Ryan Seacrest Confirms Paula Abdul Leaving 'Idol'

Bye bye Paula.

What will America do now?

On his radio show yesterday, Ryan Seacrest expressed regret that judge Paula Abdul is definitely leaving American Idol. "The news that [she] is leaving American Idol stunned me last night," he said. "She's a dear friend, I love her to death, and it's really sad that it's come to fruition."

The news apparently caught Seacrest off-guard, just as it did the rest of us.

"The way this went down... I was eating," he said, "so I was having something to eat [and] these tweets were going out. So I got on the phone and I was told ... she's leaving."

Abdul announced her departure from the show on her Twitter page, after negotiations with executives left neither party satisfied.

"With sadness in my heart, I've decided not to return to Idol," she said. "I'll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all being a part of a show that I helped from day one become an international phenomenon."

Of course, Abdul isn't the only one sad that she's leaving. Seacrest also tried to speak for his showmates in expressing regret.

"I'm just bummed, and I think if you were to talk to Randy or Simon they'd say the same thing. It's just sad. It bums us out."

So only time will tell if American Idol can recover from all this upheaval. After all, no one wants a depressed Simon Cowell on the bench.

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