Table of contents for December 21, 2020 in Globe

SEVEN-time Oscar nominee Glenn Close slammed Gwyneth Paltrow’s winning the golden statuette for Shakespeare in Love in 1999, saying “it doesn’t make sense.” Now starring in Netflix’s Hillbilly Elegy, Glenn, 73, who never won the Academy Award, says she believes Brazilian actress Fernanda Montenegro, now 91, nominated that year for Central Station, acted circles around Gwyneth. Glenn believes the Goop.com boss nabbed the Oscar because her producers spent a fortune for “publicity.” Incredibly, Gwyneth also beat out Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep that year! She’s amazingly well-connected — her mom is actress Blythe Danner, daddy is late producer Bruce Paltrow, Uncle Harry is a world-renowned opera singer and Steven Spielberg is her godfather. Could that have helped, too?…

FITNESS guru Jillian Michaels just served up another gut-punch in her ongoing keto diet war with Andy Cohen and Al Roker, sources claim. Jillian — who clashed with Andy and Al last year over the merits of the high-fat, low-carb meal plan — told a podcast she had reached out to the guys but they refused her offer of a confab! “Like with keto — Al Roker and Andy Cohen — I was like, ‘Great, let’s have this debate!’ [They were] gone. Vanished! Bye, bye. Gone!” she fumes. The latest skirmish comes after Jillian, 46, knocked the diet that helped Roker lose 40 pounds as a “bad plan for a million reasons” and Andy knocked back with: “A lot of people think Jillian Michaels is a bad idea.” But it looks…

EX-CON Felicity Huffman has pulled off a jail break, scoring her first acting role since serving time for cheating in the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal. The 58-year-old former Desperate Housewives star spent 11 days in the slammer after admitting to paying $15,000 to have another person take a college entrance exam for her daughter Sophia. Now a year later, she’s nabbed a starring role in an ABC sitcom about a gal who takes over a Triple-A baseball team. Felicity, married to Shameless star William H. Macy, was the first celeb to serve time in the college scandal. Former Full House babe Lori Loughlin and her designer hubby, Mossimo Giannulli, are currently in the clink for fraud. ›› War is what happens when language fails.— Margaret Atwood…

Hunkster HUGH GRANT, 60, is griping about how tough it is being an “old man” with young kids. He has five under age ten. Should have known better! New romance alert! High School Musical/The Princess Switch star VANESSA HUDGENS, 32, is reportedly dating pro athlete COLE TUCKER, 24. He’s a MLB shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates. American Idol winner FANTASIA BARRINO, 36, is having a miracle baby with husband KENDALL TAYLOR, 40, who she wed in 2015. “God I want to thank you! … You gave us a seed even when the doctor said that one of my tubes were closed you said different,” posts the singer, who has two kids from prior relationships. It don’t come easy … RINGO STARR’s grandson SONNY STARKEY, along with Oasis frontman LIAM GALLAGHER’s…

MURDEROUS Charles Manson groupie Leslie Van Houten was on the verge of getting sprung from prison — but California Gov. Gavin Newsom has kayoed her parole. Now 71, Van Houten was just 19 when she and two other Manson family members butchered Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in their home on Aug. 9, 1969, the day after other members of the cult slaughtered actress Sharon Tate and four friends in her rented L.A. home. After breaking into the LaBianca home, Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Van Houten tied up the couple. Watson first stabbed Leno in one room and joined the gals, who held a struggling Rosemary while he stabbed her. Then Van Houten took the knife and stabbed the woman more than a dozen times. This is the fourth time…

JOHNNY DEPP fans are flocking to buy his Dior fragrance after he lost a libel court fight with a British newspaper that branded him a “wife beater.” After the verdict involving his ugly marriage and divorce with Amber Heard, the 57-year-old actor lost his gigs in the Pirates of the Caribbean and Fantastic Beasts film series. But he’s still the face of Dior’s Sauvage scent — and bottles are flying off the shelves! One fan tweets: “Shout out to Dior for practically being the one sponsor left for Johnny Depp.”…

IT’S been a hectic 12 months for marriages, babies and bust-ups in celebrity circles! Yes, the year saw many of your favorite stars getting hitched, ditched or bringing new bundles of joy into the world. Here, GLOBE looks at the memorable milestones 2020 brought into the lives of the rich and famous. TURN PAGE…

INSOMNIA medication may wake some patients locked in a vegetative state, according to a recent scientific review. Doctors discovered people with neurological disorders and limited consciousness “woke up” after being treated with the sleep aid zolpidem tartrate sold under the brand name Ambien. “We saw a dramatic effect in a small amount of patients with a variety of conditions,” says Dr. Martin Bomalaski of University of Michigan, who did a systematic review of case studies showing the drug’s unusual effect. For folks who saw improvement, their wakeful state lasted from one to four hours. According to the medical journal Cortex, a 39-year-old Dutch man — who had been unable to walk or talk for eight years due to a brain injury — was treated with the drug and 20 minutes…

