Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Three-time Grammy nominee Vanessa Carlton says it's legendary singer/songwriter and former "Fleetwood Mac" vocalist Stevie Nicks she has to thank most this year — for helping her through a dark night in her soul.

"I almost didn't get to the other side, and I'd like to credit Stevie Nicks for being like my fairy godmother — mentoring me so beautifully over the past few years, not allowing me to give up, infusing me with so much energy and confidence," says Carlton, who toured with Nicks for three years in a row while working on her latest CD, "Heroes and Thieves."

Carlton explains that at the height of her success, she faced a void. "I was reading this book called 'Settling on Happiness.' It's about how you assume certain things will make you happy, and then they don't," she says. "It's like you have a checklist, and then you get everything you want on the checklist, and for whatever reason, you don't feel satisfied. I discuss that in the song 'Nolita Fairytale.' You think, 'Oh, I have a record deal, I'm a platinum, Grammy-nominated artist — I'm done with my checklist.' But the fact of the matter is that I arrived in that spot in the journey, and I'd never been more dissatisfied and confused and uncomfortable in my own skin. In the song, I wrote, 'Take away my record deal. I don't need it. Take the goods back. I want the soul instead.'"

Carlton says at her lowest points, Nicks "would specifically remind me that I'm up for the fight. And I've always been very strong. I'm not very thick-skinned, but I'm pretty tenacious and still very much believe in my aesthetic, and I love being an artist. It's part of my destiny.

"God bless her," says Carlton of Nicks, who's a guest vocalist on the single "The One" on the new album. "I am just the luckiest chick alive to have that woman in my life the way that she is. She helped me in all areas. I can go to her with a question about anything — love, life, music. Her presence was a huge reason why I was able to get through the gauntlet and come to the other side."

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAY: John Stamos and his family will be spending Thanksgiving at his home, where he'll be cooking up a feast.

"I love my mother more than anything else on this planet," he says, "But she's a lousy cook.

If I offered her a million dollars not to burn the garlic bread, she wouldn't earn the money."

When Christmas comes, John will also be with his mom and his sisters and assorted nieces and nephews — most likely at his home. "We've been traveling over the holiday during the last five years since my dad died, trying to run away from the sadness. We went all over — Europe and Disney World and everywhere. But I think it's time to stay home now."

AND GETTING AWAY: Miguel Ferrer of "Bionic Woman" and his wife, Lori, are spending Thanksgiving "up at my house in Idaho — a little snowbound hideaway, right on one of the greatest fly-fishing rivers in the world, and up by one of the great ski resorts of the world. I love winter up there, and summer up there is equally beautiful."

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE: Nickelodeon's "Just Jordan" star Lil JJ lets us know, "I'm thankful for all the people who set a good example in my life — and just life period. … Family, everything I'm blessed with now, I'm thankful for."

"I would like to thank all people involved with Habitat for Humanity," says Polly Draper — mother of Nat and Alex, and "The Naked Brothers Band" creator/exec producer/writer and former 'thirtysomething' star. She adds, "The organization is so meaningful because of each individual person involved."

"Men in Trees" actor Nick Lea wants to thank the show's creator and exec producer, Jenny Bicks. "Just recently, Bicks handed me an opportunity that I have waited most of my life to fulfill. Ever since I was a boy, I have wanted to sing on film. I grew up watching people like Elvis in various films and concerts singing in front of large audiences. After being humiliated by my brothers and sister for being caught in front of the bathroom mirror singing into a hairbrush on a number of occasions, I continued to dream of rocking out in front of my many fans in a concert environment. … A few episodes ago, I was given the chance not only to sing with a band on camera but also to write the song that I was to sing! SO GREAT!"

Lea's cast mate, Seana Kofoed, is taking a writing class with some seniors she's grown fond of, and she says, "I'd like to thank Jeanne Phipps, Lucie Watt, Reilly Lunday and the other wonderful octogenarians and nonagenarians who have graced my life in class this year for showing me that you can still run the world past 80. Or certainly enjoy yourself trying."

With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Fortune Feimster.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2007 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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