Table of contents for June 14, 2021 in Globe

OLD FELLA Goodfellas hothead RAY LIOTTA has let his once jet-black hair go totally gray! CAN YOU DIG IT? Rapper LL COOL J lends a hand at the ground-breaking for the Universal Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx IN THIGH SPIRITS Fitness fanatic BROOKE BURKE kicks up her heels in Malibu during an outdoor workout MINI PINS Leggy Kill Bill beauty UMA THURMAN is scary-skinny in NYC’s Central Park BIG MOUTH TV chef GIADA DE LAURENTIIS looks excited to get a taste of Miami’s food scene THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ Reclusive folk singer BOB DYLAN, 80, was caught on camera in L.A. for the first time in years…

MARTHA Stewart is happy as a kitten in a bowl of cream over new stink sparked by lifestyle rival Gwyneth Paltrow’s “exploding” vagina-scent candles, insiders say. Paltrow, 48, head of the Goop products website, has been clobbered with a class-action lawsuit by Texan Colby Watson, who claims he bought Gwyneth’s $75 This Smells Like My Vagina candle — and it exploded! Now Martha, 79, who’s been feuding with Gwyneth for years, “is telling everyone Paltrow is getting her just desserts for selling ridiculously overpriced products — and candles that smell bad,” an insider blabs. “Martha’s always prided herself on quality and affordable prices, and says Gwyneth only cares about the profits. “She’s getting a wicked kick out of seeing Gwyneth knocked off her high horse, because Martha sees her gimmicky…

AN EXPLOSIVE new congressional report reveals the deadly COVID virus came from a Chinese lab tied to the Communist nation’s military — not wild bats — stunned officials tell GLOBE! Bombshell revelations by the House Intelligence Committee investigators debunk Beijing’s claims the Chinese government and military had nothing to do with the virus that’s killed an estimated 4 million people worldwide since spreading from Wuhan in late 2019. According to the members of Congress, the blockbuster probe found: + “Significant circumstantial evidence” COVID originated from a leak at a lab in China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. + The U.S. government may have inadvertently helped fund Chinese research that created the killer bug by giving grants and economic aid to collaborators. + Chinese officials tried to block “international efforts to discover…

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 Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder fantasy drama, __ Scissorhands 11 Castle’s novelist-turned sleuth is played by Firefly star __ Fillion 9, 3, 10 & 2 Romantic drama starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Michelle Pfeiffer 4 Vice President to Gerald Ford, __ Rockefeller 6 & 5 Law & Order: Criminal Intent actress 1 & 8 Canadian comic star of Ghostbusters and The Blues Brothers MOVIE WATCH Emma Stone has appeared in all the movies below. See if you can unscramble them. 1. FEEBLEST HOAX TEST ______________________________ 2. BAR MIND ______________________________________ 3. BAMBOOZLE LEAD PUNDIT _________________________ 4. SNAGGED QUARTS _______________________________ $100 PRIZE How to enter puzzles and…

NEWLY nonbinary warbler Demi Lovato is demanding people stop yapping to her about her weight — even if they want to say she looks great! The hitmaker, 28, who has come clean about her struggles with eating disorders and substance abuse, pleaded with fans to trim their “weight loss compliments.” “Even if your intention is pure, it might leave that person awake at 2 a.m. overthinking that statement,” Demi posted on Instagram.…

IN A cat-astrophe for the Tiger King crew, the feds seized 69 big cats from the Oklahoma zoo featured in the Netflix series! Some 46 tigers, seven lions, 15 lion-tiger hybrids and a jaguar were removed from the park when agents served a warrant early last month. The animals were underweight, had worms and didn’t get enough food “free from contamination,” according to a federal affidavit. There was also “a strong stench of rotting animals,” says U.S. Fish Wildlife Special Agent Kevin Seiler. Flies swarmed piles of animal carcasses and a refrigerated truck was “likely filled with putrid meat,” he says. In three visits since December, inspectors claimed to find a slew of violations of the federal Endangered Species Act, including inhumane conditions for the big cats and no proper…

