Simon Cowell predicted “The X Factor” would be a TV hit and eclipse his ex-employer, “American Idol.” He was wrong, and now his show has been gutted of three of its five stars, including Paula Abdul, putting its future in question.

Where does Fox’s “X Factor” go from here in trying to replace them and compete in a crowded field of singing contests when it returns this year for season two?

Money is an issue: Aside from its talent contracts, the show’s first season was expensively promoted and lavishly produced. Whether Cowell, others producers and the network will open sufficiently deep pockets when they go in search of stars to replace Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger is an open question.

Fox’s favorite son, “American Idol,” reportedly wooed Jennifer Lopez with $10 million for her first season on the show and kept her with a second-season deal worth up to $20 million – proof of Fox’s continued confidence in the show, even as it ages, to earn substantial ratings and advertising dollars. Can a rookie that stumbled out of the gate expect the same?

A new host also must be hired to replace Steve Jones, who tweeted Tuesday that his departure was “a shame” but didn’t give a reason for the change.

Neither did Cowell, who in a statement Wednesday saluted Abdul on her departure and gave a “massive thank you” to her, Scherzinger of Pussycat Dolls fame and Jones for their work. Fox reality chief Mike Darnell also avoided discussing reasons for the shakeup in a “We love Paula” shout out.

But Abdul cut closer to the issue.

“I’ve learned through my longevity in this industry that business decisions often times override personal considerations,” she said in a statement, adding that she and Cowell remained friends and she was grateful for the “X Factor” opportunity.

The show had reunited Cowell and Abdul, former “American Idol” teammates. Abdul had quit “Idol” following a contract dispute and Cowell left to try to re-create the magic of “X Factor,” a hit in Britain and elsewhere, in the U.S. market.

His bravado in promising a top-rated show that would eclipse “American Idol,” which awkwardly also airs on Fox, proved overblown. Although “X Factor” gave Fox a stronger presence on Thursday, a lucrative night for advertising, it failed to match the No. 1 status of “Idol” and often lingered near the bottom of Nielsen Co.’s 20 top-rated shows – good, not great.

(Even “Idol” seems to be suffering from singing-contest overload this season, with its ratings down by double-digit percentages. New competitors who may be diluting the genre’s appeal include “The Voice,” with Christina Aguilera and Adam Levine among its heavyweight pop star judges. )

While Abdul and Scherzinger apparently failed to live up to Cowell’s standards, kicking off both the show’s female stars seems less than gallant. Another woman, British pop star Cheryl Cole, lost her place at the judging table in a dispute with Cowell before the show aired and was replaced by Scherzinger.

That adds to the challenge of finding replacements: Who wants to come aboard and risk taking the fall if “X Factor” doesn’t improve next season?

For now, judge Antonio “L.A.” Reid appears secure. And so does Cowell – until season two airs and Fox takes a hard look at whether his TV baby is growing into the blockbuster that Cowell promised.

The X Factor judge and record label owner Jeff Bratton decided to call off their relationship because their busy schedules were keeping them apart.

Bratton confirms to People.com, “Paula and I split in November. It was an amicable thing. But between the final months of X Factor and my responsibilities with (record label) Cascine, there was little time for us. We’re still close, and I’ll always be grateful for the time we shared as a couple.”

The couple began dating after meeting on a flight in 2010.

Paula Abdul is unhappy. And unless the producers of “American Idol” change her frown to a smile soon, she’ll dance like there’s no tomorrow away from TV’s No. 1 show.

“Very sadly, it does not appear that she’s going to be back on ‘Idol,’ ” David Sonenberg, Abdul’s manager, told The Times when contacted about the judge’s contract negotiations.

With auditions for the ninth season due to start Aug. 6, Sonenberg says he doesn’t even have a proposal for a new contract from FremantleMedia and 19 Entertainment, the production companies behind the show. The new season is scheduled to premiere in January.

“I find it under these circumstances particularly unusual; I think unnecessarily hurtful,” he said of the contract holdup. “I find it kind of unconscionable and certainly rude and disrespectful that they haven’t stepped up and said what they want to do.”

[Updated at 11:59 p.m.: Sonenberg began managing Abdul at the end of June, he said. According to him, he has "reached out to the head of business affairs at 19" and told Fox that "Paula would love to be on the show." He said Fox told him he would hear from them, but "I have not received any proposal whatsoever."]

Representatives for Fremantle, 19 and Fox all separately declined to comment.

