Simon Cowell has revealed that he never wanted to fire Paula Abdul from the X Factor USA, but was told to by FOX network bosses, who told him at “the beginning of the year” that changes to the show needed to be made.
Speaking for the first time since it was announced that Paula, Nicole Scherzinger and Steve Jones were not going to return for the second season of the show, the media mogul told Extra:
“It was fairly straight what they wanted...We were told it had to happen straight away.”
Dismissing rumours that Paula was angry at Simon for her exit from the show, the media mogul, who participated in many PDA's with the former popstar during the show revealed that she took the news of her sacking graciously, saying:
“She was fine. I called her that night. She was very gracious and I said that to her. She understands it’s business. It’s never personal.
“I would have liked to have kept her.”
Talking about Nicole's reaction to being axed from the show, Simon added: "I don’t think she’s mad. I think she’s disappointed."
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