Paula Abdul Case
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Name: Paula Abdul
Date of Birth: June 19, 1962
Date of Evaluation: November 13, 2010
Background Information: In the wake of Madonnas success, many dance-pop divas filled the charts, but out of them all, Paula Abdul was the only one who sustained a career. The former L.A. Lakers cheerleader and choreographer began to make inroads in pop music when she was hired as an assistant dance director on the Jacksons Victory tour, which led to a job choreographing Janet Jacksons videos for Control. Abduls work on Jacksons videos helped make the album a hit, making her a sought-after choreographer. After working on The Tracy Ullman Show and videos for Duran Duran, Abdul began a recording career, releasing her debut album in 1988. The first two singles drawn from the record were moderate hits, but the release of the song “Straight Up” at the end of the year made her a superstar. Staying at the top of the charts for three weeks, “Straight Up” began a string of six number one singles.
She started choreographing the live to tour for The Jacksons, and got her big break as the choreographer for the 1980s videos of singer Janet Jackson. The debut album of 1988 album, spawned five American Top Five singles (out of just ten songs): “Forever Your Girl,” “Opposites Attract,” “Straight Up,” “Cold Hearted,” and “The Way That You Love Me.” A remix album, Shut Up and Dance, was also released. The video for “Opposites Attract” featured an animated cat named MC Skat Kat. In a sign of Paulas enormous popularity, even MC Skat Kat went on to record his own solo album later that year, though she did not appear on it. Her follow-up album, Spellbound, is often overlooked in musical history. Abdul made such an impact in late-1980s music that when her second album was released in the early 1990s, everyone assumed it would be less successful because of how good the first one was. Instead, it unleashed the American Top Ten ten hits and probably one of her best albums. The single “Rush, Rush” surprised many fans and critics at the time of its release, not only for its lush, stripped-down production values and engaging lyrics. Prior to the release of “Rush, Rush,” many critics had labeled Paula Abdul as a dance artist with limited vocal range who relied solely on choreography and visually appealing music clips. The album Spellbound, though it retained much of the dance-oriented formula heard on her debut album, included songs from “Rush, Rush” to “Alright Tonight” that showcased her growing versatility as an artist and vocalist. Even more interesting is the funk-laden track “U,” which was penned by Prince.
With the popularity from her hit songs, a lot of attention on Paula, her life, and the way she looked also played a big affect. A year after her hit debut album, she started to heara lot from people and the media about how much weight she had gained. before she knew it, tabloids were talking about it and talk shows were commenting on it as well. As Abduls image shifted slowly from “beautiful” to “sexy,” gossip began to circulate about her weight. At only 5 ft 2 in, Abdul did not have the height commonly associated with dancers and choreographers. In her music videos, camera angles were used to pinch the screen image, and tabloids claimed this was because of Abduls weight. Then, in an appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards, Abdul did a live performance of “Vibeology” wearing a small swimsuit outfit that revealed she had, indeed, put on weight. This seemed to have a dramatic impact on her popularity. Abdul took a break from the business and resurfaced in 1993 with an exercise video. In 1995 Abdul participated in an ABC television interview with Diane Sawyer in which she discussed her weight problem and her personal battles with bulimia.
In 1995 Abdul released her fourth album, Head Over Heels. With modest radio hits with the singles “My Love Is for Real,” “Crazy Cool,” and “Aint Never Gunna Give You Up,” she showed that she was still able to create popular music while moving with the times. The first single off the album, “My Love Is for Real,” is unique among her catalogue of songs. Its fusion of R&B and traditional Middle Eastern instruments with its accompanying Lawrence of Arabia-inspired music video had all the trappings of a marketable hit single. However, the single stalled in the American Top 30. In the follow-up to the single “My Love Is for Real,” Abduls image became much more sexual, and she was seen scantily clad in her music video “Crazy Cool,” riding a mechanical bull and pouring beer over her t-shirt and breasts. The album did not sell even remotely as well as previous efforts, and it seemed due in great part to her new image. Furthermore, many fans believe the four-year hiatus between the release of the third album and and the second album may have put a chill on her core record-buying public, affecting the overall success of her third album.
In 2002, Abdul was offered the job as one of the three primary judges for the TV competition American Idol. Here, Abduls job was to judge the talent of a group of young amateur singers and eventually whittle the group down to just one performer called the “American Idol.” Abdul, who had seemingly emerged from obscurity, won praise as a sympathetic and compassionate judge (especially as paired with Simon Cowell, who was often cruelly blunt in his appraisals of the contestants performances). Abdul began to resurface at awards shows and was even given the job of co-anchor on the television magazine program Entertainment Tonight. Dancing with the Stars has put Paula Abdul back on the map as a big time celebrity as well in the recent years.
In 2005, Abdul faced controversy when she was involved in a hit-and-run accident. According to reports, the star clipped another car but never stopped to assess the damage. She received a fine, and was sentenced to a two-year probation. That same year, reports surfaced that Abdul had engaged in a romantic relationship with a American Idol contestant Corey Clark while he was on the show. Abdul denied those allegations, along with accusations that the pop star was abusing drugs and alcohol.
Clinical Diagnosis:
Axis 1: Eating disorder called Bulimia. Bulimia is an illness in which a person binges on food or has regular episodes of significant overeating and feels a loss of control. The affected person then uses various methods such as: vomiting or laxative abuse to prevent weight gain