Table of contents for December 25, 2023 in Globe

JINGLE BELLE Spirited JENNIFER GARNER gets her kicks at the premiere of her holiday flick Family Switch HOT DIGGITY DOG! Funnyman TRACY MORGAN beefs up on basketball while watching his favorite New York Knicks ROAR DEAL Maestro’s CAREY MULLIGAN orchestrates an animated appearance in the Big Apple OFF TO THE LACES Sporty Spice Girl MELANIE C is a playful roll model at a skating rink in London THE BEST CELEB PHOTOS EVERY WEEK! COMING TO A BOIL There’s nothing funny about comedian DAVID KOECHNER’s spotty skin! BRING IT ON! Copacabana crooner BARRY MANILOW looks frozen in time with his shockingly smooth face…

THE Golden Bachelor’s GERRY TURNER has tugged on viewers’ heartstrings with his widower’s tale of woe while wooing women on ABC’s reality dating contest — but sources snitch the crafty Casanova has fibbed about his lack of a love life since his wife of 43 years died! At least two women say they dated the senior stud after he lost his spouse, Toni, to a bacterial infection in 2017 — despite gee-whiz Gerry, 72, swearing on the show he hadn’t been kissed in six years! One gal — identified only by the first name Carolyn — says she was coupled up with the silver-tongued septuagenarian for more than two years — and even moved into the dream digs in Indiana he once shared with his late soul mate! But Carolyn…

DISNEY’s High School Musical made Zac Efron a teen idol in 2006 — but the heart-throb has since proven he’s more than a pretty face! In 2019, he terrified viewers as serial killer Ted Bundy in Netflix’s Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, and the 36-year-old is now grappling with wrestling greatness as ’80s ring champ Kevin Von Erich in The Iron Claw. Here are ten things you don’t know about California-born Zac. 1 He had a childhood crush on model Tyra Banks and hung a catalog photo of her on his bedroom wall — but now says,“That’s embarrassing!” 2 He passed up the opportunity to enroll in the University of Southern California because his Hollywood career was taking off — and regrets his decision not to go to college.…

WE’VE said goodbye to way too many entertainment legends in 2023, but these incredible titans of movies, music and TV will never be forgotten! Their memories live on in onscreen performances, sensational songs and incredible legacies. In this special report, GLOBE pays tribute to the amazing stars we loved and lost in the past year.…

MARGARITAVILLE mogul Jimmy Buffett built a $550 million fortune based on his laid-back island lifestyle, but his empire of music, eateries and hotels was almost derailed before it began! Jimmy was a still-struggling singer when he landed in Key West in the early 1970s after guzzling booze and popping pills in New Orleans and Nashville. Living on a boat and enjoying a life featuring freewheeling sex, dope and drinks, the It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere sensation revealed he “was tempted” to get into the rampant drug trade after being told he could double his income. But a run-in with smugglers in a speed boat changed his mind in a hurry! So he got serious about music, cranking out a roster of hits and earning a Best Country Collaboration Grammy nomination with Clint…

HAILED as cinema’s first Black action hero with his trailblazing performance in 1971’s Shaft, Richard Roundtree’s most important leading role was shining a spotlight on male breast cancer! The 81-year-old actor was diagnosed with the deadly disease in 1993 and kept it secret for years! “I was in the shower when I found this lump under my left nipple,” the actor recalled. Days later he had a modified radical mastectomy, removing the complete breast from sternum to the underarm including the nipple and areola! “The cancer had spread to the lymph nodes,” he said. Richard underwent six months of grueling chemo, losing 18 pounds, and lied about the cancer to keep working for six years. “I felt bad but I couldn’t be unemployed,” he explained. “But I tell everyone now.…

