Late yesterday afternoon, E! Online columnist Marc Malkin got the jump on his media colleagues with some sensational excerpts from former American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi‘s new autobiography A Helluva High Note: Surviving Life, Love, and American Idol, due for release a week from today from the Harper Collins imprint It Books.

She details an incident of childhood molestation, at age 11, by a family friend’s son and two more traumatic experiences as an adult: a date rape at the hands of a “fairly known producer” around the year 2000 and extended sexual harassment while working at a suburban location with a “hugely successful artist.”

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Perhaps finally realizing that Paula Abdul is a train wreck we can turn away from, Fox is introducing a fourth jurist to the American Idol judge’s table, Grammy-nominated songwriter Kara DioGuardi.

Who?

Well, according to the LAT she’s “a smart, sassy lady.” But we’re still not convinced this is “change we can believe in,” so we consulted our Rabbi.

Rabbi Richard Rushfield, the venerable American Idol Watcher for the LAT, was philosophical about the change, telling FBLA:

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