A GROUNDBREAKING antiviral injection nearly obliterates COVID-19 in the lungs, offering new hope for a life-saving therapy, according to researchers who spent more than a year developing the drug. Hailed as a next-generation treatment for the pandemic, the jab was created by a team of international experts at Australia’s Menzies Health Institute Queensland at Griffith University. They say the medication utilizes a technology known as gene-silencing, which uses the body’s RNA — molecules similar to DNA — to battle the virus. Modified RNA was also used to create the Pfizer and Moderna vaccinations, which appear to be up to 96 percent effective at warding off the disease, say experts, who note they do not work once a patient is infected. But the new drug works with small pieces of RNA…

EMBATTLED Ellen DeGeneres is desperate to escape her current Hollywood hell with a soul-searching trip to Africa, according to sources. After announcing she’ll pull the plug on her talk show next year, sources say the 63-year-old animal activist decided she needs a big change — and Africa is the perfect place to sort out her life. “She’s desperate for a break from Hollywood after all the scandal over her show’s toxic behind-the-scenes environment,” spills an insider. “She needs a full six months off to plan her next move.” That means heading to Africa and her beloved critters, spies say. “The first thing she wants to do is go straight to her gorilla sanctuary with her wife, Portia de Rossi,” dishes the insider. The couple’s Ellen Fund is committed to saving wild…

WORKAHOLIC Dick Van Dyke is looking frailer than ever — and sources say loved ones are terrified the 95-year-old legend’s talk of launching a one-man show will end in tragedy. During a recent L.A. outing, the aged star of the 1960s classics Mary Poppins and The Dick Van Dyke Show appeared so thin and feeble he could “barely walk a block without hunching over” and “standing seemed to be a bit of a problem for him,” says an eyewitness. But Dick’s determined to keep working “because he doesn’t want to disappoint his fans,” an insider says. Incredibly, the beloved trouper is planning a one-man show as his next project, saying: “I’ve got an hour and a half put together like a one-man show. “Gregory Peck went out and did it…

SITCOM icon Lucille Ball became America’s beloved funny girl playing a ditzy, goody-two-shoes housewife on TV’s I Love Lucy, but her early life was sordid and scandalous — a new book claims she was a gangster’s moll, nude model and worked as a New York hooker! What’s more, Lucy got her big break in Hollywood on the casting couch of Columbia’s lecherous studio boss Harry Cohn, according to the book Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz: They Weren’t Lucy & Ricky Ricardo by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince. Born Aug. 6, 1911, Lucy dreamed of a showbiz career, but initially didn’t have any talent. She bombed in a New York acting school also attended by a “snobby and intimidating” Bette Davis and was such a bad dancer, teacher Martha Graham booted…

AN ALARMING number of overconfident Americans say they’d happily poke the bear — because they think they could beat the beast in hand-to-paw combat! They also believe they could take on crocodiles, gorillas, elephants and lions and still come out victorious! An online survey by YouGov found that among 1,224 adult Americans, 6 percent were loaded for bear, and nearly 10 percent thought they could win in death matches over an array of savage creatures! Around half of the optimistic poll participants felt they could easily unleash their fury on a mid-sized dog, although the World Health Organization notes bites from rabid dogs kill tens of thousands each year. And 75 percent boasted that scuffling with a rat, house cat or chicken would be a piece of cake.…

+ REGULARLY brushing your teeth could help ward off crippling rheumatoid arthritis by reducing harmful bacteria linked to the disease, researchers say. Scientists at the Academic Center for Dentistry in the Netherlands claim they found people with the joint-ravaging autoimmune condition had elevated levels of the bacteria prevotella and veillonella in their mouths. “Our research suggests oral bacteria may play a role in triggering the onset of rheumatoid arthritis,” explains lead author Johanna Kroese.…

SNL comic John Mulaney’s troubled life drove his wife, Anna Marie Tendler, to rehab last December — at the same time he was battling booze and drug demons at another facility, sources snitch. Anna, a 35-year-old hair and makeup artist, went to Connecticut’s Silver Hill clinic, where she was treated for “eating disorders” and emotional wounds “suffered during their marriage,” says an insider. Her now-estranged husband got treated in Pennsylvania. Now, after asking Anna Marie for a divorce in February, Mulaney, 38, has hooked up with Aaron Rodgers’ ex-hottie, actress Olivia Munn.…

