Table of contents for December 30, 2019 in Globe

LEADER OF THE PACK RATS It’s no joke — that’s JOAQUIN PHOENIX doing some heavy lifting in NYC TOTALLY CLAW-FUL! File this look as a fashion flop — LADY GAGA fails to nail it NO LAUGHING MATTER Monty Python’s JOHN CLEESE is not dead yet — but looks like he has one foot in the grave! A HAIR-RAISING SIGHT Potty-mouthed comic SARAH SILVERMAN flips her lid in L.A. PLUSH HOUR American Hustle’s AMY ADAMS loads up on toys during a Santa Monica, Calif., stroll COMING UP ROSY DWAYNE “The Rock” JOHNSON is in the pink as the hulking movie hunk wets his whistle in London THE BEST CELEB PHOTOS EVERY WEEK!…

SCANDAL-TARRED Prince Andrew is being investigated for double dealing by secretly promoting the business of a tax-dodging banker pal while he was working as Britain’s roving overseas envoy. Shocking revelations show the financier, David “Spotty” Rowland, gave Randy Andy the use of his $53 million private jet at least five times while the prince worked as a royal ambassador until 2011, as well as in the years after. Who paid the $10,000-per-hour cost of the luxury plane, which Andrew took because he was reportedly unhappy with older craft supplied by Britain’s Royal Air Force, is still unknown, but it’s unlikely much moolah, if any, departed from the prince’s pockets. In October, the craft zoomed Andrew to the United Arab Emirates, where he was seen cutting a ribbon for the opening…

VANNA WHITE has been filling in for ailing Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak — and insiders say the bodacious second banana likes it so much she’s now working behind the scenes to grab the wheel full-time! “Vanna doesn’t want to steal Pat’s job — but she knows he’s in poor health and she thinks her playing a bigger role will help the show!” snitches an insider. The foxy letter-flipper, 62, has been turning the game’s signature disk since Pat underwent emergency surgery on Nov. 7 to repair a blocked intestine. Adds the source: “She’s tired of being a glorified mannequin, turning cards and looking spectacular in sensational gowns. She’s found that she has a talent for being a host and wants to exploit it!” One spywitness says Vanna has…

WHO AM I? Answer the clues and place the initials to each answer into the appropriately numbered square to find our mystery celebrity. $100 PRIZE 7 Actor brother of Chris who stars opposite Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games films, __ Hemsworth 10 Angelina Jolie won her first, and so far, only, Academy Award in this drama set in a mental hospital, __, Interrupted 4 & 8 British actor best known for his lead roles in TV’s The Wire and Luther 11 Reese Witherspoon plays an almost-ghost haunting her old apartment in the romantic comedy, Just Like __ 9 Martin Scorsese-directed psychological thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Shutter __ 3 Titanic actor who plays agent Jack Bristow in the television spy drama Alias, __ Garber 6 Tom Jones hit single that…

SHE broke barriers as the first black woman to win a Tony for Best Actress and to have her own TV show, 1968’s Julia, but Diahann Carroll’s private life was filled with heartbreak. The Hollywood legend, 84, who died of cancer in Los Angeles on Oct. 4, went to her grave haunted over being abandoned by her mother when she was only three — and never finding lasting love. “My mom took me to North Carolina, and when I awakened the following day, I realized she had left me there,” the Oscar-nominated Dynasty star confessed. And her four marriages were a bust. The first ended in 1962 over her long affair with actor Sidney Poitier. Her second was done after just four months in 1973. Her 15-years-younger third husband died…

HE WAS a beloved funnyman whose comedies included Men in Black and Dodgeball, but the laughter hid Rip Torn’s shocking, self-destructive secret life! The Oscar-nominated actor — who died July 9 at age 88 — was a rising star in Hollywood before his wild, dark side emerged. He was slated for the role that made Jack Nicholson famous in 1969’s Easy Rider — until he got into a vicious argument with Dennis Hopper that reportedly ended with Rip trying to stab him! And in 1970 he bashed tough-guy author Norman Mailer on the head with a hammer while making the movie Maidstone. Although his life seemed back on track as Artie on The Larry Sanders Show, the three-times-wed star’s demons returned after the show was axed in 1998. He was…

