In Touch Editor-in-Chief Michelle Lee told stunned staffers yesterday that she is leaving to become editorial director at celebrity Web site Hollywood.com.

Lee has held the top spot for the past two years and has been at In Touch for a total of seven years.

Lee was made interim editor two years ago when Richard Spencer resigned in a dispute with management — but the “interim” was quickly erased after she scored the Michelle “Bombshell” McGee story about the tattooed California woman who had a fling with Jesse James while he was still married to Sandra Bullock.

Hollywood.com is owned by Mitchell Rubenstein and Laurie Silvers, the co-founders of the Sci-Fi Channel.

No replacement has been named at In Touch, but one inside candidate for the job is Executive Editor Deb Baer.