After Paula Abdul announced her intention to leave the hit reality show “American Idol,” many fans are doubting Abdul’s drama was nothing more than a publicity stunt but Ryan Seacrest, Idol’s host says otherwise.

Idol Trio: Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul & Simon Cowell

Seacrest recently revealed on his radio show last August 5th and I quote “First of all, everyone that I passed today here has asked me, ‘Is it true? Is it a publicity stunt?’ “He said, adding, “As far as I know, it’s real — at this point, she’d decided to leave.”

“So the news that Paula Abdul is leaving ‘American Idol’ stunned me last night. She’s a dear friend I love her to death and [it's] really sad that it’s come to fruition,” he said. “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.”

Seacrest also claims that he only found out about Paula Abdul’s decision to leave the show when he was having dinner Tuesday night. He made a phone call to verify if the news was true and this was he was told that Abdul is indeed leaving. Further more Seacrest isn’t ruling out the possibility that Abdul might be come back as an Idol Judge.

“I would love that,” he said. “That would be great. This week Randy, Simon, Kara and I are in Denver for auditions, and I’m sure I’ll have more to tell you.
“You hate to see this happen. I’m sure she has her reasons. Everybody sort of wondering what’s happening, but [it's] not a publicity stunt.”

For more details check MTV.com.