Looks like the woman accused of attacking Terri Seymour has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against her. Janice Thibodeaux was charged with misdemeanour battery and assault yesterday morning following her altercation with Seymour, the ex-girlfriend of Simon Cowell, and appeared in court to answer the claims.

A Los Angeles judge set her bail at $20,000. She is due to appear in court again on June 4. If convicted of misdemeanour battery, Thibodeaux faces a maximum six months in county jail and a fine of $2,000. The misdemeanour assault charge carries a maximum one year prison term and $10,000 fine. Thibodeaux is accused of assaulting Seymour outside Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, the site of where Cowell’s TV show American Idol was being filmed on Tuesday.

It has been claimed the music mogul has ordered his personal security team to protect Seymour until she feels safe again. Police claim Thibodeaux asked Seymour if she was still dating Cowell - who she split from last November after a six-year relationship - and then tried to choke her. However, Thibodeaux has revealed she was unhappy with Cowell’s behaviour towards his fellow ‘American Idol’ judge. She told a US website: “I wasn’t cool with Simon Cowell choking Paula Abdul on the show last week and with her crying-out ‘help’ as he did so. Nobody said anything about that so I wanted to confront him about it because that is not appropriate behavior, is it?”