DESPITE explosive sworn testimony and taped phone calls indicating the former Our Gang child star offered hitmen $10,000 to snuff his gold-digger wife, TV cop Robert “Baretta” Blake beat the 2002 murder rap but left the courthouse a shattered man. Then in 2005, Blake lost a wrongful death civil case holding him responsible for his late wife Bonny Lee Bakley’s death — and was ordered to pay her kids, including their daughter Rose, $30 million. Bakley, who’d been married ten times, had a history of swindling men for money. She was found shot dead in Blake’s car after the actor returned to a restaurant to retrieve his forgotten gun. Years later, private investigator Scott Ross, who worked for Blake’s defense team, said the actor may not have pulled the trigger but “I…

A SHOCKING stalker incident scarred Andrea Evans for life. Starring as vixen Tina Lord on One Life to Live in the 1980s, Andrea was accosted by an unhinged freak, who slashed his wrists, listed the actress as next of kin and sent death threats written in blood! “That forever changed me,” confessed the soap sweetheart, who spent years in seclusion before returning to the small screen. Andrea, 66, died at her Pasadena, Calif., home July 9, after battling breast cancer.…

SCREEN star Gina Lollobrigida spent her final years embroiled in an ugly real-life soap opera, fighting for love and money. Unknown to the 95-year-old Italian bombshell, who died Jan. 16, her former toyboy Javier Rigau became her husband in 2010 when he used an impersonator to stand in for her after they split! The marriage was annulled by the Vatican. In recent years, her only son, Milko Skofic Jr., accused her toyboy aide Andrea Piazzolla of isolating Gina from her loved ones and embezzling millions to buy — then sell — expensive cars and properties. Milko was right! Last month, an Italian court convicted Piazzolla, 36, of “brainwashing” the actress and swindling her out of more than $11 million — most of her fortune — between 2013 and 2018. He…

HE BECAME a TV heartthrob as Illya Kuryakin in the 1960s spy series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and got a late-in-life bounce as quirky medical examiner Ducky Mallard on another hit series, NCIS, for 20 seasons. But Scottish-born David McCallum was tortured by the loss of first wife Jill Ireland to Charles Bronson, his co-star in The Great Escape, who’d boasted, “I’m going to marry your wife!” While David had a happy 56-year marriage to second wife Katherine Carpenter, sources say he never forgave Bronson for stealing Jill, who died in 1990. “It was an extremely difficult time, because we had three children,” admitted McCallum, who said he tried to be civil for the family’s sake before Bronson died in 2003. But David, who passed away on Sept. 25 of…

REDHEADS have fewer hairs — about 90,000 — than other humans, who average about 150,000 follicles on their skulls. Amazingly, America’s first president, George Washington, was a ginger! COINS left on veterans’ gravestones all have different meanings. A penny shows gratitude for a personal service, a nickel indicates the visitor and the deceased were boot camp buddies and a dime signifies joint active duty. Quarters are left by those who witnessed the actual death. MIGRAINES subside and usually disappear entirely by the time you’re ready for retirement — because scientists say stress and hormones, which trigger them, decrease as we age. NEW YORK’s Serendipity3 sells the world’s most expensive french fries — a $200 plate of seared Chipperbec spuds cooked in French goose fat, doused in Dom Perignon Champagne, rare…

PSYCHO Jose Solano Landaeta is facing 26 years in the slammer for beheading his baby mama on a California side-walk with a samurai sword! Despite suffering from schizophrenia, Landaeta, 34, was convicted of first-degree murder for savagely slaughtering his estranged girlfriend Karina Castro, 27, in September 2022. As GLOBE reported, horrified neighbors witnessed the blade-wielding butcher’s disturbing daylight attack on the beauty outside her residence in San Carlos after Karina threatened to expose his criminal rap sheet when they argued over their two-year-old daughter. Lawmen say the homicidal hothead branded Karina a “snitch lip” and silenced her for good by lopping off her noggin!…

