Fleetwood Mac star Stevie Nicks says her beloved late mother would have saved her from viciously attacking Nicki Minaj over Minaj’s threats against Mariah Carey.
Nicks, a recent coach on “American Idol,” put out a public apology yesterday for saying that her friend Carey should have “strangled” Minaj “to death,” and blamed it on a long day of interviews.
But Nicks revealed exclusively to Page Six that she’s still struggling since her mother, Barbara, died at age 84 in December after a battle with pneumonia.
Nicks told us, “I am a very emotional person. I saw what I had said and I didn’t sleep all night.
“I have been touring since June . . . I lost my mom a couple of months back, and usually I would have called her to ask, ‘What should I do?’
“My mother would have said, ‘You rushed in to save your friend Mariah. That is not wrong. What was wrong was the words you used. You are a writer. You would never say those words, and that should be a lesson for you for the rest of your life.’
“I could have taken my mom’s view on it, but instead I took out the insane soldier. From the bottom of my heart I would say I am very sorry.” She continued, “[After I saw my words] I felt, did this really happen? I don’t even recognize my words. Could this have been a ‘Law & Order’ moment? I can’t tell you. I don’t know.”
Of Carey, Nicks said: “When she was having some issues a long time ago, I wrote and told her, ‘You are wonderful, and you have to keep singing. Don’t listen to everybody else.’ I have so much respect for her; she is one of the greatest singers of all time. I guess I was just being extremely protective.”
Nicks, on tour to promote her album “In Your Dreams” and also releasing a doc with the same title, said she’s used to vicious verbal attacks.
She said, “At 64, I’ve learned to roll with the punches, but it is never easy . . . I have been through some terrible times, and the odds are I shouldn’t be here now. I am lucky to be here. My armor is up, but people can get through your armor sometimes, and wound you.”