Ohhh, Paula. The always-entertaining Paula Abdul paid a visit to Access Hollywood Live on Wednesday and, as usual, she didn’t disappoint!
The former “American Idol” judge had Billy Bush and Kit Hoover in stitches as she explained her disturbing sleep habits, revealed the inspiration behind her famous “seal clap,” took a few jabs at her old pal Simon Cowell and dished on the “naughty voicemails” she leaves for the cantankerous reality judge.
“Oh please – [I’ll say] ‘Hi jerk, how are you?’” Paula joked, when asked if she leaves sexy voicemails for Simon. “Yes, that arouses him.”
Whispers of a possible Simon/Paula reunion are swirling as Simon is currently assembling his judges panel for his new reality talent show, “The X Factor,” but Paula’s not quite sure she wants to rekindle their working relationship just yet.
“If he said, ‘Come do ‘The X Factor,’ would you do it?” Billy asked.
“[Simon] is an acquired taste, Billy. I’d have to really be hungry,” Paula answered. “I didn’t love having my first canker sore, I didn’t love watching other people get nail fungus, I didn’t love going to the dentist and one time and them forgetting to numb me.
“But, yeah, of course, I love [Simon],” she joked.
As tensions always appeared to run high between Paula and her faux-nemesis, Simon, during their many years judging “American Idol” together, Billy and Kit wanted to know if any of the tangible tension ever culminated in a romantic moment between the two.
“[Simon] did try to swap spit once,” Paula jokingly revealed to Billy and Kit. “He’s done it a few times.”
Given her and Simon’s history, Paula had one word of advice for the Brit’s fiancée, makeup artist Mezhgan Hussainy — therapy!
“I’m sure she’s going to the therapist,” Paula smiled. “There’s seven days in a week, so, [she’s probably going] 14 times a week.”
The Simon bashing continued as Billy attempted to uncover Paula’s love life secrets and what she finds most attractive in the opposite sex.
“What turns me on? Tight tees, yes. Hair that does this kind of thing [using her hands to make square shape on top of her head],” Paula told Billy and Kit. “Pants that are up so high it’s like, ‘What’s that on your neck? Oh it’s a belt?!?’ I got it.”
The laughs continued as the 48-year-old dancer/singer/producer braved Access Hollywood Live’s “Three things you don’t know about…” questionnaire!
“I sleep standing up sometimes,” Paula revealed. “I’ve been sleeping against a wall and I never fully close my eyes so it freaks people out. My eyes are always kind of open.”
“Like front or side or back?” Kit asked. “Like are you forward against the wall?”
“All sorts of ways,” Paula answered. “I fell asleep at an awards show when I got an award and my manager at the time let me just be asleep so that I could be on the jumbotron. But I only require a few hours of sleep.
“Lately it’s been two or three,” she added.
Another fact we didn’t know about Paula? She loves the smell of… feet. Well, canine feet.
“I love the smell of dogs when they wake up in the morning because they smell like popcorn — their paws smell like popcorn,” Paula said. “I don’t know [why] but they do. Corn chips and popcorn.”
Kit begged Paula to treat the crew to one of her signature “claps” from her days behind the “Idol” judges’ table and Paula was more than happy to oblige her fans with one of her “seal moves.”
“You know what happens? If I wear ring – and now I don’t wear two rings because I’ll bang them up — so I guess that I got in the habit of [clapping like] that,” she told Kit. “I don’t like that I do that. It’s embarrassing sometimes.
“If I ever did work with Simon again, my clap would be THIS now,” Paula laughed, while vigorously punching her fist into her other hand.
For now, Paula is content is to continue working on her new show, “Live to Dance,” and hopes to continue the show for a second season.
“I want the show to live!” Paula told Billy and Kit. “I want it to live.”
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