Paula Abdul: 'American Idol Judging Will Proceed After Contestant's Death' 12/8/08

Paula Abdul insists fellow American Idol judge Simon Cowell will continue to scathingly critique performers on the show despite the alleged suicide of a former contestant.

Former Idol contestant Paula Goodspeed - who had been allegedly stalking Abdul - took a suspected drug overdose in her car outside the Sherman Oaks, California pad on 11 November (08).

Goodspeed's brother, Charles McIntyre, disputed tentative police reports that she committed suicide in her car and has blamed the Idol judge for crushing her dreams of stardom. Goodspeed auditioned for season five of the hit U.S. reality show in 2006 but did not make it past the initial stage.

Abdul appeared on U.S. chat show Good Morning America on Monday (08Dec08) to talk about the incident. She says, "It was devastating and tragic, and there aren't enough feelings that I can articulate without getting into a whole plethora of things.

But I've got to tell you - luckily for me, I was at Hollywood Week for American Idol when it happened. "I can't even imagine if I was right there in my home. It was a very, very tough three weeks for me and my family and for everyone involved."

But despite the lingering pain of the tragedy, Abdul insists honest criticism of the show's contestants will continue - particularly from the mouth of music mogul, Cowell.

She adds, "I don't think Simon Cowell will rethink anything. He's a man that marches to the beat of his own drum. It's the typical brotherly things that we have - he would... just egg it on and egg it on. "But what people don't realise is that this was a serious, serious situation."