Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Kellie Martin Curbs Type-A Excesses with Yoga, Culinary Arts/No Dramatis Interruptus for 'Nurse Jackie' Fans This Year

One-time juvenile actress Kellie Martin admits she still has the perfectionist, type-A tendencies that led her to battle an eating disorder in her youth — but these days, she believes she knows how to channel them healthfully.

"It's part of the reason I go to yoga as much as I do," says the former "ER" and "Christy" star, who returns to the tube Saturday (2/5) in the Hallmark Channel's fun family comedy with frog prince overtones, "Smooch." (Kiernan Shipka of "Mad Men" and Simon Kassianides also star.)

"The whole message of yoga is being gentle and kind to yourself, and that will reverberate in your life and in the world. Yoga really makes me slow down and breathe, and I really need that in my life, and I do it almost on a daily basis now. It helps me not be such a perfectionist and not such a type A."

Another activity that's become important to her, she says, is cooking. "It's something very meditative and very much a creative outlet for me. I'm a really good cook, and I'm a really good baker, and I cook with my daughter, Maggie, and it's just a really fun way for me to be active," says Martin, referring to her 4-year-old.

"When I'm not acting, I have to have things that really feed my soul, and cooking really does that. I think maybe it came from struggling with food issues as a teenager. I'm very obsessed with food, but now I'm obsessed with food in a healthy way."

Martin and her husband and fellow Yale grad, Montana-born attorney Keith Christian, "have a garden where we grow our own fruit and vegetables. That's a big passion of mine right now," she says. "I want Maggie to know where food comes from. We've talked about getting some chickens and going out and getting fresh eggs in the morning. I'm very into the idea of fresh foods and whole foods, no pesticides, organic — but doing it yourself, not just having it as a trendy thing. I want her to have a little bit of what my husband had, which is the earthy ranch, farm experience," she says. "Have a little of that experience here in Southern California."

THE HIGH ROAD: Fans of "Nurse Jackie" who were frustrated and annoyed when the show's writers ignored her suicide attempt and all the other action they set up in the Season 1 cliffhanger when Season 2 began, take heart. It's not going to happen again.

The Edie Falco series returns to the Showtime lineup next month, and "This time, we're picking up right at the moment we left off," promises Paul Schulze aka Nurse Jackie's adulterous lover, Eddie the pharmacist.

Season 2 left off with her husband, Kevin (Dominic Fumusa), and best friend, O'Hara (Eve Best), having caught on to her drug addiction, coming to confront her, and Jackie locking herself in the bathroom. Certainly, it seemed Damocles' sword was falling on the miscreant medico at last. But, "Remember, the last moment of the second season is not one of resignation for Jackie," Schulze points out, referring to Jackie's season-ending taunt to herself and the audience. "She comes out swingin'. It's pretty tough and strong and remarkable."

Other than that, Schulze is mum on the storyline. "People ask me about what's going to happen, and then before I can even answer, they say, 'I don't want to know,'" he reports with a laugh.

The actor, who's been pals with Falco since they were college classmates at SUNY Purchase, does acknowledge that his character's in a bad place. "By trying to play her game, Eddie has put himself in a situation he is definitely not comfortable in — lying and dodging and sneaking around as much as he does."

He adds, "Like most addicts, I think, Jackie survives and continues to survive not only by her own wits, but by the complicity of others. Those who remain in addicts' lives, those who get comfortable with it, they get something out of it. It goes to the question: 'Who are the people who stay in the lives of liars, of addicts?' 'Nurse Jackie' forces us to recognize we all have shadow selves and, to be provocative, we're all liars."

As far as Eddie's hanging around with Jackie's husband and children, Schulze analyzes that perhaps "It gives him a sense of power. Kevin doesn't know who I am; I have the power to tell him anytime. It's just like what Jackie had on me earlier. But it's not just that it's her husband; it's Kevin, and he's my friend and he's confiding in me.

"I always chortle when people say they don't believe things like this can happen in real life," adds the actor. "Of course, they happen in real life."

SHE SAID YES: Esteemed Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan tells us she plans to put out her watershed work, "James Joyce's Women," on DVD this year, something that should perk up the interest of a whole new generation of Joyce buffs. Flanagan created the play in which she portrays all six main female roles, including Joyce's wife and his famous fictional characters Molly Bloom and Gerty MacDowell. With eroticism and partial nudity involved, it caused quite a stir when introduced. Flanagan also produced the film version that came out in 1983.

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.

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