When TV stars (or their reps) air contract-renewal gripes in the media, it’s often a sign that negotiations are entering a more active phase. Abdul — whose tearful, tongue-tied feedback to contestants have made her a kind of batty sister figure to star “Idol” judge Simon Cowell — may have special reasons to want to push the ball forward now, given that “Idol” host Ryan Seacrest just signed a deal worth a reported $45 million that will keep him on the job for at least the next three years. That pact effectively doubled Seacrest’s salary.

Meanwhile, Cowell has a contract that expires next year and is jockeying for his own rich new payday. Published reports have floated a mind-blowing figure of $144 million, which Cowell has scoffed at, saying that talks are ongoing. (Fellow judge Randy Jackson is booked through 2011.)

But the situation is more complicated for Abdul. Last season, the producers added a fourth judge, Kara DioGuardi. Producers have not announced a deal with DioGuardi either, but the speculation is that her presence at the judging table may have been a shrewd move to tamp down any outsize contract demands that Abdul and her team might make. For their parts, both DioGuardi and Abdul have said recently that they want to return to the show. (DioGuardi’s publicist did not respond to a request for comment.)

But in Abdul’s case, that seems dependent on getting the right dollar amount. Sonenberg has said his client has not been well-compensated in the past.

She’s already looking toward an “Idol”-less future, he says, though Abdul’s foray into non-”Idol” programming, the 2007 Bravo show “Hey Paula,” was not a success.

“She’s not a happy camper as a result of what’s going on. She’s hurt. She’s angry,” Sonenberg said. “I think at this point we’re going to be considering everything, including some kind of a competition show. She has tremendous ideas for a whole variety of shows.”

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So was she or wasn’t she?

Days after singer Paula Abdul revealed in an interview with Ladies Home Journal that she’d battled a 12-year addiction to painkillers, she now claims the magazine got it wrong and took her remarks out of context.

Abdul, 46, told two radio shows Thursday morning that she never said she had been addicted to painkillers or checked into rehab.

“It was very stressful for me to hear that and to be quoted saying something. I never said,” Abdul told hosts on the Detroit radio show “Mojo in the Morning.”

“I’ve never checked into a rehab clinic. I’ve never been addicted or abused drugs, and I’ve never abused alcohol. I’ve never even been drunk in my life,” she said.

When hosts of the Dallas-based radio show “Kidd Kraddick in the Morning” asked Abdul if it had been difficult to talk about her struggle with addiction, she replied, “I didn’t. I was quoted as saying something I didn’t say.”

She said the facility where she was reported to have retreated to detox – La Costa Resort and Spa – is a vacation spot, not a clinic and that she went there for “mud baths and facials,” not to dry out.

But the magazine interview features Abdul’s vivid description of her withdrawl.

“I could have killed myself…. Withdrawal – it’s the worst thing … I was freezing cold, then sweating hot, then chattering and in so much pain, it was excruciating. But at my very core, I did not like existing the way I had been,” she told Ladies Home Journal.

A rep for Meredith Corporation – publisher of Ladies Home Journal – told the Daily News the magazine is sticking by its story, written by reporter Peter McQuaid.

“We definitely stand by out reporting. We’re happy that she shared her journey with us,” said Mariella Azcuy, a publicist for the magazine.

The issue is set to hit stands on Tuesday.

Abdul earlier said her “handlers” would release a statement, but when asked if Abdul planned to take legal action against the magazine, her rep Jeff Ballard said only, “Paula is moving forward.”

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Paula Abdul said her contract is up this season on “American Idol,” and that no one can ever replace her.

In an interview with Cynthia McFadden, airing Thursday on ABC News “Nightline” at 11:35 p.m. EDT, Abdul said that she loves the show, especially this season, which has a fourth judge, Kara DioGuardi.

“I love the show, I do. I love what I do on the show. … It’s taken me a while to get comfortable in my own skin with the show,” Abdul said.

Asked by McFadden if she thinks DioGuardi will replace her on the show, Abdul said, “I don’t think anyone (can). First of all, Kara says, ‘I could never replace you.’ And I said whenever there is change it’s not about replacing anybody it’s about possibly moving on.”

Abdul said she has no problem that DioGuardi joined the judges panel, along with herself, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson, but she wasn’t consulted about the decision beforehand. She said she was informed DioGuardi would be a part of the show while heading to the airport last August to judge “Idol” tryouts.

“I thought that respectfully all of us as a group, maybe we could even figure this out together and I was surprised because Simon has always been against the fourth. We’ve had guest judges come in before and he banned that from happening anymore,” she said.

