Kara DioGuardi gave an interview to Maxim magazine and posed for a sexy pictorial to accompany it.  The comely brunette confesses that more than one contestant has hit on her. “I got a couple of proposals and thought maybe I’d want to divorce my husband,” she tells the magazine laughing. Kara said she got the Idol job because of her reputation for being “ballsy and outspoken.”… “They knew I wouldn’t clam up and go under the desk. Although I did want to, believe me!” she said.

Kara also said she missed Paula Abul, but was excited when talk show host Ellen DeGeneres joined the show.  “I missed her. She was so nurturing,” she says of Paula. “I wouldn’t say I have the maternal instinct that she had, though. I’m a little bit more New York, a little more hard-edge.”

When asked if she’s sad about Simon leaving, Kara says, “I have no idea. All I can say is the guy can do things not many folks can get away with, and people like when someone is true to himself.”  She’s also incredibly happy about Ellen joining the show (”I was like, ‘Rock on!’”)… “The thing with Ellen, I don’t think everybody understands is that she’s a huge music lover. That’s what you need to be on Idol,” she added.

Check out the full interview over at Maxim.com.

Kara DioGuardi is not on board with Howard Stern as a potential replacement for Simon Cowell on future seasons of American Idol. “I don’t really know if I can even speak on it,” Kara said of the Stern rumor during a press conference call Wednesday. But then she did: “I don’t know that [Stern] has a musical background,” she mused. “I think that if you’re gonna replace Simon, you have to have that background.”

Kara, had nicer things to say about the musical bonafides of Idol newcomer Ellen DeGeneres. “Ellen brings a sense of humor, of course, but also I think she knows more about music than we think she does,” she explained. “She had a really good handle on whether a contestant had potential,” … “She knew that something was off in the vocals or in their performance…I thought she delivered the message with kindness but also had criticism in there…she did an incredible job for her first time there.” DioGuardi added

‘She’s been there through this entire process,’ he says of the ‘American Idol’ judge.

With his self-titled debut album hitting stores March 2, Jason Derülo admits that he owes a big thank you to “American Idol” judge Kara DioGuardi. Derülo isn’t some “Idol” reject who got advice from DioGuardi during audition rounds of the show; his relationship with the hitmaking songwriter actually goes a bit more personal than that.

“Kara DioGuardi is my baby mama,” he joked to MTV News about the singer/songwriter, who moonlights as Warner Bros. Records senior vice president of A&R. “Nah! She took a part in kind of discovering me. [Producer] J.R. Rotem brought me to her, and they put the deal together. She’s been there through this entire process.”

Record execs can be very meddlesome in the creative process, but Derülo said DioGuardi is very nurturing. “She’s never once tried to butt in, ’cause she’s an amazing songwriter,” he said. “She’s never tried to butt in or change me at all. She’s trusting me to take the reins on this whole thing.”

DioGuardi might not be intruding, but it is her job to dole out advice to musicians. Derülo said her advice for him is much different than the advice she gives out on “Idol.”

“Giving advice to me and giving advice to someone who’s really, really new at this [is different],” he said. “I mean, I’ve been doing this my whole life, and I have a songwriting background. The advice she gives me is much different. She’s the same sweetheart behind the scenes as she is on Idol.”

‘I felt she had a really good handle on whether a contestant had a potential,’ she says of DeGeneres’ debut. “When I was sitting next to her, I felt she had a really good handle on whether a contestant had a potential, whether they had star quality,” she said of Ellen during a conference call with reporters. “She knew if something was off in the vocals or in the performance. I thought she delivered the message with kindness, but also had criticism in there.”

Kara was also quick to dismiss rumors of any on-set tension between Ellen and fellow judge Simon Cowell. “I think you have to take any rumor you hear about ‘American Idol’ with a grain of salt — they’re usually not true,” she said. “Last year it was Kara and Paula [Abdul] fighting, hating each other, Kara sits in the corner. These things are just ridiculous. We’re all there to do one thing and that’s to find the greatest contestant, the greatest ‘American Idol’ winner we can find.”

The Ellen/Simon contretemps wasn’t the only rumor DioGuardi responded to during the call. She also took a whack at reports that Howard Stern might be replacing Cowell at the judges’ table when he leaves the show at the end of the current season. “I don’t think he has musical background or any kind of music anything,” she said of Stern, clearly unhappy with the possibility. “If you’re going to replace Simon, you have to have that background, you have to be somebody who knows about signing great artists and being a part of their career from the very beginning to the very end.

And then there’s perhaps the most talked about element of Tuesday night’s show: the new VitaminWater cups that replaced the long-established Coke cups on the judges’ table. What’s going on? Before being sure to point out that Coca-Cola owns VitaminWater, Kara gave the new cups a sort of Hollywood Week golden ticket.

“They were kind of colorful, different,” she laughed. “Everything’s always changing on the show. I kind of just drink from the cup and assume there isn’t poison in it.”

Kara DioGuardi says Ellen DeGeneres brings a sense of humor to American Idol this season. “I think she also knows more about music than you think she does,” the second-year judge said to a conference call of reporters Wednesday. “I felt she had a really good handle on whether a contestant had potential, had star quality. She knew if something was off in the vocals or in their performance. And I thought she delivered the message with kindness but also had criticism in there .”

Kara declined to compare Ellen with her predecessor, Paula Abdul. “They’re completely different,” she said, “and they both bring something really valuable to the table.” She did, however, think that Andrew Garcia’s re-interpretation of Paula’s hit Straight Up was “genius.”

As a rule, Kara opted not to comment on specific contestants that weren’t shown during last night’s first Hollywood show. She did say, however, that she was disappointed by one male contestant, who showed more of a country orientation during his audition then decided to go a completely different direction in Hollywood. (She didn’t name the singer or say how far he progressed in Hollywood.)

She was also pleased to hear two of her songs sung last night — Didi Benami’s Terrified and Mary Powers’ Sober. “I was absolutely shocked,” she said of Didi’s rendition. “She showed that she had a great range and a sensitivity when she sings. I was pretty impressed by her.”

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According to judge Kara DioGuardi, female Idol winners are “easier to break” into the music industry once their records are made. Given the “unique” women who have advanced so far this season, DioGuardi thinks there’s a good chance a girl might win Idol.

She figures it’s perfect timing since music is currently being dominated by fierce females like Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, and Katy Perry. Not only do women rule the mic on Idol, they rule the judges’ panel.

DioGuardi says she’s much “more relaxed and comfortable” this year as a judge and Ellen DeGeneres is also holding her own. She finds Ellen to be good mix of “kind and critical” and adds, “She knows a lot more about music than people think.”

American Idol airs every Tuesdays and Wednesdays on FOX.

Katy Perry clashed with Kara , mocking her at times and threatening to throw a Coke in her face when she shot back.