Abdul on Children, Love and 'Hey Paula'

Oct. 1, 2007 — -- After mothering thousands of hopefuls on Fox's American Idol, which returns for its seventh season in January, Paula Abdul is ready for a baby of her own.

"That's the next step in my life," says Abdul, 45, back in Los Angeles in between Idol auditions that have taken her to Philadelphia, Miami, San Diego, Charleston, S.C., Atlanta and Omaha. "Definitely within the next two years. I thought by now I'd have three grown children."

She says she plans to explore fertility options. "With modern medicine, people are having kids in their 40s and even up until their late 40s," she says. "In their 50s, they're having their second child.

"If it doesn't happen naturally like that, I would always consider adopting."

Her life has already been enriched by her boyfriend of more than five months, J.T. Torregiani.

"He's a sweetie pie," she says, looking at him across the lobby of the Renaissance Hotel. "He's a positive force that has come into my life right now. Where it leads, who knows? Like Simon (Cowell, her fellow Idol judge) says, 'He's a great, normal guy -- why does he like you?' "

Torregiani later offers his business card, which lists him as a partner in The Dolce Group, which operates the trendy L.A. restaurants Dolce, Geisha House, Les Deux, Bella, Ketchup and Ten Pin Alley. He is working with Eva Longoria on a Tex-Mex restaurant.

The 32-year-old Sicilian introduced himself to Abdul in April at the Roosevelt after an Idol taping. They spoke for four hours and began dating while the last season of Idol was winding down.

"I was so adamant about not letting Simon or Randy (Jackson) or Ryan (Seacrest) know -- and that was a good thing," says Abdul, who was married briefly in the mid-'90s to Emilio Estevez and then Brad Beckerman.

Now that some time has passed, she has grown more comfortable introducing Torregiani to friends. She traveled with him to London over the summer, and they met up with Cowell. And they are planning a trip to Italy during the months between Idol's current auditions and the semifinalist callbacks.

Though the two are not cohabitating, he drives her places, cooks for her -- even in hotel kitchens -- and has taken to her dogs. "My chunky dog, Tulip, is in love with him," Abdul says. "He pays so much attention to her that she thinks she's the queen."

Is Abdul in love as well?

"I'm in a good place in my heart," she says, offering a smile. "He's like my best friend." They hold hands as they stroll past the Kodak Theatre, where the annual Idol finale takes place.

As for where the next Idol might come from, she says there wasn't a lot of top talent from auditions in Philadelphia and Charleston, giving the cities a big thumbs down. But San Diego had "a good turnout."

She won't be an entirely warm-and-fuzzy judge, though. She concedes that she caught herself being too kind to contestants.

"Last season was a real turning of the corner for me, because I made a conscious decision to be very honest," she says. "There was a change because I saw the talent falling a little bit."

Her own reputation fell as a result of her early summer Bravo reality series, Hey Paula, she acknowledges. She says the show falsely portrayed her as an unstable, hysterical, demanding diva.

"That was hard for me to watch. Disturbing," says Abdul, who had a producing credit but no editing approval. "They'd put a camera on me when I got wind that my dog was in a coma, and they'd make it (seem) like it was about hair and makeup."

She says she felt double-crossed when producers persuaded her to address her widely criticized Idol press junket debacle, in which she seemed disoriented. But including the segment only made matters worse.

She says she was asked to do a second season but flatly refused, choosing to focus instead on her fragrance, skin care, clothing and jewelry lines.

On the upside, she believes the series portrayed her as an "endearing" person who works hard and is exhausted and a bit dizzy -- from sleep deprivation, not booze and drugs.

"Being a role model is something I take very seriously," she says. "So don't say I do drugs. Don't say I drink. Don't do that because it's not accurate."

She says she is in talks with other networks for a new solo show. But this time, straight up and on her own terms.

"I want to do it the right way."