. Abdul had to adopt to deal with men who abuse their power."

"While Mr. Lythgoe's answer cherry-picks from years of messages with Ms. Abdul to try to discredit her claims, what his selections fail to show are the numerous instances of overt sexual harassment he forced Ms. Abdul to tolerate," the lawyer added, per Radar Online.

According to legal documents obtained by The Blast, the "SYTYCD" producer slammed Abdul as a "pathological liar" and claimed she has a history of fabricating stories.

Lythgoe started by saying "Abdul is just not credible." The 74-year-old continued, "She is a pathological liar and attention seeker,  with no apparent concern about consistently making contradictory representations. She invents stories and then she doubles down, always working to make herself appear the victim."

He added, "Consistent with her past pattern of telling lies about incidents that allegedly happened to her, Abdul's recent allegations against Lythgoe are pure fiction. There is only one victim here and that is Lythgoe, whose life and career have been decimated by Abdul's lies."

Lythgoe further alleged that the singer has "a long history of telling wild stories that are untethered from reality and are primarily designed to attract attention."

To strengthen his case, Lythgoe provided private emails he shared with Abdul after the alleged incident, emphasizing that she addressed him with "adoring" words at the time.

One of the emails, sent on September 12, 2014, read: "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."

A second read, "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."

Lythgoe's team added in the filing: "Lythgoe has been Abdul's champion, support system, colleague, and professional collaborator, whose guidance and attention she sought out and for whom she expressed love and adoration time after time publicly and in private during the same period of time that Abdul now alleges she was 'abused' by Lythgoe."

In late December 2023, we broke the news of Abdul's shocking sexual assault lawsuit against her former boss, Lythgoe.

According to Abdul's testimony in the court filings, Lythgoe "verbally insulted and belittled" her several times before "sexually assaulting" her during one of the earlier seasons of "American Idol."

The legal document stated: "One evening, following the day's auditions, Lythgoe and Abdul entered the elevator of the hotel where they were staying. Upon entering the elevator, Lythgoe shoved Abdul against the wall, then grabbed her genitals and breasts, and began shoving his tongue down her throat."

It continued, "Abdul attempted to push Lythgoe away from her. When the doors to the elevator for her floor opened, Abdul ran out of the elevator and to her hotel room. Abdul quickly called one of her representatives in tears to inform them of the assault."

Shortly after Abdul's allegations made headlines, Lythgoe broke his silence, claiming they were "false" and "offensive."