But 2019 was not the first time she told this story. Where the plane landed is another odd matter. Before undertaking any course of treatment please consult with your healthcare provider. Did you ever see the very brief reality show about her life? I believe her. The singer discussed what happened during an appearance on RuPaul in 2019. Wouldn't she still be injured? Its not my time to go. Then we crash-landed in flames in a cornfield. But I was willing to try, because the quality of my life was starting to really suck, and it hurt. From a [pain] scale of one to 10, my normal was hovering at seven. A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. And when I came to, all seven of us were holding hands. She definitely struck me as somewhat physically disabled, and absolutely addicted to opioids. Then, at the height of her fame, she took a few years off, before hitting the ground running again later with the release of more successful albums and singles. The good thing was that she was able to sit out a few years and focus on her health without having to deal with the negativity that often arises on the internet. Then I disappeared for close to seven years.. Because of this I am assuming that this is a mistake rather than an actual lie. I met her several times - this would be 10 years AFTER the alleged plane crash, etc. Wouldnt she have some sort of Entourage with her? Such daredevil feats are especially stunning considering the 57-year-old pop stars extensive past injuries. ", "From a [pain] scale of one to 10, my 'normal' was hovering at seven. But last Thanksgiving, determined to overcome her habit, she checked into the La Costa Resort and Spa, in Carlsbad, California, to wean herself off her medications in one fell swoop. I havent heard of anyone else having it so far but my own mother. How is this woman still alive? She said that the crash happened when she was "on tour at the end of '93. And I wasn't getting significantly better., After she traveled around the world unsuccessfully in search of a miracle cure (I felt like I could become an honorary neurosurgeon, because I knew so much about what was happening to my body, she quips), Abdul finally tried neuroscience. I mean, I had a spinal cord injury and nerve damage, she recalls. Or I sat on my hands and pulled my fingers or pressed down on my hand something to distract me from the pain.". It's like, you learn and grow through wisdom and experience of being in this business, especially with the internet," she told the outlet. In the aforementioned KDWB interview, Abdul confused several dates. "[I] didn't want to talk too much about it, because it took me a long time to build the career that I had, and I didn't want to be counted out or fearful of people not understanding and thinking that, 'Well, maybe she's really not doing well,'" she told the outlet. She was a mess the times I saw her, and while I do not recall her ever using a cane or anything (I interacted with her maybe half a dozen times? Born in San Fernando, California, in 1962, Abdul's career began as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team when she was 18. No other passengers have spoken about a crash. 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AmoMama creates engaging, meaningful content for women. He was a VFR pilot when he bought the airplane, I dont know if he ever got his IR. 2009 Ladies Home Journal interview, discusses going to rehab for painkiller addiction. Abdul has also cited car accidents and her long history as a dancer (including her famous stint as a Laker Girl) as contributing to her pain. This, in conjunction with her (also consistent) story about a cheerleading accident in high school followed by several smaller car accidents over the years, means that Paula Abdul already has a pretty good reason to be using painkillers. Why did it take eleven years after the alleged accident for there to be a single documented mention of it? Jezebel also reported that public records also don't appear to corroborate a small plane crash occurring during the dates in question. At the height of her success and fame as a dancer and singer, Abdul took a break from the music industry. 3 This specific link has a disclaimer that records have only been natively uploaded since 1996. She released another album in 1995, Head Over Heels, which she promoted, sometimes with the kind of energetically choreographed performances that were her trademark. Instead, its her emotional mid-show monologue about a 1992 plane crash that required 15 cervical surgeries and led to Abdul living in near-constant agony for years. She probably repeated it so much and refined it in her mind she forgot there are records of such things, or it actually started feeling real to her. You know what? As her new Las Vegas residency took off, Paula Abdul opened up about a crash landing. ), she didnt walk normally. 1 Some articles list 1993 as the date of the crash, including some quotes from Abdul herself, but in the grand scheme of things this did not seem particularly significant. Picture of American singer, Paula Abdul during an interview with RuPaul. AFP. "And the other stuff isn't my business.". Not sure why aviation seems to create those false memories. RSD and any severe chronic pain can sometimes also cause people to seem spacey or loopy, which could also explain why so many people thought she was acting strange during the time she was on American Idol. