Paula Abdul is back and in good shape: ‘this is the best time of my life’
Feb 23rd, 2014
by Amy Harris, The Daily Telegraph
SHE’S the diminutive dancing queen who has dated some of the most eligible men, ruled the choreography world and scaled the pop charts.
But Paula Abdul admits that when she pictured this point in her life as a teenager she had a vastly different image in mind.
“Honestly I thought by now I would have three kids who had graduated college for sure; maybe even be a grandma,” laughs Abdul, who at 51 is single following two marriages, her first to Emilio Estevez in 1992.
Following that she briefly wed fashion designer Brad Beckerman and also dated a string of famous men, including John Stamos, pro golfer Hank Kuehne and Arsenio Hall, who she met while choreographing the African dance scene in the hit film Coming To America.
“There’s such a big misperception when you’re a successful woman and you’re famous,” she said. “This thing of people thinking; ‘Well she’s not going to want to date me; she’d be far too busy’. It’s kind of like a nail in your coffin in a way.
“There’s this assumption when you’re famous, but I always tell people: ‘Never assume anything. You don’t know until you are bold enough and willing to connect with someone’. And I think that a lot of successful women will agree that it is hard meeting people and others say: ‘Yeah right’. But it is. It’s hard meeting people but the thing I learn as I get older and as I really get to know myself, I realise that this is the best time in my life.
“I’m in a really good place.”
Not surprisingly Abdul, who has returned to Sydney for three months to headline Channel 10’s reboot of So You Think You Can Dance, is keen to cast an eye over the best Sydney has to offer. The Opposites Attract-singer had previously spent just under a month in town to film the show’s pre-recorded segments before returning last week for the live performances beginning tonight.
“The last time I was here filming for 18 or 19 days it rained the whole time so I didn’t see any ‘fellas’ as you call them,” she said.
“So now I’m here for three months, so I’m determined to get out and meet people.”
Abdul also weighed in on another rumoured beau and her former American Idol panel judge Simon Cowell, who made headlines last week when he welcomed his first child.
Abdul said she hopes fatherhood helps Cowell discover his “selfless” side.
“Hopefully he will see what it’s like to see what its like to be a little selfless,” she said.