Table of contents for February 8, 2021 in Globe

BABY-MAKING was the final straw for lovebirds Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas — they split up because the Batman hunk waffled on starting a new family, according to insiders! “He would not commit to having more kids,” says a source. “She is in her 30s. It was a deal-breaker.” Ben, 48, already has three children — Violet, 15, Seraphina, 12, and eight-year-old Samuel — with ex-wife Jennifer Garner, 48. Now Ana, 32, has fled Ben’s $20 million mansion for her own place in L.A.…

WOMANIZER Rod Stewart recalls his prankster wife, Penny Lancaster, got back at him for all his female fans tossing their panties onto the stage during his act. The Hot Legs horndog recalls “singing away in Las Vegas and a pair of men’s underpants came up. “They were really horrible. It was my wife. She hid in the audience and threw a pair of men’s undies up.” Rod boasts that at 76, he’s still a sex symbol, croaking: “I’ll still have thousands of women throwing their knickers up.”…

REAL Housewives babe Braunwyn Windham-Burke says she and hubby Sean are delighted to have an open marriage! After 26 years and seven kids with Sean, Braunwyn discovered she prefers women in the sack — and is now dating another gal. Incredibly, the 43-year-old RHOC beauty and Sean, 47, insist they’re “happy” seeing others while raising their kids together. He was recently snapped stepping out with a new gal in Newport Beach, Calif. While both are allowed to date, Braunwyn says falling in love is a no-no! “Dating someone and falling in love and starting a new life are two very different things,” says the blonde. “That would be heartbreaking.”…

No more lightweight roles for George of the Jungle and Mummy macho man BRENDAN FRASER! The 52-year-old former beefcake’s now seriously taking a stab at an actual Oscar grab, taking the lead in The Whale, a story about a 600-pound recluse who’s eating himself to death. “The Whale manages to be about so very much at once: writing, parenting, teaching, religion, body image, overeating, the price paid by gay couples born in the wrong state or just a few years too soon,” says a theater critic who reviewed the stage play, now being adapted as Brendan’s new big role. Sure sounds like it checks all the boxes to warrant a golden trophy! Not only that, DARREN ARONOFSKY, the bigwig filmmaker responsible for NATALIE PORTMAN’s Academy Award win for Black Swan,…

HEATHER MILLS, who had a nasty split from Beatle Paul McCartney in 2006, is said to be engaged and on the road to marriage with a man 17 years her junior! Gossips claim Heather, 53, and her 36-year-old beau, Mike Dickman, have exchanged commitment rings after 18 months of dating. McCartney has refused to say whether the gold digger he slams in his new song Lavatory Lil is based on the one-legged former skier.…

A NEW series called The Pack was canceled by Amazon Prime after PETA slammed leaked unaired footage that showed dogs smacking into rocks. Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn hosted The Amazing Race–style show, which featured humans and their pooches competing in challenges that PETA described as “dangerous situations.” The raw footage showed pups strapped to people rappelling down cliff faces at the 108-foot Campesinos Falls in Costa Rica. The dogs were hanging between their owners’ legs while slamming into the cliff face and flailing their paws in a desperate bid to scramble to safety. The video was shot for the series’ third episode but never aired. A PETA exec said: “Animals are individuals, and they are not props and gimmicks to use for reality TV.”…

RETIRED baseball slugger Alex Rodriguez is being blasted as a “serial cheater and liar” in a vicious legal battle! A-Rod’s former brother-in-law accuses the former Yankee of racketeering, embezzlement and cutting him out of the $1 billion real estate empire they built together! If a court rules against him, Jennifer Lopez’s fiancé could lose a massive chunk of his $350 million fortune, according to legal sources. The blockbuster suit filed by Constantine Scurtis — whose sister Cynthia was married to A-Rod from 2002 to 2008 — seeks $50 million from the former jock! Alex, 45, has denied all Scurtis’ accusations, but his ex in-law claims he set up a partnership with A-Rod in 2003, and after his sister and the 14-time All-Star divorced, he was fraudulently shoved out of their…

TV FIREFIGHTER Rob Lowe has made a shocking confession — the now-56-year-old was grappling with substance abuse way back when he was an 18-year-old kid filming the teen drama The Outsiders. Now starring on 9-1-1: Lone Star, Lowe happily boasts he’s been sober for 30 years, but it wasn’t easy for a Hollywood actor. “Nobody’s going to do a pity party or have a telethon for all those suffering 18-year-old movie stars, you know?” he says. “And there aren’t that many people who go through it. You have to want to do it!”…

