Table of contents for April 8, 2019 in Globe

RECOVERING addict Wendy Williams’ ugly public feud with Howard Stern could trigger a booze and drug relapse, friends fear! Stern’s recent X-rated on-air tirade may send the struggling talk show diva — who’s living in a New York sober house after treatment for substance abuse — into a downward spiral of booze and drugs, sources tell GLOBE. “Wendy is humiliated, and her self-esteem has plummeted to an all-time low,” reveals an insider. “Many in her circle fear she is a hair’s breadth away from another relapse that she might not recover from. “Howard’s verbal assault hit her hard. She cries herself to sleep and friends are worried she’ll start drinking and doing drugs again to numb the shame.” Wendy, 54, broke down on her March 19 show and tearfully admitted…

YOUNGER star Hilary Duff takes a dramatic turn as the tragic title character in The Haunting of Sharon Tate, arriving in theaters April 5. Though the former teen sensation says portraying the pregnant actress who was slain by Charles Manson’s crazed disciples is a “true honor,” Sharon’s sister, Debra Tate, has slammed the film as “classless” and “exploitative.” Here are ten things you don’t know about 31-year-old Hilary. 1 Born in Houston, Texas, Hilary was homeschooled to accommodate her fledgling acting career. 2 She was cast in the NBC series Daddio but was dropped before the show ever aired. 3 Her breakout role in Disney’s Lizzie McGuire could have gone to Lindsay Lohan, who was also in the running for the plum part. 4 She recalls bombing her audition for…

NOTORIOUS serial killer Jack the Ripper has been identified as a 23-year-old Polish barber — 131 years after his terrifying crime spree! That’s the sensational claim of scientists who used high-tech DNA tests to link Polish-born Aaron Kosminski to the blood-stained shawl of a Ripper victim. Based on their analysis, the British researchers claim it’s a “statistical probability” Kosminski cold-bloodedly butchered at least five women in the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. Kosminski lived with his two brothers and a sister just 200 yards away from where the Ripper’s third victim was found dead. The researchers, whose study was published in the Journal of Forensic Science, conducted genetic testing of blood and semen on a shawl found near the badly mutilated body of Catherine Eddowes, the killer’s fourth victim.…

THE punch line to most fish stories is: “You should’ve seen the one that got away!” But this time, the one that got away is telling the story! Rainer Schimpf, 51, narrowly avoided becoming fish food when his head and torso were sucked into the massive mouth of a 50-foot Bryde’s whale while he was photographing a sardine run off the coast of South Africa! The sardine run is a huge animal migration with penguins, seals, dolphins, whales and sharks all working together to drive the bait fish for easy catching. “I was busy concentrating on the sharks because you want to know if the shark is in front of you or behind you, left or right,” recalls Schimpf. “We were very focused on the sharks, then suddenly it got…

AN EXPERIMENTAL medication wiped out a parasite that causes malaria with a single dose in a recent study, sparking hope for a simpler and cheaper cure for the deadly mosquito-borne disease! Scientists at Switzerland’s University of Basel report one dose of DSM265 blocked an enzyme the killer pest P. falciparum needs to survive. The bug is responsible for the most lethal form of the illness, damaging the liver, brain and heart — and claiming nearly half a million lives a year! Established malaria treatments typically take several days as sufferers endure fever, nausea and severe muscle pain. “A single-dose cure would provide a treatment that could improve compliance, reduce development of resistance and eventually contribute to the eradication of this disease,” says study co-author Jörg Möhrle.…

TROUBLED soap star Kristoff St. John drank himself to death on Feb. 3, a newly released autopsy report reveals. The 52-year-old, who played Neil Winters on The Young and the Restless, died from hypertrophic heart disease driven by excessive drinking, the Los Angeles County coroner found. He’d been in a dark funk since the suicide death of his son, Julian, four years ago and was put on a 72-hour psychiatric hold just days before he was found dead in his L.A. home. His death was ruled an accident.…

DESPERATE to be a mom after being told she couldn’t have kids, Joi Buckley adopted a child — and now she’s got three, after delivering her second baby, a gigantic, record-breaking girl named Harper. Humongous Harper weighed a whopping 15 pounds, five ounces — the size of most six-month-olds — and was more than 23 inches long when she was born on March 11. She came with an amazing full head of hair. The big girl’s the largest infant ever born at Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira, N.Y. “I knew she was going to be big, but I didn’t anticipate no 15-pound baby,” gushes thrilled Joi, a resident of Corning, N.Y. The stork’s massive delivery was a happy ending for Joi and her hubby, who were desperate to have…

