Laila Ali’s move into new career territory has surprised even the boxing champ herself.

“The plan was just to take some time off boxing and move into some fitness/wellness type stuff.  Then ‘Dancing With the Stars’ came along, and at first I said ‘No,’” she recalls.  She reconsidered based on the idea of being able to “show a different side of myself that I knew was there - to take myself out of the box of being a female fighter.”

The “Dancing,” stint, it turns out, opened up a new world of opportunities, including her contributing gig on CBS’ “The Early Show,” her NBC “American Gladiators” cohosting job with Hulk Hogan - and her role as host and unofficial godmother on the kid makeover reality show “The N’s Student Body” debuting tomorrow (6/11) on Nickelodeon’s teen-centric The N channel.

“It’s kind of like the kids’ version of ‘The Biggest Loser,’ with kids losing weight and getting in shape - and also changing their attitudes, dealing with personal issues and stuff, while their communities and families come together.  A lot of these kids don’t know how to take care of themselves.  They learn to love themselves and gain confidence.”  While she mentored the girls, “My husband was able to come in and impart wisdom to the boys,” she adds, referring to her mate, former NFL wide receiver Curtis Conway.

Is she good with kids?  “I can fake it ’til I make it, but my husband is excellent.  He can take 10 kids to the movies by himself.”  We love that.  “I love it too, so I don’t have to be the one,” says Laila, who’s expecting her and Curtis’ son in September.

She realizes that with motherhood may come still more new avenues for her professional life.  “That’s what we do as women, keep adding to our abilities as we go through life.   I don’t really think too much of it; that’s the natural order of things.  Women everywhere wear a lot of different hats,” she says.  “It’s just that when you’re in the spotlight, everyone goes for the ride with you.”

FROM TOME TO TUBE: Kelly Preston promises fans of Jodi Picoult’s best-selling novel “The Tenth Circle” won’t be disappointed in the Lifetime television adaptation airing June 28. “It was adapted very well and has not changed considerably,” says Preston, who plays an English professor having an affair with her student the night her daughter gets raped in the telepic,  also starring Ron Eldard and Brittany Robertson. “I hadn’t read the book prior to getting the role, but it’s excellent. I’m very much a fan now.” She adds, “I don’t think you can make a film and retain all of it. A lot of the stuff at the end of the book is not there, but the majority of it is.”

THE VIDEOLAND VIEW: Regis Philbin’s plate is full of side dishes - including “Million Dollar Password” and his new “Hallmark Heroes With Regis Philbin” campaign geared toward celebrating everyday heroes who change the lives of others.  The multiplatform campaign (television, online and in stores) will last a year and culminate with two television specials.

With it all, how does the future look for Regis vis a vis his long-running “Live With Regis & Kelly”?  It’s been widely reported that his current deal lasts into next year, and then?  “I’d like to keep going.  I feel good, feel strong,” says the beloved septuagenarian host.  “If they want me, yes.”

DISHY: Sharon Bush certainly had fellow guests’ attention at the 21 Club book launch breakfast for Dr. Robert Schwalbe’s “Sixty, Sexy, and Successful” last week, talking about reports that the Bush family paid her $10 million to stop writing her own book about her life and her 23-year marriage to Neil Bush, the President’s brother.

According to sources on the scene, she laughed saying she wished that was a fact, but the truth was that she received $30,000 a year for four years — $120,000 total - after three children and nearly a quarter century of marriage.  Sharon also revealed that she still has her diaries, and plans to pen her memoirs, but not ’til George W. Bush is out of the White House.  Sharon, by the way, bought six copies of the “Sixty, Sexy and Successful” tome by psychoanalyst Schwalbe, saying that she wished her ex had laid down on the doctor’s couch before ruining their marriage.

And Dr. Schwalbe added, with nods of approval, that former Senator Eliot Spitzer might also have benefited if he’d scheduled an appointment, or picked up the “how to” guide for men, before he destroyed his political career and damaged his marriage.