Before American Idol, how famous/successful was Paula Abdul?

She shot to fame in late 80s and was immensely popular in the US for a few years through the late 80s to early 90s. At the height of her career she definitely was as big as anyone you can imagine, right up there with Madonna and Janet etc. but in the mid-90s her career started to cool down and she began to struggle with chronic pain that was later diagnosed as RSD. When American Idol came along, she'd been out of the spotlight for quite some time, mainly working behind the scenes as a choreographer for movies such as American Beauty and Jerry Maguire.