Paula Abdul, declaring her loyalty to “American Idol,” denied criticizing the Fox TV series over airtime given to an alleged stalker.

“I am a big fan of the show. I am blessed to be on the show. It’s the greatest show on television all around the world and … a gazillion people would love to be in my shoes,” Abdul said at a meeting Tuesday of the Television Critics Association.

In December, Abdul told Barbara Walters in a radio interview that the Fox network and “Idol” producers knew that Paula Goodspeed had stalked her but allowed the woman to audition anyway.

Abdul told Walters that Goodspeed was brought on the hit program “for entertainment value.”

Goodspeed, who appeared on “Idol” several seasons ago, was found dead of an apparent suicide in a car near Abdul’s Los Angeles home last November.

Pressed about it Tuesday, Abdul denied saying “anything disparaging about `American Idol’ at all” or complaining to producers about Goodspeed.

When a reporter pointed out that Abdul was quoted as saying she had warned producers about the woman, Abdul replied: “Well, that is true. But that’s that. I can’t talk about it anymore. It’s an ongoing police investigation.”

Series executive producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz said what happened is “really, really sad” but should be put to rest.

“The truth is, we did know she (Goodspeed) was an extreme fan of Paula’s. But from being a big fan to what happened, there’s a big difference. And nobody could have known that it would actually happen.”

“American Idol” returned for its eighth season this week with Abdul, Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and newcomer Kara DioGuardi on the judging panel.

Earlier Tuesday, Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly was asked about Abdul’s future with the show after her contract ends this year.

“Paula’s an integral part of the show. As far as we’re concerned, we want to have her as long as the show goes. When we get into those discussions, we’ll see where Paula’s head is at,” Reilly said.

Paula Abdul has spent the better part of the week telling anyone who would listen that she’s dissatisfied with the producers of “American Idol” and the she’s upset with Simon Cowell (“he’s like a family member you can’t get rid of”).

Seems a little strange to air so much dirty laundry just weeks before the new season of “Idol” premieres, but as it turns out, Abdul might not have much reason to care about awkwardness. That’s because she’s seriously considering not going back to “Idol” at all.

“Paula has a reality show on MTV (‘Rah! Paula Abdul’s Cheerleading Bowl’) and her jewelry line,” says a source close to Abdul. “She’s got no reason to put herself through the stress of the show if she doesn’t want to. She’s all but done; and given her other successes, she has no reason to be afraid about speaking out now.”

An “Idol” source says that the scenario — one that includes Abdul leaving as early as the pretaped auditions — is one they’re preparing for. “Obviously we have three other judges who can carry the show, and if she leaves before the live shows, the auditions can be edited so that she’s hardly noticed.”

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Paula Abdul says the Fox network and “American Idol” producers knew Paula Goodspeed had stalked her, and allowed the woman to audition for the show anyway. “I said this girl is a stalker of mine and please do not let her in,” Abdul said Monday during an interview with Barbara Walters on her Sirius XM radio show.

Goodspeed was found dead of an apparent suicide in a car near Abdul’s home last month.

Abdul said “Idol” producers ignored her protests and brought Goodspeed on the show “for entertainment value.”

“It’s fun for them to cause me stress,” Abdul said. “This was something that would make good television.”

At the behest of producers, Goodspeed appeared on the show more than once, Abdul said.

Both Fox and Fremantle Media North America, which produces “American Idol,” declined to comment Tuesday.

Abdul, 46, said Goodspeed had written her “disturbing letters” for nearly 18 years and that she maintained a restraining order against the woman at times.

The “American Idol” judge also accused Fox of making her home address public, although she added that Goodspeed found the place on her own after an audition: “She followed me home with her mom.”

When Walters asked why Abdul remains on a show that put her in peril, Abdul replied: “I’m under contract.”

PAULA Abdul is so freaked out by the suicide of her stalker in front of her Beverly Hills home last week, a friend of the “American Idol” judge says she won’t go back to the “haunted house” even after hiring “healers” to cleanse the house of ghosts. “[Paula Goodspeed] was a deranged stalker who sent her death threats. Paula instructed guards to keep Goodspeed away from her at all costs,” said a source. “She refuses to stay at home because she fears that the spirit of Goodspeed is haunting her house. She feels like this is the absolute worst omen, a really bad curse . . . Paula is suffering. It is well known that she is emotionally fragile.” A rep for Abdul said, “There’s no validity to this. She’s been home since the incident happened. There’s no issue with spirits. Paula is shocked and saddened by what transpired. Her heart and prayers go out to the Goodspeed family.

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