CASH-strapped Irwins have resorted to life-threatening stunts to drum up business at their Australia Zoo, say insiders who fear the money grab will end in tragedy! After the zoo took a financial hit during COVID-19 lockdown, sources say mom-to-be Bindi has been posing with fearsome wild animals, while a croc nearly snapped off her brother Robert’s arm! “They’re having serious money problems and wondering how they’re going to feed the zoo’s 1,200 animals,” spills an insider. “Most of their income comes from tourism and they’re not afraid to get up close and personal with even the most dangerous wildlife to raise the wow factor. “But there’s a feeling they’re taking things way too far!” Bindi, who’s 22 and expecting her first child with hubby Chandler Powell, has put her life…

GROWING up as the little sis of Full House twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen was “insanity,” says Elizabeth Olsen. “There were times when my sisters would always be spotted and I would be in the car with them and it would really freak me out,” reveals the now 31-year-old actress, who’s three years younger than her famous siblings. “When I was a little girl [I] thought if I’m gonna be an actress I’m going to go by Elizabeth Chase, which is my middle name.” But Elizabeth — who plays Scarlet Witch in the Avengers films and the new TV series WandaVision — admits her sisters’ success helped her showbiz career. “I always had this need to prove myself to everyone around me that I work really hard,” she adds.…

STUNNING Naomi Watts tamed King Kong, but the blond beauty couldn’t charm her magpie co-star for her new flick Penguin Bloom — the feathered fiend pooped in her mouth! The 52-year-old actress had to work with birds in the true-life flick about a paralyzed gal’s friendship with an injured magpie. In one scene, the bird went while “on my head and [the trickle] went all the way down my face and … it slipped warmly into my mouth,” she reveals. “It was the most horrific experience.” “›› Keep your face always toward the sunshine — and shadows will fall behind you”.— Walt Whitman…

Beverly Hills, 90210 hunk BRIAN AUSTIN GREEN and Dancing with the Stars hoofer SHARNA BURGESS are serious — and pals are hearing wedding bells! Former RHOC reality babe MEGHAN KING, 36, is squeezing oranges with WILL ROOS, who described their relationship as “besties who also hug and kiss.” It’ll be a girl for NCIS star WILMER VALDERRAMA, 41, and pregnant fiancée AMANDA PACHECO, 30, who are eagerly awaiting their first child. The delighted parents-to-be shared the gender reveal with fans on social media. LUKE EVANS, 41, the deep-voiced bully in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, split with soccer pro boyfriend RAFAEL OLARRA, 42, after roughly a year of dating. “It is what it is,” says the star of the TNT thriller series The Alienist. This Is Us star JUSTIN HARTLEY…

BOUNCY Pamela Anderson says vegans are better in bed — and she has the experience to prove it! “Vegans make better lovers,” the bewitching Baywatch beauty tweets. “The cholesterol in meat, eggs and dairy causes hardening of the arteries (and not much else!).” Pam — who has avoided meat, fish, chicken and dairy for 30 years — says she’s “fairly confident” she’s right, and came to her conclusion the hard way: “A lot of research went into this!”…

HOWARD STERN POLARIZING shock jock Howard Stern has been on the airwaves for more than four decades — and the 67-year-old has just inked a new five-year deal with SiriusXM satellite radio. Here are ten things you don’t know about the controversial self-proclaimed King of All Media. 1 During his youth, Howard considered The Beatles “prophets” and has said their music was his religion. 2 He graduated magna cum laude from Boston University in 1976 with a degree in communications and has funded a scholarship at the school. 3 He had a bad acid trip in college. “I overdosed, and my brain was on fire. I didn’t sleep for days. I couldn’t stop hallucinating,” he recalls. 4 In his book Miss America, Howard reveals he’s long suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder.…

HOTHEADED hubby Daniel Barrett brutally bludgeoned his wife with a fireplace poker — and left the battered Air Force vet in their Pennsylvania basement for two days to die after he suspected her of cheating on him, cops charge. According to authorities, Daniel, 40, was “emotional and excited” when he turned himself in at the Plymouth Police Department. Investigators say the twisted killer confessed to attacking spouse Mary Susan Barrett, 43, with fireplace tongs and bashing in her head with a poker because she admitted to “spending time” with another man. The monster then stabbed Mary in the lower back with a knife and dragged her down the stairs into a windowless room — where he abandoned his dying bride, authorities allege. Legal documents say Daniel returned to Mary the…

