WWW- Hell hath no fury like an Idol spurned.
“American Idol” judge Paula Abdul coached him, dressed him, groomed him – and bedded him – bounced second-season contestant Corey Clark claims in a blockbuster interview airing tonight on ABC.
“She was like, ‘You got to have better song choices, and I want to help you do that. I want to look out after you like I’m your mom,” the 24-year-old Clark tells “Primetime Live.”
“And then it was like ‘more like your sister.’ And then she’s like, ‘well, maybe more like your special friend.'”
Clark, who made it to the hit Fox show’s second season finals in 2003 – the competition that produced Ruben Studdard as winner – was tossed from the lineup when allegations he had beat his teenage sister emerged.
And, while not denying – in its only statement yesterday – Clark’s claims of an affair with the 42-year-old pint-size Abdul, the Fox network was quick to point out his ignoble exit.
“Disqualified ‘American Idol’ contestant Corey Clark was removed from the show for failing to disclose his criminal arrest history,” a Fox spokesman said.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned network has been anticipating ABC’s investigation of the top-rated show for weeks and Abdul’s lawyer has been threatening to sue. But yesterday, at least, the tone seems to have softened.
“We will, of course, look into any evidence of improper conduct that we receive,” a Fox spokesman said. “In the meantime, we recommend that the public carefully examine Mr. Clark’s motives.”
Clark, who is said to be shopping a book, is a “liar and opportunist,” Abdul’s reps say.
Whatever the truth, ABC also plans to air a frantic answering machine message that Clark claims Abdul recently left for him at his home, on tonight’s show at 10.
“Hi, it’s Paula, call me back,” the message begins. “If the press is trying to talk to you, you say absolutely nothing. That’s all you do. These people are crazy. I don’t know what it’s regarding, but something’s going on. Okay? I hope you’re doing well.”
Clark says his relationship with Abdul began after one of her associates slipped him her phone number. At first Abdul gave him advice on performing and helped pick the songs he would sing.
Later, she sought to improve his “look,” choosing his hair style and giving him money for expensive clothes, “polishing that dust off the dirty diamond and helping me shine a little bit,” he told “Primetime.”
Clark, then 22, said their relationship was platonic at first, but then turned sexual. His parents, Jan and Duane, said Clark told them about the affair and they expressed disapproval.
Some contestants from the second season now say they remember Clark seemed smitten with Abdul, handing her a rose at one time, but others say they saw no evidence of an affair.