Healthy, Wealthy N' Wise Paula Abdul

Healthy, Wealthy n’ Wise Paula Abdul “Desire, Not Timing, Makes Your Dreams Come True” By: Janet Attwood & Debra Poneman Jack Canfield, the fabulously successful co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, has said, "Almost everything we'll ever do in life that is really powerful, that really produces a result in our lives, the quantum leaps to a new level requires us to be something uncomfortable. It takes risk to achieve. It's often scary. It requires something you didn't know before or a skill you didn't have before, but in the end it's worth it." The beautiful and talented Paula Abdul, is a huge winner who has achieved huge results doing things that others are uncomfortable doing. Paula is, without a doubt, one of the world's most recognized names in the entertainment business. Her career has won awards and broken records in every area she has ventured into, including music, dance, choreography, animation, and drama. Her remarkable career shows no sign of slowing down. Most recently Paula is known to the world for her role as, 'the judge with a heart,' on TV's "American Idol." For the past seven years she has shared the panel with Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell on this mega-hit show that is routinely watched by more than 35 million people each Tuesday and Wednesday night during "Idol" season. Paula's extraordinary music career is exemplified by worldwide album sales exceeding 53 million records, including two number-one albums, six number-one singles, a Grammy Award, seven MTV awards, two Emmy Awards, two People's Choice Awards, and two Kids' Choice Awards. Paula even has her very own star on Hollywood Boulevard. She also continues to honor her roots by running dance and cheerleading camps, competitions, and scholarship programs throughout the country, and she has never forgotten her first break as a Los Angeles Laker Girl, which, of course, made her the world's most famous cheerleader. Most recently, Paula has expanded the 'Paula Abdul' brand with new ventures such as a successful jewelry line and a forthcoming fragrance line. She introduced her Paula Abdul Jewelry Collection on "QVC" last April to record- breaking sales, and is now taking this hugely popular line to the UK. In addition, there is a biography coming soon, and she has been back in the recording studio to create a much-awaited new single, her first in over a decade. On top of all of this, she contributed the preface to a very exciting new book that was just released, Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul, a collection of inspiring and heartwarming stories by 'American Idols' from every season, and their fans. Interviewing Paula for this article was transformational mentor, Debra Poneman, who is co-author of Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul, founder of Yes to Success™ seminars, and an award-winning keynote speaker, seminar leader, and record, radio, and TV personality. Be sure to get your very own copy of Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul today by going to www.HealthyWealthynWise.com/AmericanIdol DEBRA PONEMAN: I am so happy to be here. It doesn't get better than this. PAULA ABDUL: Thank you so much for having me. This is a real joy, treat, and pleasure. DEBRA PONEMAN: I just want to say that I had the pleasure of meeting Paula and working with her on Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul and, frankly, I have to say, Paula, that I completely fell in love with you, with your beautiful, sweet heart and just your charming personality. I would just love to know, as I'm sure everyone else would, the story of your entire journey. If you don't mind, can you please start out by sharing with us, what were your passions when you were a young person? When you were a child, what was it that made you happiest? PAULA ABDUL: The fondest and most clear memory I had was when I was four years old and I was watching "Singing in the Rain" on television. I was watching it with my mom and my dad and my sister, Wendy, and I fell in love with a man named Gene Kelly. I remember scooting up really close to the TV, and touching the TV whenever he appeared, and I said, "That's my dad." My father said, "No, that can be your TV dad, but I'm your dad." I remember that I had this fantasy and fixation on Gene Kelly, "Singing in the Rain," and then that just sparked my love for MGM musicals. I can honestly say that Gene Kelly was my first idol. I remember, from that moment on, I could not get enough of finding out when the next musical would be on television. I just started studying the world of dance through my eyes watching television. It wasn't until I was seven-and-a-half years old that I had my first dance class, and it was ballet. I do remember living in these condominiums in North Hollywood, California; and even though I was only five years old, I was conducting all of the kids in the condominium. I would put on little musical numbers and invite all the people in the condominium to come watch. I was all of five years old, so I was into directing and choreography before I even knew what that meant. DEBRA PONEMAN: That is so fantastic, and you know you have something in common with Sanjaya, because "Singing in the Rain" was his favorite musical as a child, too. I don't know if you know that. PAULA ABDUL: I did. I did, we both shared a moment on that. DEBRA PONEMAN: That's wonderful. You mentioned your dad, and for many of our listeners, their home environment growing up was either their biggest challenge or their biggest support. When you were growing up, did your parents encourage your dreams or did they discourage them? PAULA ABDUL: It's any interesting juxtaposition, because my parents divorced when I was at the tender age of seven, and that was a very big experience for me. The good thing was I never saw, or witnessed, my parents argue, but that also was very confusing because I didn't understand why this was happening. At a very impressionable age, I was caught in between learning that we had to conserve money, and I knew not to ask for outside activities. Dance required more money to take lessons, and so it was a very awkward time for me, and I knew that I shouldn't ask for that. I worked out a different plan. When I was carpooling to go to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the two girls I carpooled with, they had ballet class, so I was always their student who was waiting for their class to be finished, but my feet would be moving. I had a photographic memory. I'd come home, and while my mom was cooking dinner, I would be in the kitchen practicing holding onto the kitchen sink as my ballet bar. It was then that the teacher offered for me to come into class, because she saw that I was doing in the waiting room anyway, and I agreed to clean the mirrors and clean the floors for my classes. I didn't have to tell my mom or ask her for money, and it worked out really well for a while. It was a hard time, and it was my biggest challenge, but I've always been one to overcome those obstacles. DEBRA PONEMAN: Yes. We're going to talk about that a little bit later in the interview: What is your secret to overcoming obstacles? It sounds like your mom did what she could to support you with limited resources, but on the emotional level she was behind you? PAULA ABDUL: On the emotional level, she was absolutely behind me, but my mom is more the kind of woman who displays the 'tough love.' While I was growing up, my mom worked in the whole video system. My mom was the personal assistant to Billy Wilder who was a true genius, an Academy Award- winning director. My mom always saw these young women, young girls, trying to make it and how heartbreaking it was, that it was very difficult to make it, so she wasn't that encouraging, although she knew that I had talent. She basically said, "If you're going to do this, you're going to have to do it on your own. DEBRA PONEMAN: You sure did. How did you make the transition from not having the resources to support all of the lessons that so many of the kids were able to take, yet you certainly created a great career, the first step being becoming a Laker Girl. How did that transition take place from your childhood until, I guess, that would be your first professional job? PAULA ABDUL: It was my first professional job, absolutely. I was accepted into the Juilliard School on scholarship in dance with one of my best friends in school, in high school. When I went on this trip to New York to see where I could possibly live, it was really an eye-opening situation. I was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, then in a home and the condominiums. I thought the space we lived in was really big, and then I got to New York, and I thought, "Oh my God." The living situation was very, very small and very expensive, and just being in the big city scared me.

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