During a tearful phone call, Paula Abdul confessed that she is battling Addison’s disease, a sometimes fatal hormonal disorder. This disease is often characterized by fatigue, muscle weakness, and loss of sex drive. “I’ve been going through…a difficult time,” the American Idol judge admitted in her recent meltdown, which was taped and posted on the internet on May 30. “I have had to keep a secret about my health. I have developed this thing called Addison’s disease.” To successfully treat Addison’s, Paula would likely need daily medication or hormone injections. “Otherwise with Addison’s, the person looses interest in life and gets depressed,” says autoimmune specialist Ron Kennedy, who spoke with Star.

This is not the first tome Abdul has come public with her health problems. In 2005, she confessed that she’d been diagnosed with a neurological disorder. Most recently, fans have been distressed by Paula appearing drunk and disoriented. In January, Paula was seen slurring her words during an interview and last month she began a May 15 visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live by asking the host: “What did your mother breast-feed you?” The next week the former Lakers Girl told fans that she broke her nose tripping over her pet Chihuahua!

Is Addison’s to blame? “If she has untreated Addison’s, that might make her look a little dizzy or fatigued,” says Dr. Kennedy. On the taped call, Abdul lashed out at the way she was treated by former publicist Howard Bragman. “I don’t understand how this man can call me a whining bitch,” she complained. I’ve never in my life been called a whining bitch.”

Though she clearly states during the call that she has the disease, Paula has changed her story citing that she has yet to be diagnosed. “I’m just exhausted,” she explained at a May 31 party for the Fragrance Foundation’s FiFi Awards in New York City. What really seemed to irate Abdul was the taping of her private call. “I am not happy about that phone call being leaked,” she said.

(Star Magazine)