Insiders say Nigel Lythgoe is prepared for the battle of his life
For many TV viewers, Nigel Lythgoe is remembered as ‘Nasty Nigel’, an government who turned well-known within the growth days of expertise search TV, like a blond Simon Cowell. He was identified for decreasing then Pop Idol contestant Kym Marsh to tears in 2001 – after telling her she was getting fats.
A transfer to America in 2002 was adopted by an apparently profitable and seamless re-invention. A protracted stint as a choose on American Idol made him a star after which his work growing the format for So You Think You Can Dance made him wealthy.
He co-owns the format of that present, and turned it into a worldwide franchise. Nowadays, he is mentioned to be value a staggering $150 million (£118 million), though associates say it’s truly a fraction of that. It’s a determine which makes the colleagues who keep in mind him from his days as an government at London Weekend Television within the Nineteen Nineties pea-green with envy. There’s a winery in California together with a $5 million home in Hollywood, plus a lakeside vacation house.
Always a women’ man, Nigel, who was born in Wallasey, Merseyside, has now adopted a Californian tan, his hair has turn out to be ever-lighter and his tooth even whiter. Despite his 74 years, he seems youthful now than he did 20 years in the past.
Paula Abdul (L) and Nigel Lythgoe arrive on the Dizzy Feet Foundation’s third Annual Celebration of Dance Gala held at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on July 27, 2013 in Los Angeles, California
American Idol Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe poses with judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul on the American Idol Finale on May 25, 2005 in Hollywood, California
He performs golf on the Bel Air Country Club, simply throughout the road from one other home which he not too long ago offered for $14 million, and spends a part of each winter in Barbados. In LA, he’s very a lot part of the leisure trade firmament. That he has an OBE – introduced at Windsor Castle in 2015 – doesn’t damage. Lythgoe would say he’s ribbed by his LA associates that the honour stands for ‘Old British Entertainer’.
A couple of weeks in the past the British American Business Council hosted its Christmas lunch – this 12 months in Nigel’s honour – in Hollywood. The organisation described it as, ‘celebrating a rare profession in leisure and a pillar of our group right here in Southern California.’
All that has modified.
Last weekend, it emerged that dancer Paula Abdul, who had labored with Lythgoe on So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol, filed papers accusing him of a number of sexual assaults and harassment.
She claimed Lythgoe had forcibly kissed and groped her in a carry throughout auditions for one in every of American Idol’s early seasons, that he tried to power himself on her on one other event at his house in 2015 after they have been engaged on So You assume You Can Dance and that he additionally groped one in every of her assistants.
Lythgoe has denied Abdul’s claims, calling them ‘false’ and ‘deeply offensive’. ‘I’m shocked and saddened by the allegations made in opposition to me by Paula Abdul,’ Lythgoe mentioned in a press release. ‘For greater than 20 years, Paula and I’ve interacted as expensive – and fully platonic – associates and colleagues.
‘I am unable to faux to know why she would file a lawsuit.
‘But I can promise that I’ll struggle this appalling smear with all the things I’ve.’
Whatever the reality behind the claims, the impact has been devastating. A good friend in LA who has identified Lythgoe for years cautions: ‘There isn’t any getting back from this sort of publicity.’
Sony, which makes So You Think You Can Dance for TV community Fox, let or not it’s identified final week that they’re now investigating Lythgoe and the allegations. An organization spokesman declined to elaborate additional.
Lythgoe has filmed the primary 4 episodes of a brand new season of the present however was not due within the studio till the tip of this month.
After speaking it over with associates on Thursday evening he opted to step away from the present on Friday, explaining that he ‘would by no means wish to damage’ the format. However, he’s decided to return.
Abdul, 61, who made her identify as a dancer and choreographer, claims she has suffered ‘extreme emotional misery, emotional anguish, concern, anxiousness, humiliation and embarrassment’ and is asking for a jury trial in papers filed by her attorneys at Los Angeles Superior Court.
Host Cat Deeley, resident judges Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy and visitor choose Jason Derulo on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, aired July 2, 2014
There’s a winery in California together with a $5 million home in Hollywood, plus a lakeside vacation house. Pictured: Villa San Juliette in Paso Robles wine nation
One of the unique three judges on American Idol in 2002, alongside Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson, Abdul claims the connection between her and her co-judges was strained from the beginning.
She claims she was discriminated in opposition to by way of wage in comparison with the male judges and hosts, and have become ‘the goal of fixed taunts, bullying, humiliation and harassment’ from executives together with Lythgoe.
While on the street for regional auditions, Abdul, who stands simply 5ft tall, claims Lythgoe assaulted her.
The lawsuit alleges: ‘Upon getting into the elevator, Lythgoe shoved Abdul in opposition to the wall, then grabbed her genitals and breasts, and started shoving his tongue down her throat.