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your device and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. Following her recovery, Abdul spends more time caring for her skin, doing what she loves best, and living her life to the fullest. She also loved to whine about how far her career had fallen and how she was going to make a comeback if she ever got better (?). Because Paula was in the height of her career at the time when the alleged plane crash occurred, many outlets, including Jezebel, KDWB, and DListed, have been skeptical about whether or not it actually happened, since it wasn't reported on or spoken about at the time. While Paula has said that the plane crash served as a turning point in her career, there are people who aren't convinced that the plane accident occurred at all. There is also a record of an accident in Englewood, Colorado on June 10, 1992. They were pop artists at around the same time, and the accident was around the same time as shes claiming, within two years or so. Hard to diagnose. To her credit, she lived up to the expectation, making herself one of the most popular choreographers in the industry. And the other stuff isn't my business., Now Abdul is once again opening up about her traumatic accident that she says happened during her Spellbound tour. The strange part is that as I dug deeper in my internet research, I found that there is actually no record or report of any plane crash that she was ever involved in. How she managed to go down in a flaming aircraft and get treated in a hospital without a single word leaking to the press is another mystery, albeit one Abdul has accounted for mysteriously. Abdul claims to have performed in St. Louis before the fateful flight, heading to Denver, and to have boarded immediately following this performance. (--Somewhere between 13 and 15. And then I reappeared on American Idol.. In the aforementioned KDWB interview, Abdul confused several dates. Was she covering for being out of the spotlight? Was she covering for a painkiller addiction, and was that part of why she went to rehab in 1994? She could have mistaken Kansas City for St. Louis or misremembered, but her stated flight path doesn't seem to have happened. And then Paula Abdul went on record saying she had never said those things. However, Ive tried searching and cant find this article. However, the supposed landing site would have been out of the way north for the purported flight path between those two cities. This is the closest thing to a contradictory date I have seen but it also is not a quote from Paula Abdul herself. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. "The problem was that, at the time, I was. The strongest piece of evidence cited by those who believe Paula Abdul is lying is the lack of evidence. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Is Paula Abdul actually sober like she claims, and is her strange behavior actually just her being Paula Abdul rather than drugs or alcohol? An in depth Jezebel investigation from 2019. A good title for this study would be, Paula Abdul- Plane Crash, or Train Wreck?, You know what? Paula Abdul has wowed onlookers with her recent death- and gravity-defying live performances, during which she has swan-dived from "Cold-Hearted"-style scaffolding into the waiting arms of her. Plus, she toured with New Kids on the Block and headlined her own Las Vegas residency until early 2020. There is enough room for the basic story to be true. Veteran pop star Paula Abdul is relieved there was no social media when a 1992 plane crash-landing almost derailed her career, because she feared she'd be considered "damaged goods". We didnt have the extent of paparazzi or the (internet), so you were able to contain some information.. Ill admit to not being knowledgeable about aviation records, but it also seems telling that no one else has been able to find these records either. These two are the only records that I have seen that match any part of her story, and neither is a good fit. Especially when there is so much circumstantial evidence, such as her strange behavior that the tabloids latched onto. Paula Abdul has wowed onlookers with her recent death- and gravity-defying live performances, during which she has swan-dived from "Cold-Hearted"-style scaffolding into the waiting arms of her. The other, more popular theory, is that she used the plane crash as an excuse to either explain away her loopy behavior during her American Idol years as non-drug related (if you believe 2005 USA Today I have never been addicted to anything Paula Abdul) or to excuse it as being caused by medication prescribed to her for her injuries. I disappeared for seven years, endured 15 cervical spine surgeries with the top doctors from around the world with the hopes that theyd put me back together again.. Fans and tabloids during Abduls run as an American Idol judge often commented on her strange behavior, although she was quick to explain it away. Others had scary experiences and shared them with their fans. An hour into the flight, one of the engines blew up, and the right-wing caught fire, leaving everyone in darkness. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. She explained that she and some of the crew from the tour were constantly traveling between cities in a seven-seater plane, and that the engine caught fire about 40 minutes into the flight after a performance in St. Louis. A spokesperson in the press office of the Federal Aviation Administration wrote to me that its possible that such a crash would have not been investigated if it resulted in minor damage to the aircraft and minor injuries to those on board. But at my very core, I did not like existing the way I had been.. I am convinced that celebrities make up personal tragedies way more than we think, or at least will stretch the truth about a personal tragedy to the point that it is basically a full out lie. I don't. There are several remarkable things about this oft-repeated account that generally go unremarked. The injuries