ARIES March 21 - April 20 It’s a confusing week of ups and downs — one day ready to tackle everything, and the next unable to do anything! Relax, Ram! By the weekend, you’ll be fine. Cosmic clashes warn against cosmetic changes now — and urge delaying that first date. Friday brings a bargain on a needed household item. TAURUS April 21 - May 21 Monday finds you in a mellow mood, so mellow you might forget something important, Bull. Happily, Mars sharpens your mind and you’re focused the rest of the week. A tiny change in habits offers huge health rewards — you know what it is, so do it. New romance shines under Friday’s Cancer moon. GEMINI May 22 - June 21 Oops, you’re short of funds —…

AGING diva Barbra Streisand’s obsession with plastic surgery has destroyed her face, leaving the Funny Girl hardly recognizable, say sources. The songbird’s oddly misshapen puss drew stares during a March 12 outing with hubby James Brolin to a Beverly Hills plastic surgery clinic, sparking speculation she was getting even more fixes. “She’s had so much work done on her face she doesn’t even look like herself,” snitches an insider. “Weirdly, her nose is the only thing she hasn’t tinkered with. “She likes her nose and believes it’s responsible for her crystalline singing voice, so she wouldn’t dare touch it. “But she’s had so many facelifts and Botox and filler injections, the rest of her face is frozen. She can barely lift a brow or smile.” Boston cosmetic surgeon Dr. Dave…

BACHELOR Democratic presidential candidate CORY BOOKER is auditioning Sin City babe ROSARIO DAWSON to be his first lady. She’s been dating the New Jersey senator for a few months. No wonder CARSON DALY’s replacement for his late-night NBC gig is YouTube star LILLY SINGH. The Indian-Canadian has racked up 14 million followers online! Moonwalker BUZZ ALDRIN, 89, is in charge again. Two of his kids dropped their lawsuit to take control of his affairs, claiming he was loony. APRIL THE GIRAFFE delivered a baby boy at Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, N.Y., while 300,000 fans watched the live stream on YouTube. The tot’s her fourth. My Girl country crooner DYLAN SCOTT and wife BLAIR are expecting their second child in September. Beloved Beverly Hills, 90210 star LUKE PERRY was cremated…

SHATTERED by the damning portrait of her dad, Michael Jackson, as a boy molester in the documentary Leaving Neverland, tormented Paris Jackson attempted suicide yet again, leaving friends and family worried sick for her life. Police and EMS responded to Paris’ L.A. home at 7:28 a.m. on Saturday, March 16, after the 21-year-old model-singer was believed to have slashed her wrists. On the 911 tape, dispatch tells Rescue 827 the call is for “psychiatric problems” and later says, “Upgrade to emergency.” Once there, the patient is described as a “possible VIP.” She was rushed to the hospital, where it was reportedly suggested she be put on “5150 hold,” a 72-hour temporary involuntary psychiatric commitment. Instead, she was released and later that day was seen wearing a jacket saying “Puppies” and…

RECOVERING boozer Ben Affleck’s marriage to Jennifer Garner may be over, but he says they’re still bickering — especially when it comes to their kids! The Gone Girl actor shares Violet, 13, Seraphina, 10, and Samuel, 7, with his Alias star ex and reveals the two don’t always agree when it comes to their children’s playtime. “I’m a little bit more liberal on the screen side of things — the video games and the TV,” he admits.…

TWISTED Veronica Green Posey will rightly rot behind bars for the rest of her life for cruelly murdering her nine-year-old cousin — by plopping her monstrous 325-pound body on the poor girl and crushing her to death. Prosecutors say little Dericka Lindsay died in agony, gasping for air for more than five minutes, as the obese woman, now 66, sat on her as punishment for supposedly being out of control. The brutal squashing was the final torture for Dericka, who had suffered countless vicious beatings from her adoptive parents, James and Grace Smith, say prosecutors. In her autopsy, the horrified Pensacola, Fla., medical examiner reported the child had severe bruising on her behind from “injury, on top of injury, on top of injury.” Prosecutor Amy Shea says of Grace: “Once…

SMOKING isn’t just bad for your lungs — it can also wreck your eyesight. Rutgers University scientists tested the vision of 134 people aged from 25 to 45 — 71 who puffed less than 15 cigarettes in their life and 63 who smoked more than a pack a day. The heavy smokers revealed a sizable difference in seeing colors and contrasts than the practically nonsmokers. “Our results indicate that excessive use of cigarettes affects visual discrimination,” says co-author Steven Silverstein. Nicotine and smoking damage the blood vessels in the body, and the study reveals they also damage blood vessels and neurons in the retina, says Silverstein. Substances in cigarettes also are linked to “a reduction in the thickness of layers in the brain,” resulting in lesions in “the area of the…

