Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Vanessa Williams — who recently garnered her second Emmy nomination for her deliciously wicked portrayal of Mode magazine diva Wilhelmina Slater on "Ugly Betty" — lets us know things are getting even more wicked when the hit ABC comedy returns.

"She's editor-in-chief, and it's her whole flavor now," says Williams of Wilhelmina's takeover of Mode.

"I was just talking to one of our writers about what I'm getting into in Season 3. I know that Mode is going to look a lot different," says Vanessa. Editrix Wilhelmina has had the offices redecorated. "Apparently, she hated the orange, so she's got rid of all of it. And she's turning Daniel's (Eric Mabius) office into the nursery for the new baby."

For those not up on "Ugly Betty," former Mode head, Daniel Meade, has been ousted — at least temporarily. And Wilhelmina is awaiting a child from her late fianc? Bradford Meade's (Alan Dale) ill-gotten sperm, via a surrogate mother. Wilhelmina's womb was considered too "hostile" for childbirth, natch.

DANCING AGAIN: Brooke Lyons of MTV's "The American Mall" original movie musical that debuts Monday (8/11), thought she'd spend her professional life as a dancer with the Joffrey Ballet — until those plans were cut short by scoliosis. However, the beautiful Brooke found a way to turn her trauma into a triumph.

"It derailed me for a while," recalls the 28-year-old, who plays Dory, the mall manager in the movie from the exec-producers of "High School Musical 2." "It was so severe I had to have a spinal fusion where they put 8-inch metal rods and screws in my spine. I just took off one year where I didn't do any physical activity. But then, of course, I was terrified. It's so strange … It felt like having an operation and then healing and going back to your real body. It was really like having a new center of gravity and getting used to a new body."

She admits, "It was devastating for a while not to be able to dance and know I couldn't be a professional ballerina, but I got to leave the hospital, and when you're in the hospital you realize that some people don't get to leave."

As things turned out, "it was a blessing in disguise because I couldn't dance, and that's when I started acting and fell in love with it.

Now I'm so grateful that I've come back from it, and I'm as flexible as I used to be. I feel blessed every day I can get up and walk and run and jump and dance." Lyons adds she hopes her story will be an inspiration to others. "Having something like that happen to you is an incredible character building experience. It changed me as a person and really changed my perspective on a lot of things."

Lyons says her tightly wound "American Mall" character, Dory, is "the hilarious comic relief. As the drama goes down she tries to keep the lid on everything so she doesn't get fired."

A SHOE-IN: Tony-winning songstress Lea Salonga is touring Asia currently with a production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella." She got standing ovation after standing ovation the other day when the show opened in Manila in her Philippines homeland — complete with notorious shoe hound and former First Lady Imelda Marcos among the opening night VIPs. The songstress and the politico met after the show, and Imelda marveled at Lea's glass slippers — telling Lea in Tagalog that they were one pair of shoes no one could accuse her of having ever owned.

Lea plans to watch the Olympics from her Manila dressing room, since she doesn't get to China with "Cinderella" 'til later in the month. She has seven cities, including Beijing, on her agenda.

MULTI-TASKING: Joanna Levesque, aka. pop star JoJo, has Lifetime's "True Confessions of a Hollywood Starlet" debuting tomorrow (8/9) — in which she plays a Lindsay Lohan-esque teen superstar who parties too hardy, goes into rehab, then tries living incognito in the 'burbs with her mom's college friend (Valerie Bertinelli). The 17-year-old Levesque has also been busy recording her next album and keeping up with her schoolwork — in her case, one-on-one with her tutor. "It's a huge commitment. It's hard to do three major things at once, so I try to do only two at a time," she says. If she had to pare down her activities, she's clear about what she would not give up: "My main passion is music. I can't see myself without it. It's synonymous with who I am."

With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily 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 2008 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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