Tom Bergeron: Paula Abdul wants to go 'Dancing with the Stars'

Paula Abdul is apparently serious in wanting to prove she can still dance like there's no tomorrow.


Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron appeared as a guest on American Idol host Ryan Seacrest's Wednesday morning KIIS-FM radio show and said he spoke with Abdul Tuesday night in the hallway at CBS' Television City, where both Idol and Dancing tape.

"This very attractive young woman came up to me and said she'd really like to be part of Season 7," said Bergeron. 

"[Abdul] said, 'I have no ballroom training -- obviously, I've been a choreographer -- but I have no ballroom training and I'd love to be part of [Dancing with the Stars].'  And I said, 'What about Fox? Won't they be...' and she said, 'No, no. I can do this.  I can do this.' I said, 'Paula, if you believe that, then I've got your back!'"

Seacrest asked Bergeron if he thought Abdul was being serious, and he answered in the affirmative.


"She was serious, and we had one of our top Disney/ABC executives in the ballroom [Tuesday] night," continued Bergeron.  "I went up to her and said, 'Paula Abdul wants to do Season 7,' and [the executive] said, 'That's a great idea!'"

Seacrest's KIIS-FM co-host Ellen K. then openly questioned how Abdul could do both Idol and Dancing with the Stars since both film at the same time.

"Not in the fall.  Not in the fall," correctly answered Bergeron.  "It's in the spring we kind of butt heads."

Seacrest sounded excited at the possibility and also quickly worked out the contractual logistics in his head.

"I love her admission and that would be fantastic to watch.  I love Paula and we would cheer her on," he gushed.  "I think the reason that she probably could do it is because she'd be a contestant on [Dancing with the Stars] -- and she probably has a deal [with Idol] where she can't be a host or a judge on another show."


Ellen K. raised another good point about it interfering with eighth-season Idol auditions -- but Bergeron had an answer, citing Dancing with the Stars fifth-season celebrity participant Cameron Mathison, who constantly flew cross country for tapings of Dancing with the Stars and All My Children.

"We have had people with very busy schedules manage to work in the training," he added.

In January, Dancing with the Stars professional Louis van Amstel said he had recently spoken to Abdul and she expressed interest in the ABC show.

"I thought she meant to sing," he told TV Guide at the time.  "But she said, 'No. I want to dance.'"

While Abdul lacks experience in the ballroom, her work as a choreographer is well documented.


Before starting her career as a pop star in the 1980s Abdul worked as a Los Angeles Lakers' Laker Girl and eventually became the group's choreographer. 

She then went on to choreograph music videos for numerous artists, from Duran Duran and Dolly Parton to Janet Jackson and INXS.    Her music video for "Opposites Attract" won Abdul a 1991 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video.






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio