Former American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi used to be roommates with Paula Abdul back before Idol. The way Paula and Kara explain it, Idol Producers brought Kara in without knowing that the two were old friends. Kara has spoken in the past about how she suffered from a binge eating disorder around the time she was living with Paula. Paula noticed it, and just made it sound like Kara would wake up in the middle of the night and sleepwalk and eat. Maybe that’s how Paula made sense of the situation when a bunch of food went missing the next day.

Anyway Kara told a story on the George Lopez show about how she found some small brownies in Paula’s fridge, ate them and got really high. She called an ambulance later when she felt strange, never realizing that there were some drugs in the dessert. It must have been more than just pot because she had hallucinations and had to be hospitalized for a few days. It turns out that the brownies were left the freezer after someone brought them to Paula’s house during a party. The maid took them out to thaw, ate one too and had to be hospitalized:

Appearing on “Lopez Tonight” on Wednesday to push her new show, “Platinum Hit,” DioGuardi, the short-lived “Idol” judge, told the host about a certain baked good she ingested while Abdul was on vacation. Let’s just say chocolate wasn’t the featured ingredient in the treat.

“There were these, little nuggets, little, you know, take six, not a lot. Six hours later I was like, ‘heeeey, what’s going on?’” DioGuardi remembered. “I fell out of bed, on the floor, I stumbled downstairs and I was like, ‘I ate too much.’ And the ambulance comes and is like, ‘this b*tch is as high as a kite.’”

The end result? Three days in the hospital, hallucinations and IV fluids. But it could have been worse.

“The maid took them out, she was in the hospital, I had six, I almost died,” she said.

But no worries: the brownies didn’t belong to Abdul, she said; instead, a friend had left them there after a party. What were actually in those brownies, though, remains unknown.

[From Huffington Post]

That sounds awful and like one of those stories that’s only funny years later when you retell it.

Kara also told a story about how a friend introduced her to Steven Tyler and she got him the job on American Idol. It sounded realistic and not like she was bragging about it. She just said a friend of hers brought Tyler over to her house, they were jamming together and she asked Tyler if he ever considered Idol.

Kara has a new songwriting competition show on Bravo called Platinum Hit that premieres on Monday. There are reality shows centered around just about every career and industry, so why not songwriting? That’s not to say I think it will be a hit.

Here’s the video of Kara on The George Lopez Show. The pot story starts at 4:30.

Kara is shown on 4/12/11 at the Elle Women in Music event. Credit: Fame Pictures

I hate hearing stories like this, because it makes me want to give the side eye to anyone who has anything to do with my child. Former American Idol judge, record producer Kara DioGuardi, has a new memoir coming out in which she reveals that she was molested by a teen neighbor when she was just 11 and was date raped by a producer when she was in her 30s. She also tells a disturbing anecdote about a rock star who made her watch porn and had strippers over when they were supposed to be songwriting together. I want to know who that one is about.

DioGuardi, whose new show Platinum Hit premieres on Bravo on May 30, reveals that she was repeatedly molested when she was just 11 years old by a family friend’s son who was in his late teens. “On one particular day, he took me into the back shed of his house and put his hands all over my breasts and vagina,” she writes. “I remember freezing and not knowing what to do.”

By 2000, DioGuardi’s career started to take off. It was about that time she says that a “fairly known producer” date-raped her after having what she thought was a friendly dinner. “[W]ithin a few hours, he was on top of me, pumping, sweating, and speaking to me in Spanish, not a word of which I could understand,” she writes.

She repeatedly told him to stop, but didn’t try to fight him because she was too scared he’d become violent. She never told anyone about the horrific incident because she feared he would ruin her career.

A few years later, DioGuardi found herself sexually harassed by a “hugely successful artist.” She was invited to a three-day songwriting trip. But instead of working, she writes, “the trip’s activities consisted of watching Russian porn, scavenging around the kitchen for food [and] leering at two strippers…as they performed sex acts in the living room.”

DioGuardi says she continued to work with the artist because, she writes, “I wasn’t gonna let this bastard deter me from doing the job.” She eventually walked away after he chased her around the basement of his suburban home and forced her hand on his privates.

DioGuardi also opens up about her difficulties getting pregnant during her final season of American Idol. After learning on the Internet that her job was on shaky ground because Ellen DeGeneres was leaving the show, DioGuardi asked producers to let her out of her contract. “I wanted a child and there was no way I could get pregnant under the stress of eighteen-hour work days and live TV,” she writes, adding, “I had undergone three unsuccessful rounds of IVF during Season 9.”

[From E! Online]

It sounds like she’s gone though a lot, and I hope the guys who did that to her know who they did and feel guilt and shame about it for the rest of their lives. They deserve to be prosecuted, but that’s not going to happen for these incidents. She surely wan’t either of those creeps’ only victim and it makes you sick to think about it.

I’m not buying that it was Kara who wanted out of her Idol contract. Her dad said that his daughter was disappointed that Idol hadn’t contacted her after there were rumors that she was being let go. It sounded to me like Idol wanted her to leave and that producers did it in a passive aggressive way so that she was forced to resign. I don’t think that Idol lost much with Kara leaving.

You also wonder what kind of interest there is in Kara now that she’s not on Idol. She wasn’t that likable and didn’t really stand out in the two years she was on the show. She has a new songwriting reality show coming out on Bravo called Going Platinum where contestants compete for a $100,000 prize. Jewel will host. She’s still got a great career in music, too. Kara is the executive vice president of talent development at Warner Brothers.

Kara is shown on 4/7/11 and 2/18/11. Credit: WENN.com

Now that we’ve heard that Jennifer Lopez probably won’t be joining the judges on Idol, allegedly due to her ever-increasing and hard to meet demands, there’s speculation on who will take that spot on the panel. Shania Twain’s name is being mentioned, with Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson rumored to be filling the other two seats. I remember Shania on the show last year and she was great with the contestants and was even brought to tears by an emotional performance of one her songs. (Video of that is below.) She would be a great choice for an empathic, caring judge. Here’s more:

“American Idol” sources tell TMZ … the Jennifer Lopez deal isn’t dead yet, but if it does flatline … “Idol’s” next choice is country star Shania Twain.

Shania was a hit on “Idol” this past season when she served as guest judge and mentor.

We’re told Shania is Plan B.

[From TMZ]

I have a suggestion for a new judge on Idol – Usher! I was impressed with how much he knew about music during his guest mentoring gig and he gave some very good advice. They should ditch Randy and get a whole new panel of well known and established musicians.

There’s a lot of other AI gossip and we’ll report some of it here, but first I’d like to cover this photo that Kaiser pointed me to that Jennifer Lopez recently posted on Twitter. She wrote “Hmmm… what should I wear today?” to go along with this picture. Is she making a joke and/or trying to show us that she’s rolling in it and doesn’t need make more demands? I think the answer is “a little of A, a little of B.”

Lopez also posted this photo last week, and wrote “Everyone on set tonight is calling me “Bronx Barbie”!” Yes, she’s full of herself.

Meanwhile Kara DioGuardi’s dad, a Republican candidate for a US Senate seat in NY, is telling outlets that his daughter was never officially fired from Idol. He said “Would you believe, that she did not hear, and still has not heard anything? She read it the way you did and I did… Her disappointment is that’s the way she’s been treated, and she feels that’s not proper… I think what they’re trying to do is create buzz.” He added that his daughter is an executive VP at Warner Brothers and will be fine even if she’s not asked to stay on AI, as she’s hoping.

And Mike Walker reports in the National Enquirer this week that Ellen DeGeneres didn’t resign from Idol as she claimed, but was fired and given permission to issue a statement making it seem like she left on her own accord. Walker even claims that Ellen “agreed to lower her salary,” but quotes a source who says “they hated her on the show and simply wanted her gone. She begged them to let her handle the announcement her way, and they agreed.” There is so much damn drama over this show!

Here’s Shania on Idol last season. Big Mike’s performance of her song brings her to tears.

And Usher on Idol:

In the wake of Simon Cowell’s departure from Fox’s monster hit, “American Idol,” the show’s producers seem to be scrambling to make the show relevant. Last season’s Ellen Degeneres experiment was an epic fail, and no one seems to be more aware of this than Ellen herself. Ellen announced yesterday that she is not coming back as a judge on the show, citing work conflicts and her inability to say negative things about any of the contestants.

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, who became a full-time judge on the show during its ninth season, is bowing out of the series, PEOPLE has learned.

“A couple months ago, I let FOX and the American Idol producers know that this didn’t feel like the right fit for me,” she says in a statement. “I told them I wouldn’t leave them in a bind and that I would hold off on doing anything until they were able to figure out where they wanted to take the panel next. It was a difficult decision to make, but my work schedule became more than I bargained for.”

DeGeneres adds, “I also realized this season that while I love discovering, supporting and nurturing young talent, it was hard for me to judge people and sometimes hurt their feelings. I loved the experience working on Idol and I am very grateful for the year I had, I am a huge fan of the show and will continue to be.”
In the same statement, Idol creator and executive producer Simon Fuller says, “I loved Ellen’s passion for the artists and her nurturing skills. She brought honesty and optimism to our judging panel and I will miss her greatly.”

Peter Rice, the FOX entertainment chairman, says, “We love Ellen and understand and support her decision to bow out of Idol. We were fortunate to receive the humor, energy and love for talent that she brought to the show.”

A longtime fan of Idol, DeGeneres signed on to replace Paula Abdul after Abdul Tweeted about her departure in August 2009. “I’m going to have a day job and a night job,” DeGeneres said at the time. “This is exciting for me.”

In January, Cowell announced he was leaving to concentrate on bringing his U.K. hit The X Factor to the U.S

Well, that didn’t last long. I have to applaud Ellen for realizing that she’s not really cut out for the job. Her presence on the show did nothing for the ratings, and even when the contestants sucked really bad, she couldn’t bring herself to tell them the truth. It also looks like much-hated judge Kara DioGuardi won’t be back at the judge’s table next season, either- but in her case, she didn’t bow out voluntarily. Both TMZ and Deadline Hollywood are reporting that the songwriter has been fired, and that the show is returning to a three-judge format. Rumored to be replacing Kara and Ellen? Jennifer Lopez and…wait for it… Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler!

We’ve just learned the backstory of how Ellen DeGeneres bowed out of American Idol and who will be the new judge taking her place. It’s Jennifer Lopez, whose singing and acting career has been on the skids after her recent movie failed at the box office in the spring and she was dropped by her record company Sony Music Epic Records this past winter. We hear her manager Benny Medina (whom she once fired) orchestrated the meeting with the American Idol producers a month ago, and negotiations have been ongoing ever since. We’ve learned a deal was closed earlier this week under the utmost secrecy. Today’s news came shortly after Nigel Lythgoe returned to Idol as an executive producer. He has vowed to shake up the show’s team of judges in the wake of the departure of Simon Cowell, publicly stating that he always thought a panel of three and not 4 made the most sense.

Still to be decided is who will replace Simon Cowell. Everyone associated with the show wants Elton John, but we hear he’s asking for too much money and has too many touring commitments he can’t get out of.

2ND UPDATE: Tonight, unconfirmed reports say Idol has offered Cowell’s judge seat to Steven Tyler. 3RD UPDATE: And another unconfirmed report claimed judge Kara DioGuardi has been fired to bring the panel count down to just 3, not 4.

As for Ellen Degeneres, we’re told she wanted off the show two months ago and complained that Idol producers “couldn’t control Cowell”, one insider tells us. Least of all Cecile Frot-Coutaz, the CEO of FremantleMedia North America. “Cecile is doing X Factor with Simon, so she’s in his back pocket.” DeGeneres and her reps went in to to see Fox Broadcasting’s Entertainment Chairman Peter Rice and Alternative TV President Mike Darnell and asked to be let out of the year left on her contract. “She’s not comfortable. She’s not happy. It’s not been fun,” Fox was told. But Rice and Darnell responded that, with Cowell leaving, “We can’t let you out now because it would be bad for our franchise. Give us a chance to figure out who we could get.” In the end, all the show’s producers — Fox, Fremantle, and 19 Entertainment — worked it out. “Peter Rice was awesome,” an insider tells us. “Ellen is thrilled and relieved.” We’ve learned that serious conversations took place between Idol and Jessica Simpson to replace Ellen. But once Jennifer Lopez was locked in this week, the DeGeneres announcement went out.

…Her replacement JLo badly needs this high-profile boost to her flagging career. The actress had many hits with Sony Music Epic Records, so it was a shock within the recording industry when her longtime label dumped her.

[From Deadline Hollywood]

The J.Lo story doesn’t surprise me all that much – she’s just desperate enough to take this gig in hopes of reviving her music career. But Steven Tyler? Really? Not only does the guy not need the money, but last time I checked, he was kind of a hot mess and is barely out of rehab. But he would probably be a lot of fun to watch. The big question is, can either of them fill the “mean judge” shoes left empty by Simon? The show won’t work without a judge who tells the contestants the brutal truth. I don’t think surviving judge Randy Jackson is up for the job- dawg can barely string more than two or three words together. The big rumor in Hollywood is that J.Lo is a raving bitch, but will she be willing to bare the claws on national TV? I don’t think so. But at least the addition of two people who actually have experience in the music industry is a step up.

Update: This story originated with GossipCop.

Header: Jennifer Lopez on June 15, 2010. Credit: WENN.

It looks like those rumors last month that British judge Simon Cowell might be leaving “American Idol” are true. Reports are coming in that the show’s producers are already making plans for Cowell’s departure after this season. Idol producers are supposedly downplaying Simon’s presence on the show this season, opting instead to focus more on the contestants and new judge Ellen Degeneres.

‘Idol’ Is Downsizing Simon

Sources tell me that producers of ‘American Idol’ have a plan on how to make sure the show survives if Mr. Simon Cowell does in fact leave at the end of this upcoming season.

“Expect to see less and less of Simon this season. The focus is going to be back on the contestants and less on Simon’s harsh criticisms of them,” an insider tells me. “They also will be spending more time focusing on Ellen once she gets through her first few weeks live from Hollywood.”

That might not be such a bad idea. Watching millionaires make fun of kids’ appearances and laughing when they leave the room feels is so last century to me. After all, many shows have not only survived hosts leaving — they have thrived. (Katie Couric, anyone?)

FOX, never one to beat around the bush, tells me: “FOX has no comment.”

The brilliant Adam Hanft, CEO of marketing firm Hanft Projects, agrees. “Ideas outlast their hosts. It was and is true for the ‘Tonight Show’ and ‘The Today Show’ and it’s proved true for ’60 Minutes.’

[From PopEater]

Randy Jackson spilled some beans on the upcoming season in an interview with Billboard magazine. But the “Dawg” remains skeptical on Simon’s departure. Yeah, like anyone tells Randy what’s going on.

Though DeGeneres won’t be part of the “Idol” judging process until the Jan. 12 premiere on Fox, Jackson expects her to be a “fun” addition to the show. He adds that he and returning judges Simon Cowell and Kara DioGuardi enjoyed having guest judges for the regional auditions in June and July and call-backs in August and September, a corps that included Mary J. Blige, Joe Jonas, Shania Twain, Katy Perry, Avril Lavigne, the Spice Girls’ Victoria Beckham, Neil Patrick Harris and Kristin Chenoweth.

“They all really did their thing,” Jackson recalls. “Of course, Mary J. Blige was really amazing. I was impressed with Joe Jonas; I didn’t really know how he would be, but he was great. Shania was brilliant…Even Neil Patrick Harris and Kristin Chenoweth, who were both from the theater world, were really amazing and had great things to say.”

Jackson was also surprised by what he heard in front of the judges table during the audition process. “I think generally what happens is whoever wins that season, you get more and more of that. But this season’s a little different. I would’ve thought you’d have a trillion Adam Lamberts show up, or a trillion Kris Allens. But that’s not what happened. It was very interesting. This is a whole different bunch.”

Jackson says he’ll miss Paula Abdul this year — “She started this thing with us. It’s a sad thing…not to have her there.” — but noted that DioGuardi seems more comfortable after having an “Idol” year under her belt. “I think she’s got a different grasp on understanding what it is and what happens and how to do it,” he says. “It’s one of those things, like golf or tennis; it looks easy on the outside, then when you try and actually hit the ball you go, ‘Whoa, OK, it’s a little different than what I thought.’ But, yeah, she’s having a good time.”

As for rumors about Cowell leaving “Idol” to bring his British “X-Factor” to the U.S., Jackson says that “I won’t believe it ’til I see it. I haven’t spoken to him about it. You just never really know; there are a lot of alleged things going on, but who knows, right? We’ll see what happens.”

[From Billboard]

I think we’re witnessing the beginning of the end of American Idol. While the departure of Paula Abdul was probably a good thing- the woman was strung out on some kind of chemical and could barely utter a sentence half the time – the addition of Kara DioGuardi and the loss of Simon might be too much for the show to recover. At the end of the day, the show should be all about finding the best talent, but even that aspect is becoming increasingly mediocre. Isn’t last year’s winner, Kriss Allen, pretty much a watered-down version of John Mayer? I predict that this year’s ratings will be high, at first, and then plummet as the season goes on. People will tune in to see Ellen Degeneres debut as a judge, but quickly lose interest.

Simon Cowell in London on December 13, 2009. Credit: WENN.

Kara DioGuardi will return as a judge for the FOX juggernaut American Idol, much to the dismay of many fans who felt she was too self-promoting last season. The established songwriter wrote the much-maligned song “No Boundaries” for last season’s winner, and also had the guts to challenge Bikini Girl to a sing off on the season finale. But where does that leave resident space case Paula Abdul’s contract negotiations?

Guessing which of the judges will be back on American Idol next season has become a popular game.

And yeah, we’re having trouble keeping track of the rumors, reports and whispers, too.

However, we can tell ya that Kara DioGuardi will be back for season nine of the hit reality show…

“Her deal is done. There are no ifs, ands or buts,” a source said. “Done. She will be back.”

No surprise, but the source reports that DioGuardi’s new deal doesn’t even come close to what the other judges are getting or, in Paula Abdul’s case, asking for.

DioGuardi is set to start shooting a new season of auditions in the next week or so. Reps for DioGuardi and the show declined to comment.

Even if Ms. Abdul is still hammering out a deal, we have a feeling all will be worked out in the end and all four judges will return.

[From E!Online]

I guess I am in the minority, because I would much rather see Kara on the show than Paula. I actually mute the TV whenever Paula is talking because she adds absolutely nothing to the show with her idiotic comments. And don’t even get me started on her fashion choices! At least Kara tries to add some constructive criticism. I think she was in a tough position last year, coming into a situation where the three original judges already had massive fan bases and she was a total unknown. But give her some time- I really believe she will turn out to be a much better asset than Paula – who seems more interested in hawking her tacky jewelry line and fooling around with Simon than the actual contestants.

American Idol’s Kara DioGuardi, 38, married general contractor Mike McCuddy, 34, in Prospect Harbor, Maine on Sunday. Kara has a home in Maine and met Mike while he was building the house next door. Mike proposed on Kara’s birthday in December after they’d been dating for a little over a year. In Touch has the exclusive photo and the details of their wedding, which was attended by 30 guests and held at a Methodist church across from Kara’s home. It sounds romantic and they had sunshine for their special day, which was a welcome change after it had rained for weeks:

American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi wed teacher-turned-general contractor Mike McCuddy on July 5 at 12:30 in the afternoon in Prospect Harbor, Maine. The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter wore a Vera Wang gown for the small ceremony. The couple, who met when Mike, 34, built the house next to Kara’s in Maine, got engaged in December. They exchanged vows at the United Methodist Church, across the street from her house, in front of about 30 guests. “I feel great. What was most unbelievable about the experience was when I looked out at the church and saw all these people that were so important to me and Mike, who were there for us. It was pretty powerful. I was very emotional and I’m not somebody who breaks down and cries,” Kara, 38, tells In Touch exclusively, adding that the weather even behaved. “It’s been raining in Maine for 60 days. The only day that was nice was yesterday!”

[From In Touch]

Congratulations to Kara and Mike and that’s nice that they opted for a low-key local wedding instead of going the Hollywood route. How strange is that wedding photo, though? It looks like a still from the intro to a soap opera. They’re the mean and powerful plotting couple that everyone fears in their impossibly beautiful, rich small town. The picture could also be used as the front of a romance novel, something like “The Contractors Wife.” Kara’s husband sure is hot enough to be on the cover of a romance novel. Together they’ll take on the world, glaring out at their enemies in an idyllic town that’s home to a disproportionate number of secrets and scandals.

Photo used by permission of In Touch

American Idol contest Katrina Darrell, better known as “Bikini girl,” told an LA news station all about her big duet with Kara Dioguardi on the finale of American Idol on Wednesday night. Darrell said that she had no idea that Kara would come on stage to upstage her while she sang “Vision of Love.” She then went on to trash Kara’s version of the song along with her appearance. Kara ripped off her dress at the end of the song to show her bikini body, and Katrina didn’t approve of her version of the song or her skin tone:

I actually was singing and I hear this voice, and I’m like ‘That’s not Mariah.’

I was upset with the situation. She wanted her 15 seconds and she got it. She really made herself look stupid.

She sang it real straight. She didn’t do any of the runs. They also turned my mic off, so obviously they wanted to hear her sing…

Reporter: Were you surprised?

When she flashed? The white body? Yeah, she needs a spray tan.

Darrell also addressed the issue of her much-bigger boobs, saying simply “I got my boobs done, and I like ‘em. No big deal.”