Brush your teeth — and save your heart! + CARING for your chompers may lessen your risk of developing deadly heart problems, say researchers in South Korea. A team from Ewha Womans University based their work on prior studies claiming poor oral health led to bacteria entering the bloodstream and causing damaging inflammation. After analyzing ten years of data from more than 150,000 subjects, the scientists determined that brushing at least three times a day was associated with a 12 percent lower risk of heart failure. Why women get CPR less than men! + THE REASON strangers are reluctant to give women CPR is because they are afraid of touching their breasts — and it’s costing lives! This uncomfortable news comes from new research that set out to explain a…

SOMETHING’S rotten in Las Vegas — and the stench is oozing from Sin City’s most disgraceful resident, O.J. Simpson! For some twisted reason, the foul former footballer is as popular a celebrity as ever in America’s gambling capital. Maybe it’s because he overcame incredible odds to beat the rap for butchering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in 1994. He’s also a lowlife who served nine years in a Nevada slammer for armed robbery and kidnapping. Released in October 2017, the 72-year-old slithered to Vegas, where he’s been living it up like he’s king cobra and attracting babes young enough to be his granddaughters. Recently, the snake was seen dancing up a storm with a pair of blondes at the Sand Dollar Lounge. We’re told people…

STAR TREK legend William Shatner is ditching his wife because he believes his beloved horses want him to put her out to pasture, say sources close to the space case. The aged actor, 88, filed to end his marriage to Elizabeth Shatner earlier this month — 18 years after they tied the knot. Though he found fame playing Capt. James T. Kirk in the popular sci-fi franchise, in real life Shatner’s hobbies are more down-to-earth. The dedicated rider and avid outdoorsman even wrote the book Spirit of the Horse, celebrating the animals he says “have played an essential role in my life.” But an insider claims the self-proclaimed horse whisperer thinks he can actually communicate with his steeds, “not through words, but through senses, and he’s telling friends they’ve been…

POP tart Miley Cyrus appeared to needle soon-to-be ex-hubby Liam Hemsworth by getting the word “freedom” tattooed across her hand amid their ongoing ugly divorce! The 27-year-old hitmaker wed the Hunger Games hunk, 29, in late 2018 after nearly ten years of on-again-off-again dating. But the couple announced their shocking split less than eight months later in August — and Miley immediately hooked up with a girl AND a guy. Then the Slide Away singer showed off her fresh ink on social media — a few weeks shy of their anniversary! You know you’re getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you’re down there.— George Burns…

A STAR is born? Serial bachelor LEONARDO DiCAPRIO’s young galpal, model turned actress CAMILA MORRONE, 22, says she didn’t want to wind up like her struggling actor parents. But dating A-lister Leo, 45, apparently changed all that — making the bit roles vanish like magical fairy dust! “I thought: ‘I’m going to go to college. I’m going to have a normal 9-to-5 job.’ And of course, I ended up exactly like them,” says the brunette. Now playing a high schooler in her dramatic new movie Mickey and the Bear, Leo’s squeeze says she studied JENNIFER LAWRENCE in some of her films before doing her own. Guess that counts as acting school! She’s also landed a role in Amazon’s upcoming Daisy Jones & the Six alongside ELVIS PRESLEY’s gorgeous grandkid RILEY…

OUT-OF-WORK newsgal Megyn Kelly has joined her old FOX sparring partner Sean Hannity to bash talk show funnyman Jimmy Kimmel — and sources say the odd-couple combo is part of the booted blonde’s big comeback plans! The feud started back in 2018 when bigmouthed Kimmel cruelly mocked Melania Trump’s accent on a TV segment that prompted conservative pundit Hannity to demand an apology on the first lady’s behalf and branded the ABC comic an “ass clown.” Kimmel yapped back, saying Hannity was a “lunatic,” but the spat eventually fizzled. Now Hannity, for reasons that are not clear, has reignited the feud, barking: “Jimmy Kimmel, I dare you! Start up again! I will unload like you’ve never seen! I’ve got it all racked up, ready to go.” That’s when Megyn —…

