Paula Abdul and Fantasia Barrino Have Sweet American Idol Reunion at The Color Purple Premiere

There is nothing better than the unexpected Idol reunion!

At the premiere of the film on Wednesday night Purple at the Los Angeles Academy Museum, Fantasia Barrino and Paula Abdul were photographed embracing nearly two decades after Barrino starred in the singing competition.

Barrino — who acts Purple — won the third season American Idol when she was only 19 years old in 2004. At that time, Abdul (61) was a judge.

IN Purple, Barrino, 39, plays the main character Celia, a black woman who lives in the Jim Crow South and whom the film follows throughout her life. Barrino previously played the character on Broadway in the mid-2000s; Whoopi Goldberg originally played Celie on screen in Steven Spielberg’s original 1985 film adaptation. Purple a book.

Paula Abdul and Fantasia Barrino in Los Angeles on December 6, 2023.

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Since she won IdolBarrino has taken on multiple Broadway roles over the years and released seven studio albums. Purple it marked a return to a character she was initially hesitant to revisit.

“I want to thank Celie, the role I’ve been running from. And when they called me, I said I’m not coming back to play,” she told the crowd as she took the stage with her co-stars Taraji P. Henson and Danielle Brooks in ELLE‘s Women in Hollywood Awards in Los Angeles. “But it wasn’t until our great director [Blitz Bazawule] he called me and said, ‘I’m giving Celie imagination’ and I said, ‘OK, I’m in’. ”

“Because I was a young lady who went through a lot and lost a lot, and lost everything twice,” she added. “I never thought I’d be back here in front of you.”

Fantasia Barino and Paula Abdul in 2006.

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The film also stars Halle Bailey, Louis Gossett Jr., Corey Hawkins, David Alan Grier, Colman Domingo, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, HER, Ciara, Jon Batiste and Deon Cole.

“Because of Celie, I’m standing here and I want to talk to all the Celies in the room tonight who didn’t think you could get out of certain situations,” Barrino said at the event. “All my black women who felt like you weren’t pretty enough [or] you didn’t have what it takes.”

Purple it’s in theaters on December 25.

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Source: HIS Education