Embattled producer Nigel Lythgoe has released alleged emails and social media posts from Paula Abdul claiming that they had a “very friendly and loving relationship” for years before she alleged that he sexually assaulted her, according to TMZ.
The producer, 74, filed legal documents on Tuesday, three months after Abdul, 61, alleged that Lythgoe sexually assaulted her twice dating back to their time together working on “American Idol” and then again on Lythgoe’s Fox series “So You Think You Can Dance.”
Following Abdul’s allegations, Lythgoe left “So You Think You Can Dance,” on which he was a judge, and was eventually replaced by JoJo Siwa, who was a judge on the show in 2022.
Nigel Lythgoe (from left), Paula Abdul and Jason Derulo on Season 12 of “So You Think You Can Dance.” FOX Image Collection via Getty ImagesLythgoe called Abdul a “well-documented fabulist, with a long history of telling wild stories that are untethered from reality and are primarily designed to attract attention and make Abdul appear to be the victim of dreadful misfortune,” according to TMZ.
He included several private emails he says Abdul sent him, including one dated Sept. 12, 2014, in which she writes, “Hi sweetheart — thank you for this lovely ‘gift.’ Please forgive me for not calling yesterday. Forever grateful to have you in my life! Lovek love LOVE YOU! XO P.”
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According to TMZ, another email Abdul allegedly sent to Lythgoe in June 2014 contained the message: “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 and Abdul attend an event in December 2013 in Los Angeles. Jason KempinLythgoe’s legal filings also include many of Abdul’s tweets directed at his @dizzyfeet handle, starting in 2009 and continuing through 2015, when they were both on “So You Think You Can Dance.”
Many of the tweets, according to TMZ, include photos of Abdul and Lythgoe together. In a Thanksgiving tweet, she wrote to him: “I’m grateful that I met you too, Nigel. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving! xoxoP.”
Abdul filed her lawsuit against Lythgoe and FremantleMedia North America in December. She claimed he assaulted her first at “one of Idol’s initial seasons” in the early 2000s and the second time at an unspecified point when Abdul was a judge for two seasons on “So You Think You Can Dance” starting in 2015.
Lythgoe and Abdul at the Fox and FX Post-Emmys Party in Los Angeles in September 2013. Getty ImagesIn the incident that allegedly happened during “American Idol,” Abdul said that Lythgoe shoved her against the wall of a hotel elevator, grabbed her genitals and breasts, and shoved his tongue down her throat. She said she tried to push him away and she ran to her hotel room once the elevator doors opened.
Lythgoe immediately denied the allegations and said he would “fight this appalling smear with everything I have.”
Abdul and Lythgoe at Goldie Hawn’s annual Goldie’s Love for Kids event in Beverly Hills in May 2016. WireImage“To say that I am shocked and saddened by the allegations made against me by Paula Abdul is a wild understatement,” Lythgoe said in a 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.”
The Post has reached out to reps for Lythgoe and Abdul for comment.