SITCOM darling Betty White’s been married three times, but never had kids — and she’s not sorry! The Mary Tyler Moore, Golden Girls and Hot in Cleveland star’s great love was game host hubby Allen Ludden, who she lived with until his 1981 stomach cancer death. Betty says she was too “focused on my career” to want any rugrats. “No, I’ve never regretted it,” says the 99-year-old star. “I’m so compulsive about stuff, I know if I had ever gotten pregnant that would have been my whole focus.”…

NEW research backs up actor Michael Douglas’ claim that he got throat cancer from too much oral sex. Johns Hopkins scientists now say the risk of HPV(virus)-related mouth and throat cancer is more than FOUR TIMES higher for people who’ve had oral sex with at least ten partners. The study also found higher risks for people having oral sex with many partners in a short period and those having it at younger ages. “As the incidence of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer continues to rise in the United States, our study offers a contemporary evaluation of risk factors for this disease,” says Johns Hopkins throat doctor Virginia Drake. In 2010, Wall Street star Douglas, who’s since beaten the disease, announced he had throat cancer, then later revealed the infected area was actually…

BRITNEY SPEARS’ kid sister, Jamie Lynn, has issued a catty complaint to Tesla CEO Elon Musk — his cars are killing her pet kitties because they’re TOO quiet! Apparently, her electric auto doesn’t make the slightest purr when she turns it on and begins backing out of her driveway. So instead of heading for the hills, the cats stay put and risk getting fatally ME-OUCHED! Her suggestion: Make the wonder cars noisier and save lives!…

FAILED reality star Caitlyn Jenner is in chats to join the reboot of the TV hit Sex and the City, insiders dish. The 71-year-old former man and Olympic decathlon champ is reportedly already signed for an upcoming sitcom, Duke of the Valley, but is hot for bigger stuff like the HBO Max reboot, where bigwigs want to diversify from an all-white and sexually straight cast. So sex-swapper Caitlyn “is really perfect,” says a source.…

CHEATING cad Tiger Woods had his party girl mistress call suspicious wife Elin Nordegren in a brazen bid to persuade her that he was squeaky clean! The two-timing links legend hatched the plan knowing hottie Rachel Uchitel had been tailed to his hotel suite in Australia in November 2009 and their illicit affair was about to be exposed. “We had an extensive, 30-minute conversation, Elin and I, convincing her that I was not having a sexual relationship with Tiger,” former Big Apple nightclub manager Rachel, 45, reveals in an explosive interview. “We talked about how I knew Tiger, how I knew his friends, how and why I was in Australia. “The story [about the affair] came out and nobody looked at it. Between the stupid story and phone call with…

PLASTIC surgery junkie Melanie Griffith has gone under the knife yet again, sources say — and a top expert claims it’s a bust! The 63-year-old Working Girl star “was talking about no more nips and tucks for a while, but the lines and wrinkles in her face were just too much,” tattles a pal. “The word is she’s had an operation on her boobs, which needed a lift and are way more inflated than they were a few months ago. “Her nose has also been straightened and narrowed, her forehead smoothed out, and her cheeks and lips plumped up. “Melanie is happy with herself right now, but there’s definitely a danger she’ll go back for more.” New York–based plastic surgeon Dr. Yoel Shahar adds: “Looking at her jawline, it’s obvious…

ACCUSED ax murderer Lizzie Borden’s blood-soaked house in Fall River, Mass., is on the market for $2 million. Lizzie beat the rap for her parents’ 1892 deaths, but died shunned. NEW York City’s annual No Pants Subway Ride — which features thousands of passengers traveling in their undies — has been canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. FRANK SINATRA, who died in 1998, has three stars on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame marking Ol’ Blue Eyes’ achievements in music, the movies and TV. FLORIDA wildlife officials rescued a hungry bobcat that chased a squirrel into a birdhouse — and got his head stuck! After the critter was sedated, the house was taken apart and the feline was released unharmed.…

GOOFY Gwyneth Paltrow’s This Smells Like My Vagina candle doesn’t just stink — it explodes — and nearly burned a house down, a stunned user charges. While the actress hustles the wicked wick for $75 on her GOOP lifestyle website, Jody Thompson won hers in a contest. When she lit the fuse in her North London pad, “the candle exploded and emitted huge flames, with bits flying everywhere,” says Jody, 50. “The whole thing was ablaze.” Luckily, she managed to toss it out the door before it “burned the place down. It was scary.”…