GREAT balls of fire! Rock legend Jerry Lee Lewis is recovering from a secret stroke that forced the piano man to cancel all his concerts through June. Lewis, the first person ever inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, vows to make a full recovery with “aggressive and intensive rehab” and perform onstage again. The Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On superstar was hospitalized for a “minor stroke” in Memphis in February, but kept his condition quiet until last month.…

RICHARD PRYOR’S widow says the brash comic “wasn’t ashamed” of his ’70s gay fling with Marlon Brando — and would be bragging about his conquest if he were alive! “He would be talking about it today if he were here. He’d probably fill you in on the details!” declares 79-year-old Jennifer Lee, who insists the Stir Crazy star was open about his “dalliances” with men before his fatal heart attack in 2005. Lee also claims Pryor bedded a transgender woman but after she had a “sex change,” he “didn’t want anything to do with her.” Her comments about her late husband’s sex life came a year after music producer Quincy Jones said Brando would “f**k anything. He’d f**k a mailbox. James Baldwin. Richard Pryor. Marvin Gaye.”…

DESPERATE Duchess Meghan confessed to a sizzling past sex life and being miserable as a penniless actress — “treated like s**t” on the set and forced to kiss hunks with stinky breath — before Prince Harry rescued her from her dead-end life. These bombshell revelations about the former Deal or No Deal suitcase carrier’s hard times are believed to have been secretly penned by Harry’s pregnant 37-year-old wife in an anonymous online blog she titled, The Working Actress. “I’ve had to freeze my union memberships, borrow money, work jobs that I hated, endure being treated like s**t on set, kiss actors with smelly breath and cry for hours on end because I just didn’t think I could take it anymore,” she whined. She also admitted she got into acting not…

DROOPY KOURTNEY FEELS LIKE A BOOB Three kids and 39 years have KOURTNEY KARDASHIAN’s boobs sagging something awful, insiders tattle — so the gravity-challenged reality show babe is set to have them fixed at a nip/tuck parlor so they’ll rival her younger sisters KYLIE JENNER and KIM. “She’s tried taping them, wearing wire bras and slathering miracle creams on them, but nothing has stopped the gravity from taking hold,” says a source. “Her three pregnancies just sapped the life out of her boobs. The only possible solution is breast augmentation surgery. She’s talking of going up in size, perhaps a D cup.” Gives new meaning to Keeping Up with the Kardashians! HOLY CROW! Scary-looking HELEN HUNT slathers on a coating of sunscreen — but it ain’t enough to hide her…

LOUDMOUTH rapper Nicki Minaj and her man are sole mates — she claims beau Kenneth Petty loves lavishing attention on her tootsies, and even dubbed him her hubby! “Every night when I get out of the shower, my husband takes this really good lotion that we just bought, and he massages my feet, and rubs them, and he rubs each toe individually, and the heel, and the ball of my foot, and he does it all,” gushes 36-year-old Nicki.…

COUNTRY queen Carrie Underwood is singing the baby blues, confessing she’s had a tough time “bouncing back” following the birth of Jacob, her second son with former hockey hunk Mike Fisher. The 36-year-old songbird, who also has a four-year-old son, has been hitting the gym since the Jan. 21 delivery, but admits getting her body back “after having Jacob has been much more difficult than after I had Isaiah, and I’ve been pretty hard on myself lately.” The Power of Heart Love singer says, “I just want to feel like myself again,” but notices her older, postpartum bod isn’t what it used to be. “I go into the gym and I can’t run as fast or as far. I can’t lift as much weight or do as many reps as…

INDIANA nutjob Mark Anthony Jones, 46, shot himself just above the penis — and blew a hole in his scrotum — while adjusting a pistol he was packing in his pants! The hiker was treated at Marion General Hospital and later charged with carrying a handgun without a license. RECREATIONAL marijuana sales are turning Massachusetts dogs barking mad! Veterinarians say the number of pooches being treated after eating their owners’ stash has reached “epidemic” proportions on Cape Cod. Stoned canines exhibit symptoms similar to a stroke, including excessive vomiting, urination and walking with a “drunken gait,” says local vet Louisa Rahilly. MEANWHILE, in Layton, Utah, a husky bit off the left hand of a four-year-old boy who reached under a fence with a sock on his arm — and ate…