Will & Grace star ERIC McCORMACK, 60, and wife JANET LEIGH HOLDEN McCORMACK are getting a divorce after 26 years of marriage. Janet, who hasn’t had a movie credit since the ’90s, is seeking spousal support. Boom Clap singer CHARLI XCX, 31, finally got a ring from The 1975 drummer GEORGE DANIEL, 33, after begging for a proposal in the comment section of his band’s Instagram page. It’ll be a lonely weekend for country songbird KACEY MUSGRAVES, 35, now that she’s split with her poet boyfriend, COLE SCHAFER, following two years of dating. You’re hired! SEBASTIAN STAN, known as Bucky in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, is cast as a young DONALD TRUMP in a movie about The Apprentice. MARTY KROFFT, known for producing Donny and Marie, H.R. Pufnstuf and…

RAPPER Sean “Puffy” Combs is getting the brushoff from Macy’s, which is booting his clothing line after the music mogul settled a sensational sex abuse lawsuit brought by singer Cassie! The Bad Boy Records boss, 54, denied brutalizing his former galpal — and didn’t disclose the terms of their agreement — but still saw his Sean John duds ditched after two decades with the retailer. Combs has been socked with additional suits from two other women — but blasted the charges as bogus!…

SHE won America’s heart as ditzy Chrissy Snow on the hit ’70s sitcom Three’s Company and got us into shape with the ThighMaster, but actress Suzanne Somers may be best remembered as the poster girl for great Golden Years sex! Despite being diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer in 2001, the blond bombshell proudly boasted she and her longtime husband, Canadian game show host Alan Hamel, 87, got frisky three times a day. She credited vaginal hormone injections for firing up their libido! “At this stage of life, most people think that’s over the hill,” she said. “There’s juice and zest in this chapter! It’s amazing!” She even confessed Hamel, her lover of 55 years, was usually ready for sex before she was. “What is this thing about 4:30 in the…

A 1994 LIVER transplant gave heroin and cocaine-addicted 1960s rock legend David Crosby a second chance at life and he tried to grasp it with both hands. He used his reprieve to donate sperm to lesbian pals Julie Cypher and Melissa Etheridge — twice! Bailey was born in 1997 and Beckett followed a year later. Beckett, 21, died of an overdose in 2020 plunging Crosby into a sea of guilt, believing his addictive behavior was “passed down to his son.” David, who died Jan. 18, also went to his grave an outcast among his bandmates Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash after a series of clashes. “I actually did harm,” admitted Crosby, 81. “I hope they’re all okay.”…

DAYTIME veteran Nick Benedict’s dramatic final days could have been stolen from a soap opera script! The TV hunk was rushed into emergency spinal surgery in Arizona on July 2 but was left paralyzed from the neck down and took his final curtain a dozen days later — on his 77th birthday. The tragic actor, who lived in Bear Valley Springs, Calif., played Phil Brent on All My Children from 1973 to 1978, and was one of Susan Lucci’s ten TV husbands! In 2001, after eight years as bad guy Curtis Reed on Days of Our Lives, Benedict quit acting to focus on painting and music.…

JANUARY The music stopped for Earth, Wind & Fire drummer FRED WHITE on Jan. 1. He was 67. No cause was revealed. Troubled Eight Is Enough alum ADAM RICH, 54, was found dead of an accidental overdose of fentanyl in his Los Angeles home Jan. 7. A “sudden” battle with bacterial meningitis took the life of legendary rock guitarist JEFF BECK on Jan. 10 in East Sussex, U.K. He was 78. CHARLES KIMBROUGH, 86, Emmy-nominated for his role as Jim Dial on Murphy Brown, died of natural causes Jan. 11 in a hospital in Culver City, Calif. Sixteen Candles star CAROLE COOK died of heart failure in Beverly Hills on Jan. 11, three days before her 99th birthday. Veteran actor AL BROWN, who played Stan Valchek on The Wire, died…