I’M STILL here, still having a good time.” That’s what TV icon Valerie Harper declared when she was diagnosed with a deadly brain cancer and given just three months to live in 2013 — four years after she beat lung cancer! And she made the doctors eat their words. he Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda star survived for an amazing six years, finally succumbing to the disease in Los Angeles Aug. 30, eight days after her 80th birthday. Behind her were personal struggles — and a fortunate final chapter in her personal life. Her first marriage to “best friend” comic actor Richard Schaal exploded after 14 years, and she was devastated by the 2017 death of longtime co-star and pal Mary Tyler Moore. But her rock was second husband…

THANKS FOR 2019 THE MEMORIES HAUNTED by his son’s tragic suicide, soap star Kristoff St. John confessed the only way he would get over the death was to “join” him on the other side. On Feb. 3, the Young and the Restless star, who played Neil Winters for three decades, was found dead in his Woodland Hills, Calif., home. An autopsy revealed he died from heart disease worsened by excessive drinking. In fact, friends say Kristoff, 52, deliberately drank himself into the grave. His first wife, boxer Mia St. John, said the suicide of their son, Julian, 24, in 2014 pushed Kristoff “to the breaking point.” He threatened to kill himself on the 2017 anniversary of Julian’s death, when he was placed on a 72-hour psychiatric hold and took a…

THANKS FOR 2019 THE MEMORIES LOVE couldn’t keep them together — but impending death reunited The Captain and Tennille! Three years after the bitter divorce of the ’70s pop duo, Toni Tennille moved back to Prescott, Ariz., in 2017 to care for dying Daryl Dragon, her former music partner and husband of 39 years. She was at her ex’s bedside when Daryl, 76, who was stricken with Parkinson’s disease and dementia, passed away from renal failure Jan. 2, in home hospice care. It was a remarkable reunion for the couple, whose hits include Muskrat Love and Do That to Me One More Time. Divorce papers shockingly revealed Daryl had signed a “disclaimer deed” giving away rights to their $360,000 home. And Toni’s explosive 2016 autobiography charged he was an emotionally…

JANUARY Actor-comedian Bob Einstein, 76, who starred as Super Dave and played Marty Funkhouser on Curb Your Enthusiasm, died of cancer Jan. 2, in Indian Wells, Calif. Complications from a fall took the life of WWE announcer Gene Okerlund, 76, known by fans as “Mean Gene,” Jan. 2, in Sarasota, Fla. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest actress Louisa Moritz died of natural causes in her Los Angeles home at age 72 on Jan. 4. Actress Shirley Boone, 84, passed away Jan. 11, after suffering congestive heart failure, with her husband of 65 years, Pat Boone, and their four daughters, including singer Debby Boone, at her side. Actress, comedian and singer Kaye Ballard died from kidney cancer Jan. 21, at her home, in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The Mothers-in-Law star was…

AMERICA’S military brass is hiding a chilling secret: The nation’s armed forces have been infiltrated by terrorist sleeper cells, and the recent bloodbath at a Florida naval base is just the opening salvo in a wave of horrific attacks, worried intelligence sources tell GLOBE. In a stunning revelation, intelligence experts reveal the Pentagon has dropped the ball on background checks allowing Muslim radicals, including Saudi Arabian shooter Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, to crawl through a loophole that allows foreign troops to train on U.S. bases. On Dec. 6, U.S. Naval Academy grad Joshua Watson, 23, Airman Mohammed Haitham, 19, and Airman Apprentice Cameron Walters, 21, paid the ultimate price for the Pentagon’s failure when Royal Saudi Air Force flight trainee Alshamrani used a handgun to open fire inside a classroom at…

