WARNING: This article contains descriptions of sexual assault.
Paula Abdul has accused former American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe of sexually assaulting her in the early 2000s when she was a judge on the reality competition show, according to a new lawsuit.
The lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles also accuses Lythgoe of sexually assaulting Abdul after she left American Idol and became a judge on Lythgoe’s other competition show So You Think You Can Dance.
The Associated Press generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, as Abdul has done.
Lythgoe said in a statement that he was “shocked and saddened” to hear