‘Abdul tried to push Lythgoe away and let him know that his behaviour was not acceptable. When the doorways to the elevator for her flooring opened, Abdul ran out of the elevator and to her lodge room.’
She mentioned she determined to not report Lythgoe by means of concern that he would have fired her. Their paths crossed once more in 2015 when Abdul joined So You Think You Can Dance.
It was throughout this era she alleges Lythgoe invited her to his house to debate future work prospects and compelled himself on her whereas she was seated on the sofa, trying to kiss her whereas proclaiming that the 2 would make an ‘glorious energy couple’. Again, Abdul says she mentioned nothing for concern of being retaliated in opposition to.
The third alleged assault occurred later that 12 months in Las Vegas when Abdul claims she witnessed Lythgoe press himself in opposition to one in every of her assistants and start to grope her. The assistant didn’t consent to his behaviour, Abdul claims.
Abdul has labored in showbusiness for 40 years and has gained a Grammy and two Emmys.
She started her profession as a cheerleader earlier than being found by The Jacksons and getting her massive break doing choreography for Janet Jackson. She additionally launched a profitable album, Forever Your Girl, in 1988.
Singer Paula Abdul and producer Nigel Lythgoe at a post-Emmy get together in 2013
Her profession has not been with out controversy, nonetheless. In 2009, she mentioned in an interview with journal Ladies’ Home Journal that she had checked into rehab after turning into hooked on painkillers as a consequence of persistent ache from dance accidents and a aircraft crash which left her partially paralysed.
When the article was printed, Abdul refuted the claims and mentioned the author had been mistaken and that she had by no means been hooked on medicine or been in rehab. The journal mentioned it stood by its story.
Friends of Lythgoe say that they’re amazed that Abdul would make such statements alleging sexual abuse.
They level out that Abdul has spent years in heat contact with Lythgoe, telling third events how a lot she ‘loves’ him, and the 2 of them have been very shut to one another’s households.
Old colleagues of Lythgoe level out that Abdul continued to work with him, apparently fortunately, for many years after the claimed preliminary undesirable sexual contact.
They additionally say that there’s a distinction which should be drawn between hi-jinks, jokes and failed sexual passes and sexual assault.
Far from denigrating her, as she says, associates declare that the uncooked footage from the reveals will illustrate how a lot Lythgoe and the TV firm protected her and her repute and made her look good. They additionally say that it was by no means in Lythgoe’s energy to sack her.
Shortly after Abdul filed her grievance about Lythgoe, he was hit by a second sexual assault lawsuit. Two contestants from 2003 actuality competitors All American Girl allege that Lythgoe made undesirable sexual advances in the direction of them.
In their go well with, the unnamed girls declare that Lythgoe would usually behave inappropriately with contestants and once in a while ‘walked around the set and dressing rooms and overtly swatted and groped… contestants’ buttocks whereas they have been sporting dance costumes’.
Lythgoe, it’s claimed, took an ‘uncommon curiosity’ in one of many girls and ‘insisted’ she experience in his automobile to return to the studio following a wrap get together. The different girl determined to go along with them.
It’s alleged he took the ladies to his house in Los Angeles and tried to kiss one of many girls and ‘push her physique near his’.
The different girl mentioned she was pinned ‘in opposition to a grand piano’ and Lythgoe pushed himself in opposition to her and forcibly tried to kiss her, regardless of her trying to tug her face away.
Both this lawsuit and Abdul’s have been filed below California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover up Accountability Act – which gave a one-year window to file lawsuits which might in any other case be deemed too previous below the statute of limitations.
Though former colleagues describe Lythgoe as ‘appreciative of feminine magnificence’, no person can recall his flirtatious method getting him into any hassle.
Privately, Lythgoe protests that he solely ever provides off ‘Dad vibes’ to youthful contestants. However, what is evident is that instances have modified, and the leisure world has too.
Before the bombshell allegations but extra skilled success beckoned for Lythgoe.
Unimpressed: Kym appeared unimpressed when Nigel visited the band on the home they have been put up in and informed her to misplaced weight (pictured with fellow band member Suzanne Shaw, left)
Devastated: Kym was offended and tearful as she hit again at Nigel’s remarks on the present, with the star making it clear how unimpressed she was
As effectively as initially returning as a choose on So You Think You Can Dance, there have been plans to attempt to get a reboot of Pop Idol off the bottom, spearheaded by former Channel 5 boss Dawn Airey.
It may be revealed Lythgoe hoped he might have a shot at returning to that present, alongside Kym Marsh. But these plans have now turned to mud.
However, Lythgoe will struggle, has the cash to struggle, and associates say he has an enormous tranche of proof with which to struggle.
And given his tenacious historical past and profitable re-invention, who would wager in opposition to him?