🎧 When 'American Idol' Had a Pastor Who Helped Katharine McPhee and More
Richard Rushfield talks with Leesa Bellesi, a powerful figure in the wings of Fox's OG 'Idol,' who prayed for future superstars and helped them navigate sudden fame
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This is the third in Richard Rushfield’s second season of Hollywood Stories, featuring tales of television. Earlier episodes include hilarious, smart and candid conversations with Bruce Vilanch, the comedy maestro behind years of Oscar telecasts and some of the most memorable and unhinged variety TV spectaculars from the 1970s, and Big Mouth creators Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett.
Richard Rushfield takes us back to the heyday of the original American Idol in the aughts and early 2010s, when the Fox juggernaut dominated conversation everywhere from Howard Stern to the Today show and produced megastars like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. But there was one powerful figure behind the scenes, someone you’ve probably never heard of, whose quiet devotion touched future superstars from Katharine McPhee to Jordin Sparks: Pastor Leesa Bellesi. Through her American Idol Ministry, Bellesi not only prayed for the success of these contestants, but she also helped them and their families navigate the harsh spotlight of sudden fame that glared upon even the ones who didn’t make it far.
Richard chronicled Bellesi’s incredible journey in his 2011 book, American Idol: The Untold Story, and now, more than two decades later, they revisit those heady years together as she recalls her unique access and spiritual connection to the show and its stars — from the Bible passage that bonded her with McPhee to a fateful prayer circle with judge Paula Abdul.
“It was such a God thing,” Bellesi says. “The prayers that I prayed in that room are living themselves out still to this day.”