Cold weather destroys hair ✚ IT’S no bald-faced lie — experts say cold weather can accelerate hair loss! When the temperature dips, people are exposed to drier air in the outdoors and heated buildings, which “sucks out all the moisture from your scalp,” causing excess shedding, explains U.K.-based pharmacist Abbas Kanani. He also cautions some shampoos and conditioners may be “too harsh” for arid wintertime weather. What’s more, Yonsei University researchers found wearing tight hats — like woolly beanies — can leave manes less lush! X-ray aprons are dangerous ✚ LEAD aprons routinely used by dentists to protect patients during X-rays may do more harm than good, research suggests. Scientists at Tufts University say modern-day machines are so accurate, the antiquated covering is no longer needed because external radiation exposure…

DAYTIME chatter-box Kelly Clarkson is doing cartwheels after hated ex-hubby Brandon Blackstock was ordered to repay $2.6 million in commissions he squirreled away while acting as her manager, spies tattle! A California labor commissioner gave Blackstock a black eye by ruling he overstepped in a big way when he demanded hefty fees that are usually earmarked for agents, not talent managers. The ruling clawed back $1.98 million in Brandon’s earnings from Kelly’s gig on The Voice, along with his commissions from contracts with Norwegian Cruise Line, Wayfair and the Billboard Music Awards — adding up to a tab of $2,641,374. The decision was a major victory for Kelly, 41, who has viewed the talent manager turned rancher, 46, as a thorn in her side — and her wallet — ever…

ACCUSED Gilgo Beach monster Rex Heuermann has been linked to the murders of three hookers by damning DNA evidence after a cheek swab from his estranged wife was recently confirmed as a match for hairs found on burlap used to wrap the victims’ remains, lawmen say. Asa Ellerup, 59, provided the sample to investigators in July when her hulking hubby of nearly three decades was hauled off in cuffs. Investigators have cleared Ellerup as a suspect as she was out of town when prostitutes Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello were slain on Long Island on different dates more than a dozen years ago — but Heuermann, 60, is facing three counts of first-degree murder. The mother of two adult children filed for divorce from the suspected serial slayer days…

RACHEL Z’S ODD HUNGER GAME Actress RACHEL ZEGLER initially turned down the role of Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes because she was homesick after filming Snow White in London for six months. But the smitten beauty suddenly wanted to do the film when producers cast her beau JOSH ANDRÉS RIVERA. But Rachel, who wasn’t even initially invited to the Oscars when her film West Side Story was nominated for Best Picture, insists love is not the reason she accepted the gig. “I had another project lined up that fell through and I just kind of put my name back into the mix and I got it,” she explains. Sure. NEW MOM KOURT TAKES PLACENTA PILLS Oh baby! Kooky KOURTNEY KARDASHIAN turned her…

BILLIE PIPER Doctor Who’s thorny companion Rose is knot good in a bizarre bow-embellished dress TARAJI P. HENSON Empire’s Cookie goes wild — but her clashing animal-print patterns are claws for alarm! RITA ORA The Poison singer’s red-trimmed skirt and footwear leave her looking like an odd bird out AWKWAFINA We’re questioning why the sunny Quiz Lady selected such an unimpressive silhouette GEMMA CHAN The Humans robot is a doll in a whimsical minidress, but her cool boots add an edgy touch…

ACTOR Mark Sheppard’s brush with death is as mystical as his hit TV series Supernatural — the 59-year-old is still alive after suffering SIX mammoth heart attacks in his kitchen. Mark, who played Crowley on the series about demon hunters from 2009 to 2020, writes, “Was on my way to an appointment when I collapsed in my kitchen. Six massive heart attacks later, and being brought back from dead four times I apparently had a 100 percent blockage in my LAD (left anterior descending artery). The Widowmaker.” He’s referring to the heart’s largest artery and the “widow-maker,” the chilling nickname for the heart attacks due to the blockage inside the blood vessel. He credits wife Sarah Louise Fudge, the L.A. fire department and the staff at Providence St. Joseph hospital with saving…