from the crash affected her more mentally than physically. We had plenty of tabloid journalism then it was simply in print. If anyone is able to find it Id be happy to edit it in, but Im not including information I cant verify. I couldn't find this as I was writing, but u/bookdrops dug up this Springfield News-Leader article from June 19, 1992 that references the same June 20 date at the Sandstone Ampitheater. In a 2019 interview with RuPaul, she claimed that one of the "engines blew up" an hour into the flight. But Abdul shrugs off such accusations. It's all through exercises that are like audio-spatial. When asked about whether or not it upsets her that people doubt her story, Paula explained that it doesn't. "I woke up in the. I've always wondered about her plane crash story too. So I figured Id try to piece it together myself. Sounds like some Jameela Jamil level of storytelling! A lot of women here in this industry, they don't talk about this until now. Paula also discusses being the Brand Ambassador for InMode. The injuries had a severe impact on her mental state. Did Paula Abdul get injured on a plane in 1992? LOS ANGELES, April 22 (UPI) -- "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul has revealed she suffers from a rare and painful physical disorder called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. Translation: These are my excuses for constantly being fucked up on pain pills.. While she's maintained a more private life in the years since she stopped working on American Idol, she's appeared on shows like The X Factor and So You Think You Can Dance. But that trust-fall hasnt been the most shocking segment of Abduls Forever Your Girl Vegas residency, headlining performance at last years L.A. Definitely a blog talking about this. You learn to live like that. and "X-Factor Around The World," where she worked as a judge. Abdul released more successful albums and videos in the following years, expanding her fanbase outside the United States. In the early '90s, Paula Abdul was in a plane crash that required cervical surgeries. Abdul is one of the many celebrities lucky to escape a plane crash and tell the story. I'm guessing she has a new album out or is promoting something. We may earn a commission from links on this page. The whole plane was in flames, is how she described it to the Hudson Union Society. Over the years, Abdul has been more vocal about her past struggles, including addiction problems, but she claims her biggest nightmare happened in the early '90s, changing her life forever. The 59-year-old has also worked as a songwriter, actor, and television personality, appearing on popular shows like "So, You Think You Can Dance?" Offers may be subject to change without notice. In the last year or so, as shes become more outspoken both in interviews and onstage about her injuries and recovery, some gossip sites, like Jezebel and DListed, have claimed that Abdul entirely fabricated her mysterious plane-crash story. Worth noting for this point is the fact that Abdul has consistently been open about her diagnosis with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, an incredibly painful condition. The tour she mentions ran from 1991 to 1992, and most articles state 1992. I'm not ready for the facelift and cutting I wanted any alternative to doing that and I don't have downtime. But thats not quite true, either. So back then neurosurgery, especially with having spinal cord injury and having surgery, there was a 50/50 chance to get better. In 1992 1, Paula Abdul was flying from a performance in St. Louis to Denver while on her Under My Spell Tour (sometimes called the Spellbound tour, the name of the album she was promoting at this time). "The Jacksons" fell in love with Abdul's passion for dance, and soon she became the main part of their videos, with her energetic dance steps pairing perfectly to the sweetness of their melodies. She was shown nodding out, slurring speech, pupils dilated- all symptoms of opiate addiction. Honestly, I can't believe that I am even asking a question about Paula Abdul in 2020, but my question is, is there any chance that this incident ever happened? To me, the most shocking part is that she said that she had to take a break from her music career during that the time frame of the incident in 1992 all the way to her stint as a judge on American Idol, ten years later. I think Paula just gets high on pain pills and makes things up. Back in the day when the NTSB had a searchable database, you could have gone on their website and pulled all the reports for that timeframe to narrow down whether any of them fits the nebulous description. Yet she released an album during this "break" period of healing, she even made choreographed videos. She was loopy as hell. I started losing all feeling on my right side, and I was starting to really live in excruciating pain," she said. It's like, there are seven other people that were on the plane, who were in that plane accident with me. She said that the crash happened when she was on tour at the end of 93. One of the most controversial parts of Abdul's life is her claim that she survived a plane crash. Woah CRPS? Was this a ploy for attention that ripped off of Gloria Estefans accident? She hit the big time in the late 1980s with the release of the multiplatinum album "Forever Your Girl," as BuzzFeed News reported, and then spent the next few years dominating the charts. But all I could think about was, This isnt right. Make of this what you will. She got into a plane accident not a plane crash. I tried taking the different medications the doctors prescribed, but it was the same old story," she told the magazine. Im very curious what everyone else thinks about this case.