The reporter from Fox11 LA then claimed that Darrell had turned down an offer from Playboy – yeah, right, and that we could visit Darrell’s website to see what she’s up to next. It looks like more of the same – showing up to stuff half dressed.

Thanks to Redlasso for this video.

New American Idol judge Kara Dioguardi had a bizarre duet with former AI contestant “bikini girl” Katrina Darrell on last night’s finale. Ryan Seacrest presented Katrina with a “Golden Idol” for “Best Attitude” which seemed like a pretty good excuse to get her to parade on stage in a bikini again. Ryan then quipped “I was going to ask you what’s new, but I think I know,” in an obvious reference to her new boobs. He had her Darrell sing again, and she offered a weak version of Mariah Carey’s “Vision of Love,” the song she auditioned with.

When she was a few lines in, Kara came out behind her to chime in with a mock competition. At the end Kara stripped off her dress to show that not only could she sing better than Katrina, she also had a more banging non-surgically enhanced body. Kara seemed a little shy about being on stage in a bikini it and covered up quickly afterwards. Ryan announced that they put her up to it and were going to donate money to charity now that she held up her end of the bargain.

Kara seemed really petty to me when she took offense at bikini girl’s audition, but she kind of redeemed herself with this duet. In a way she was mocking herself while showcasing her talent and great body. Will she be on the show next season though, or do the producers realize that Idol flows better when she’s not butting heads with Simon?

Thanks to OK! Magazine for these screenshots from the show last night.

In a typically semi-coherent appearance on the Tonight Show a few weeks ago, Paula Abdul told a cute story about living with fellow Idol judge Kara Dioguardi when they were housemates in the 90s. She said that Kara had a tendency to sleepwalk and eat and that she would deny it the next day:

“She used to sleepwalk and eat me out of house and home… I had off white carpeting and I’d see ground food… a trail that would lead to the kitchen and then handprints of pumpkin pie.

“She wakes up and she goes ‘no I didn’t’…

[Transcribed from Paula Abdul's appearance on the Tonight Show, aired 2/11/09]

Maybe Kara wasn’t sleepwalking and it was a lot more serious than Paula made it sound. Kara recently confirmed that she suffered from an eating disorder in the past for which she sought treatment. She said she was a binge eater and would often eat in the middle of the night.

“I’ve never spoken about this. I had kind of a binge eating disorder where, instead of dealing with my emotions, I would stuff them down with food,” the American Idol judge tells Extra.

“I never threw up or starved myself,” continues DioGuardi. “It was an eating disorder. I actually went into a treatment center for it…I would get up and eat in the middle of the night.”

DioGuardi blames her food problems on insecurity while growing up.

“I really was a creative kid who didn’t know she was creative and didn’t have those outlets because I was always afraid to join the theater group and not perform,” she says.

After she moved out to L.A. to become a songwriter, she became healthier.

“The moment I started doing music, the moment I did what I loved to do in my life and committed to it, I didn’t have those problems anymore,” she says. “I have my outlet. I have that form of expression. I can go to the studio and talk about my feelings.”

[From US Magazine]

I stress eat and I really have to watch it if I want to keep my weight down. It may be different from full blown binge eating, but it might feel similar as you can get out of control and eat mindlessly. I found some help from a cognitive therapy approach to eating through Dr. Beck’s Diet for Life (This is a good book that I recommend for help with emotional eating. Some of the methods are helpful and some are a little too complicated though.) One thing Dr. Beck said in her book is that we make very illogical decisions about food, like if we slip during a diet we’ll say “screw it” (not her words) and just eat whatever we want until the next day, which makes no sense because you’re taking in hundreds if not thousands of extra calories in that time and they do count! She uses the analogy that it’s like running a stop sign while driving and then deciding not to follow traffic laws for the rest of the day. She has methods to learn how to stop yourself if you get in the overeating mode and ways for substituting other positive activities for times when you often habitually eat. It’s not an easy thing to conquer though and for many people food is as much as an addiction as alcohol or drugs. You can give up those other things entirely, but we have to eat to live and learn how to eat moderate portions.

Good for Dioguardi for talking about her issues with binge eating. She’s not my favorite judge and I tend to think that Idol is worse now that she’s on the panel, but I have to give her some credit for this one. Binge eating can be serious and there isn’t as much awareness of it as other eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.

Kara DioGuardi is shown at an American Idol party on 3/05/09 and at the Grammy Awards on 2/7/09. Credit: PRPhotos