EMPIRE star Bryshere Gray has been smacked with jail time for strangling his wife senseless during a shocking domestic dispute that ended with a SWAT team standoff at his door! According to legal documents, Bryshere, 27 — who played troubled rapper Hakeem Lyon in the hit TV drama about a fractured family dynasty — pleaded guilty to felony aggravated assault and got ten days behind bars along with three years of probation. Last July, Bryshere barricaded himself inside his home near Phoenix, Ariz., after a woman claimed he’d assaulted her and choked her until she passed out cold! Cops say they saw multiple injuries on the woman, Candice Jimdar, who identified Bryshere as her husband. His sentence is the latest stain on the scandalscarred show, which ended its six-year run…

MATT LeBLANC’S estranged dad, Paul, says he and his sitcom star son are not Friends — claiming the actor has cut him off for nine years. At one point, Matt, 53, star of Friends and now Netflix’s Man with a Plan, bought his dad a home in Colorado and paid him an allowance. But that deal came crashing down in 2009, when they fought over money and a motorcycle Paul gave to a nephew, the father claims. Now, he survives on “Social Security and savings” and Matt won’t return his texts or calls, Paul says. But Matt’s spokesgal says: “To put this in perspective, Matt’s father abandoned Matt and his mother when he was an infant.” Now, Paul wants to “get together before it’s too late,” adding: “You’re going to miss…

HEIDI KLUM Sheerly she’s joking! The model’s mostly see-through ensemble is funky but not fabulous NIKKI BELLA The Total Bellas star wears separates that complement each other — and her twin! PARIS HILTON The hotel heir-head looks smart in a sunny minidress with a heart-shaped accent BRIE BELLA The former WWE standout makes a statement in hot pink without up-staging her stunning sis JENNI “JWOWW” FARLEY The Jersey Shore alum is a washout in a jacket with weirdly exaggerated shoulders…

AN OHIO woman was arrested for assault with a deadly log of chopped meat after a shocking beef with another supermarket shopper, cops say! Precious Jackson, 36, says she encountered her neighbor Maneka Garner, 25, in the store’s potato chip aisle. The women, who live in the same duplex, faced off, and things got ugly fast, Precious told police. Cops say Maneka tried to pull down Jackson’s mask to spit in her face — and when that failed she grabbed a packaged tenpound roll of minced meat from a shopping cart and “assaulted” Precious and her five-year-old daughter! Precious already had a temporary order of protection against Maneka, who was charged with assault and violation of a court order, according to the South Euclid Police Department’s incident report. Cops claim Maneka…

ONCE the most powerful man in the world, Barack Obama is caught in a marriage nightmare as the ex-president is forced to play second banana while his ambitious wife, Michelle, chases her Hollywood dream, sources tell GLOBE. The 57-year-old former first lady is now calling the shots in both their private life and at their Higher Ground Productions company, according to insiders, who say she’s also taken charge of their eight-figure Netflix deal and spearheads meetings with the industry’s leading movers and shakers. As he faces his milestone 60th birthday in August, Barack has been shunted to a backseat role — a devastating blow to the former commander in chief, who is now at a crisis point in his marriage and trying to sort out his life, sources say. “Barack…

THE whole notion of celebrities — and what makes one — is totally out of control, mostly due to reality TV and social media where nearly anything makes you famous. A generation ago, celebrities were people who earned their fame through talent and hard work — unless they were members of a royal clan. But nowadays, the new celebs are social media influencers, basically, the brat kids of famous parents. Think model Heidi Klum’s daughter Leni, Madonna’s little girl Lourdes, and the brother-sister act of Willow and Jaden Smith, whelps of actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. So what’s their claim to fame — besides having won the biological lottery? How to spend mommy and daddy’s big bucks on expensive stuff — and flaunt it. Impressive, huh? Not surprisingly,…

BARBARA PARKINS, SHARON TATE and PATTY DUKE played career gals struggling with addiction in the cheesy 1967 drama VALLEY OF THE DOLLS — but they were involved in lots of real-life drama, too! Patty later admitted struggling with drug and alcohol abuse from her undiagnosed bipolar disorder, and followers of madman Charles Manson murdered Sharon two years later! Meanwhile, failing icon Judy Garland was fired early into the shoot for flaming out on alcohol and the opioid Demerol.…