LEGENDARY Broadway star Carol Channing’s bubbly personality hid a shocking secret — she was a battered wife! And when she died Jan. 15 at her Rancho Mirage, Calif., home, aged 97, she still carried the emotional scars of her 42-year marriage to ex-manager Charles Lowe, friends said. The beloved Hello, Dolly star finally revealed in 1998 that her third husband had physically and mentally abused her — and the couple had sex “only twice” after their 1956 wedding! “Charles never wanted me to get close to him — only his friend [was allowed],” she admitted, referring to his special pal Wally Seawell, a Hollywood photographer who sometimes even lived with them! Charles also squandered all of Carol’s money! She filed for divorce — and then was freed from her agony…

AFTER he died, the shocking secret life of Airwolf heartthrob Jan-Michael Vincent was exposed by ex-lover Nicole Wallace, who feared the truth would be buried with the train-wreck actor after his Feb. 10 death from cardiac arrest. She claimed the hard-drinking and cocaine-loving bad boy’s dark life included sadistic bondage with underage girls in Asia and kinky sex with Hollywood starlets. It got worse — he tried to kill Nicole and her two sons by smashing his vehicle into the back of her car in 1996 when she dumped him and broke his neck. It began a deadly downward spiral. DUIs, cocaine possession arrests and drunken brawls saw him blacklisted from Hollywood and left him flat broke. In 2012 his right leg was amputated following an infection. When he died…

AFTER soaring to fame as beloved TV dad Willie Tanner on the sci-fi comedy ALF, Max Wright’s life crashed to Earth when the show was canceled after four years in 1990. Despite battling back from lymphoma, diagnosed in 1995, for a regular role on The Norm Show from 1999 to 2001, he plunged into a dark, depraved world of alcohol, drugs and random gay sex. And after his second DUI arrest in 2003, his long-suffering wife, Linda, mother of his two children, left him. He made a last-ditch effort to clean up, entering a 12-step program, but ended up a “withered” and pathetic shell. Max, 75, died of cancer June 26 in his Hermosa Beach, Calif., crash pad. “It’s sad what happened to him,” says a neighbor.…

LIFE for legendary drummer Ginger Baker — who with Eric Clapton and the late Jack Bruce formed 1960s supergroup Cream — went sour in his later years, including turning his back on his only son, Kofi. But the pair had a dramatic deathbed reunion just days before the notoriously volatile musician passed away Oct. 6 in a Canterbury, England, hospital. “I think he knew he was going to die and dropped his hard exterior,” said Kofi, 50, who plays drums in a tribute band, Music of Cream. “Underneath all that temper, I think he was a loving person. He just couldn’t say it to me.” Baker, 80, who struggled with heroin addiction for years, battled arthritis, hearing loss, lung disease and heart problems. “He died in his sleep,” said Kofi.…

Simple self-exam takes only seconds! A SIMPLE finger test can reveal if you’re secretly suffering from lung cancer, experts say! People who place their forefingers nail-to-nail and don’t see a thin diamond-shaped gap between them are exhibiting a symptom called finger clubbing, which has been associated with the deadly disease. According to medical professionals, clubbing of fingertips is caused by a fluid buildup related to the most common type of lung cancer. However, they also caution it can be a sign of other health issues, including cardiac problems. The simple check is called the Schamroth window test, which oncology adviser Emma Norton calls “a really easy way to check for potential underlying conditions.” Adds Norton, who works for British health insurer Bupa: “Most people with lung cancer don’t know that…

LOVESTRUCK and lonely Tom Cruise has flipped for Downton Abbey beauty Michelle Dockery — and is on a Mission: Impossible to steal her away from her new beau! The 57-year-old superstar was chatting animatedly with Michelle, 38, at the British Fashion Awards in London on Dec. 2, and “anyone could see he was homing in on her, buzzing around like a hornet!” tattles an insider. As GLOBE previously reported, Michelle had been firmly single since the devastating 2016 cancer death of her 34-year-old fiancé, John Dineen, until recently falling for talent agent Jasper Waller-Bridge, 31, brother of Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge. But that hasn’t deterred the Top Gun hunk, who’s had a crush on Michelle for years and has now gone into full-pursuit mode, says the insider “When he saw…