In a phone conversation about the upcoming season of "American Idol," Simon Cowell addressed the issue of Paula Goodspeed, a fan who, in November, was found dead in her car outside the home of Paula Abdul, an apparent suicide in November.

"What happened was awful," he told reporters. "My regret in all of this is that we didn't know how troubled this person was. If I could have gone back in time and known what she was going through, I wish we could have spent time trying to help her. We genuinely didn't know."

Simon defends "Idol" producers offering his opinion that that they are people of integrity, who honestly didn't know how troubled Goodspeed was when they let her into the audition room.

"Talking about the producers in the way they have been portrayed [in the media] is unfair," he continues. "It was their decision two years ago to do 'Idol Gives Back,' which raised $120 million. These aren't bad people. All they want to do is make a successful show. I spoke to them after the incident, they were absolutely horrified. I can't point fingers at them and say they knew everything about this person, because I don't genuinely think that was the case."

Despite the tragedy, Simon says that he won't be changing his approach to criticizing the contestants. His belief is that because "American Idol"'s auditions are open, there is no way to research people at that point in the process. Besides, the series has been on the air for seven seasons and everyone knows if you are not good, you are going to get criticized.

"I have thought long and hard about this and I think that we will continue in the way we have always done, which is in the main, we have tried to have a sense of humor over the whole process," he says. "The show is not an inherently mean show. It is an American dream-show, where the whole purpose of the show is to find somebody -- it might be a cocktail waitress like Kelly Clarkson -- who through the process becomes a star. I think that for people at home, it has been hopeful showing the process. If you are not very good, don't waste your time trying to do something you are not very good doing."