DINNER parties can be lonely these days for disgraced journo Matt Lauer, 65 — sources say his social circle continues to tighten six years since Today fired him over sexual abuse complaints! Lauer has insisted those encounters were consensual, but insiders spill the former anchor is at sea as friends continue to drift away in the wake of the scandal. Lauer has “drastically changed his social circle and iced out many old friends,” dishes an insider.…

WHAT’S Love Got to Do with It was a huge hit for leggy superstar Tina Turner — and the “second-hand emotion” had everything to do with keeping the dynamic singer alive! The Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll signed up to an assisted suicide organization in 2016 after discovering her unmanaged high blood pressure had accelerated kidney damage. She was saved by 16-years-younger husband Erwin Bach, who donated a kidney in 2017! But the romantic gesture didn’t end Tina’s health problems. The Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome actress secretly spent her last days trapped in medical misery after suffering strokes, battling kidney failure and intestinal cancer. She also was staggered by losing two of her four sons, suicide victim Craig, 59, in 2018, and cancer patient Ronnie, 62, who died in 2022, before…

HOLLYWOOD siren Raquel Welch made dudes’ blood boil, but the sex bomb went to her grave bitter and hating men! Raquel, 82, who died Feb. 15, was scarred from her traumatic childhood abuse by her vicious father, Armando Tejada, who once held her head under a running faucet and made her hack off all her hair! For years, the future star endured the abuse, but when Daddy attacked her mom, Raquel snapped and threatened to kill him with a red-hot fire poker! But the beauty never got over her fear of her father. As a result, she never got over her belief that men were the enemy, which helps explain her four failed marriages, the first in 1959 to James Welch, who fathered her two children, Damon, 64, and Tahnee, 62.…

AFTER years of teetering on the brink of suicide, troubled songbird Sinéad O’Connor, 56, was found dead in her London home July 26 — and officials aren’t announcing how the bipolar activist died. After the Irish firebrand attempted suicide eight times, a pal conceded, “She’s mentally ill. We prayed she could turn a corner and salvage her life.” Now O’Connor is united in death with both her idol Prince, who wrote her biggest hit, Nothing Compares 2 U, and suicidal son Shane, 17. “Sinéad went through hell,” says a source. “She had demons in her head and couldn’t control them.”…

ARE robots coming for your job? Not if you’re a football player — but consultants, accountants and psychologists are right to look over their shoulder! A new study analyzed 365 job categories to see who is likely to be safe — and who’s gonna be toast — as artificial intelligence becomes more sophisticated. Researchers found robots are ready to sit in the corner office at white-collar jobs, but athletics, roofers and other construction jobs still need the human touch! Alarmingly, the study determined the more education you have, the more likely robots will push you aside on the career ladder. AI has already eaten into the legal profession, experts report, and chatbots are champing at the bit to replace telemarketers, shrinks and even clergy!…

KIM KARDASHIAN recently made a shocking confession — she and her family “scammed the system” and “aren’t supposed to be” rolling in money. Of course, she’s dead-on. The Kardashian-Jenner clan are basically low-talent schlock. Most of their glamorous looks come from cosmetic fixes, makeup and expensive rags and the root of their fame is a boring sex tape of Kim with her then beau, rapper Ray J. But give kudos to momager Kris Jenner, who parlayed her talentless, vulgar-taste brats into reality stars grabbing huge buckets of bucks. Now Kim’s basically mocking all her slavish fans for being fans, period! The joke is on them! She, of all people, knows her clan has zero talent or skills — except for nitwit, boring conversations about nothing important — so she’s getting…

ONE of the most romantic movies ever, 1957’s An Affair to Remember — which later inspired 1993’s Sleepless in Seattle featuring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan — stars CARY GRANT and DEBORAH KERR as soulmates who first need to dump their current significant others before they can hook up. Grant begged director Leo McCarey to give him the part — but when filming began the actor was extremely cranky from using hypnotherapy to help him kick his 60-cigarettes-a-day habit!…