Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Mia Tyler, the 30-year-old daughter of legendary Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, declares that she feels more empowered than ever before, and is finally taking charge of her life and doing what's best for her: "2009 has been the year of doing what I want to do as opposed to what everybody else wants me to do," says the plus size model/actress/reality TV personality.

Tyler has been busy with her new plus size clothing line Revolution 1228, but she tells us the one thing she always wants to make time for is helping young girls who have struggled as she has.

  "I do speaking engagements at colleges. I was a cutter so I talk about self-harm. It keeps me out of the dark places that I've been known to go to," says Mia, whose half-sister is "Lord of the Rings" star Liv Tyler. "I love talking. I could talk for hours. It's like counseling. I just get down on their level and tell them my story. I'm a firm believer if you help other people, you help yourself."

  Now, she says, "I'm really motivated because I want kids really badly and I want to have a family and I want to have stability. I'm going to do the things that I want to do just to see where it takes me."

  Adds Mia, "I'm not a religious person but there's something really spiritual about living your life and going down your own path and seeing what comes of that. Of course whoever wants to jump on can come along for the ride!"

THE VIDEOLAND VIEW: As "So You Think You Can Dance" speeds toward its Aug. 6 finale, judge Mary Murphy admits she's become emotionally invested in the contestants on the popular Fox show.

Murphy, who is known for putting dancers on her "hot tamale train," tells us, "I find letting go of people the most difficult part of my job. I know it's a competition, but there's nobody you want to see go home at this point. You get attached to them. It does make me sad." Adds the ballroom dance champ, "If they do something that's not quite so good, that's hard on me too."

On the other hand, Murphy lets us know she's more comfortable than ever as a judge on "SYTYCD." "I've been a judge for many years before this show," notes Murphy, who owns the Champion Ballroom Academy in San Diego, "whereas some of the other dancers might have a little bit of a difficult time with it because they're not used to judging.

They're used to just choreographing. I can look at something very easily. If I want to go into specifics I can, but if I want to be general I can. I don't find that part difficult."

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE: It'll be interesting to see whether the Annette Bening-Julianne Moore "The Kids Are All Right" becomes the first of a wave of movies and TV shows depicting the perils of donor dads meeting up with offspring conceived via their sperm donations. After all, the leading edge of children conceived through this practice when it began to get widespread is hitting adulthood about now.

In the case of "The Kids Are All Right," the appearance of the donor dad (Mark Ruffalo) causes friction and heartbreak in the lives of the Bening-Moore lesbian couple and their son and daughter (Josh Hutcherson, Mia Wasikowski). The film's writer-director, Lisa Cholodenko's resume isn't that long but just about everything in it has earned her high marks in the industry — from her big screen "High Art" Ally Sheedy-starrer and "Laurel Canyon" with Frances McDormand and Christian Bale, to series episodes of "Six Feet Under" and "The L Word."

Shooting is underway, and the production recently sent out a casting notice for a real-life pregnant woman.

  AND: Casting forces on "Love and Other Drugs" put out a notice for a real-life Parkinson's patient for a sequence involving a Healing through Humor lecture. Anne Hathaway is playing a woman afflicted with Parkinson's Disease in the Ed Zwick-directed film, also starring Jake Gyllenhaal as the pharmaceutical salesman who falls for her. It's based on Jamie Reidy's humorous memoir, "Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman."

With reports by 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.

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