Paula Abdul and Jeff Bratton Split

By Jessica Herndon

01/07/2012 at 11:30 AM EST

Paula Abdul is a single lady.

After a year and half, The X Factor judge and her boyfriend, record label owner Jeff Bratton, have called off their romance.

"Paula and I split in November," Bratton tells PEOPLE. "It was an amicable thing. But between the final months of X Factor and my responsibilities with [my label] Cascine, there was little time for us."

The two, who met during a flight in 2010, split time between Los Angles, where Abdul lives, and New York, which Bratton calls home.



Though the couple stayed fairly quiet during their relationship, they did step out in October to dance the night away at a Chad Valley concert in L.A.'s Echo Park neighborhood.

"We're still close," says Bratton. "And I'll always be grateful for the time we shared as a couple."