American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi has admitted that she is behind the decision to hire Ellen DeGeneres as the show’s fourth judge.

“I’m a huge Ellen DeGeneres fan,” the songwriter admitted during an interview on Sirius XM’s The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. “I think she’s going to bring so much to the show.”

“She’s somebody who loves music, she’s positive, she loves kids…She is somebody who has watched the show from the beginning, knows everything there is to know about American Idol and I think ultimately it’s going to be a great new energy.”

Kara is also thrilled that everyone won’t be talking about her relationship and supposed feud with Paula this year.

“Oh my god, thank you!!…Oh god!!” she replied when Flick asked about moving on from last year’s speculation.

“It was pretty hellish,” DioGuardi admitted..

“Yeah, I got slagged,” she said. “People were…it was difficult for them to accept the change. It was difficult for them to understand why somebody who nobody had ever heard of could kind of come out of nowhere and sit next to these iconic figures. You know, why was I there, what did I do to deserve to do to be there?”

“It will just be easier this year because I’m not as fearful as I was last year…For someone who’s never been on live television it’s very, very challenging to go from the back of the studio to the number one TV show, and that kind of visibility. And it was very, very, very scary.”