PETE’S EX GETS SUPERPOWER SNARL Can’t curb Hollywood’s appetite for casting famous folks’ kids, like LARRY DAVID’s daughter CAZZIE DAVID, who just landed a juicy role in Netflix’s superhero hit The Umbrella Academy. The 26-year-old will play a loner with a superpower that has something to do with a fear-inducing snarl. No kidding. ARIANA SEX TUNES AIN’T SO GRANDE Speaking of snarls, Cazzie once famously dated SNL star PETE DAVIDSON for two long years — right before he moved on to greener pastures named ARIANA GRANDE in 2018. In fact, she ended up writing the bestseller No One Asked for This, a collection of essays dealing with the breakup. “I cannot adequately put into words the type of aggravation that occurs after eight days in a row of waking up…

SPICE Girl Mel C has made a shocking confession — she plunged into a deep dark funk and “needed professional help” to climb back out. The 47-year-old Sporty Spice, a.k.a. Melanie Chisholm, reveals her depression hit more than 20 years ago and she was too “ashamed” to talk about it, fearing to admit a “weakness.” “I’ve suffered with an eating disorder as well,” she says, adding: “It’s so important to reach out and never, ever be embarrassed. “I think you just need to reach out when you’re depressed.”…

BELOVED actor Jeff Bridges updated fans on his cancer battle, sharing his treatment is “working beautifully” and his tumor has “drastically shrunk.” The Big Lebowski star, 71, revealed in October he was diagnosed with lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system, by tweeting: “New S**T has come to light.” But in a recent post on his website, The Dude says a Jan. 6 CAT scan showed encouraging results and gushes he’s “elated with the news.”…

COUNTRY hunk Blake Shelton’s in a tizzy over his bulging belly and is vowing to shed at least ten pounds of flab before trotting down the aisle with platinum-haired pop bombshell Gwen Stefani. The six-foot-five, 220-plus-pound singer admits he’s gone to pot so bad, he can’t bare to see his own reflection. “I’ve readjusted all the mirrors in the house so they look like when you’re taking a selfie from up above because you can’t even stand and look at myself,” he confesses. Now, the 44-year-old Honey Bee crooner is promising to lean up before getting hitched to his five-foot-five, 120-pound fiancée. “I feel like if I say ten [pounds], I have to do it. So, ten. It’s out there now, I can’t let people down,” he says. Gwen, 51,…

WENDY WILLIAMS claims she took time off in December to attend mom Shirley’s funeral, but her brother insists she skipped the ceremony to lunch with ex-hubby Kevin Hunter! Her brother Tommy’s outrageous claim triggered a ferocious feud with the 56-year-old talk TV bulldog. “I LOVE my sister, but WHY did you miss our mom’s funeral?” he writes on social media, adding Wendy only attended the wake with Hunter and their son. The furious TV chatterbox raged back claiming she WAS at the service and charges Tommy, 53, started a brawl. “You started a fight over an open casket,” she claims. “And the men of the funeral home blocked [it] so that Mommy wouldn’t fall out and there’d be a catastrophe.” Sounds like an episode of The Jerry Springer Show!…

ARIES March 21 - April 20 A blue mood Monday gives way to a surge of energy when the sun and Mercury align! You’ll be rarin’ to go. Midweek brings an invitation for Valentine’s Day — don’t turn it down. It may lead to lifelong romance! Steer clear of a deal that sounds too good to be true Saturday. It’s a financial danger zone. GEMINI May 22 - June 21 A cutie in a woolly hat catches your eye, and it’s all love, all week! Ignore the naysayers — they’re just jealous of your new romance. With the moon in Aquarius midweek, keep on top of mail and phone calls — they could fatten your wallet. A pal wants to partner in business — think it over long and hard!…

COCAINE kingpin Pablo Escobar left behind a large legacy in Colombia after he was gunned down by the law in 1993 — a herd of rapidly reproducing hippos that experts say must be killed before they overrun the country! After the death of the notorious drug lord — whose Medellin Cartel was said to control up to 80 percent of the global cocaine trade in the ’80s — authorities took over his 7,000-acre estate, which included a menagerie of illegally imported beasts. Some smaller animals were relocated to local zoos, but four hefty hippos were reportedly set loose because they were too expensive and difficult to transport! With no natural predators, the so-called cocaine hippos have thrived in Colombia’s swampy marshlands — with as many as 100 of their aggressive…