A MASSIVE 400-pound alligator that skulked around a Texas Dollar Store had to be rescued after residents began pelting the people-friendly critter with rocks and glass! A half dozen wildlife officers led by licensed trappers Gary and Shannon Saurage loaded 10-foot Fin, as the critter had been named, onto a truck and hauled him off to Gator Country Adventure Park in Beaumont. Fin became known as the Dollar Store Gator after he began hanging around the shop in Port Aransas, a town on Mustang Island in the Gulf of Mexico. “He’s been showing up on and off for months, to the point where half the island was feeding him and the other half was throwing things at him, like glass, rocks and other items,” says Lone Star state animal control…

HE GETS by with a little help from his teleprompter! As GLOBE was first to reveal back in 2010, former Beatle Paul McCartney is losing his memory! The 78-year-old now publicly admits his brain farts have gotten so bad there’s now a machine onstage showing him the lyrics for his own hit tunes! “Sometimes I’ll be doing a song, like Eleanor Rigby or something, and I’m on autopilot,” Paul confesses. “And I’m starting to think, ‘Oh, what am I gonna have for dinner? Maybe you won’t have the soup but maybe you’ll just go for the main course.’ “Sometimes that breaks down and I forget the song. I have a teleprompter.” Adds a source: “Memory problems have been plaguing Paul for years. He’s had to use a teleprompter for a…

OUTRAGED members of Britain’s royal family are accusing Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, of staging a “cheap and exploitative publicity stunt” by telling the world — in a newspaper op-ed piece — they lost an unborn child over the summer, palace courtiers say. “Meghan’s confession was spin control, plain and simple,” a courtier tells GLOBE. “She and her husband are losing the PR war with the palace — people know they’re about celebrity, not duty — and this appalling breach of royal etiquette was a last-ditch attempt to change the narrative.” In the dramatic newspaper tell-all written by the 39-year-old American-born actress, Meghan says she felt “a sharp cramp” while changing yearold son Archie’s diaper last July. “I dropped to the floor with him in my arms. I knew,…

LEGENDARY NASCAR pit crew member William “Rowdy” Harrell and his gorgeous new bride, Blakley, didn’t have to die, sources tell GLOBE. Tragically, the couple’s decision to honeymoon in Florida sealed their fate when they perished in a horrific head-on crash on a rain-slicked highway. “When they were planning their honeymoon, they wanted to go to Hawaii, but with COVID-19 everything was closed and Blakley was scared to go anywhere,” her mother, Stacie Kelley, 45, tells GLOBE. “Blakley thought they should stay on the mainland with everything going on.” Harrell, an acclaimed 30-year-old tire carrier for Hendrick Motorsports, and Blakley, 23, tied the knot in a “picture-perfect” wedding in Alabama on Nov. 21, and were honeymooning in Key Largo, according to her mother. He was driving a 2020 Toyota Corolla northbound…

LIAM GALLAGHER claims there’s “nothing left on the table” to fix his feud with bandmate brother Noel — who turned down $133 million to do an Oasis reunion tour! “When someone offers you $133 million to do a few gigs … you’re going to go, ‘All right, then yeah,’” says Liam, 48. But he claims Noel, 53, refused to do it! “He’s not into it, is he?” Liam snaps. “He’s after a knighthood, isn’t he?”…

ARIES March 21 - April 20 Oops! A kiss beneath the mistletoe leads to some trouble with your significant other, Ram. You were only having lighthearted fun, but they may not see it quite that way! Apologize fast! Midweek, Neptune brings changes to plans to meet friends or family. Relax. You’ll learn later this was all for the best. GEMINI May 22 - June 21 A work or family problem is keeping you on edge, but when the Capricorn sun aligns with Jupiter, you’ll find a solution and get your mojo back! A gift from someone you knew long ago arrives as a major surprise! That difficult relative? The cosmos inspires the perfect solution for family harmony! LEO July 23 - Aug. 23 Festive plans feel like more work than anything…

DESPITE building a bloody gangland empire, Chicago racketeer Al Capone only had a sixth grade education. He dropped out of school to join a New York street gang run by future Boss of All Bosses Lucky Luciano! FLORIDA snake hunters caught over 4,000 invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades this year, increasing the total number of reptiles bagged since 2017 to 6,278! Officials warn that’s just the tip of the iceberg. WILD West gunslinger Johnny Ringo blew his brains out under a tree in Arizona’s West Turkey Creek Valley with a single shot from his .45 revolver. Despite official rulings of suicide, his rival Wyatt Earp falsely claimed the killing. CHICKENS outnumber people 200 to 1 in President-elect Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware!…

HUNGER Games star Jennifer Lawrence’s family farm and summer camp in Kentucky was “horribly” damaged by a rampaging fire that took 30 firefighters hours to control due to a water shortage. Jennifer’s older brother Blaine, who runs Camp Hi-Ho in Simpsonville, Ky., says, “We are deeply thankful that no people or animals were hurt” after six water tanker trucks were used to douse the inferno. However, the fire obliterated the office, horse stalls, indoor riding rink and rock climbing wall, a native wildlife display, arts and crafts center, nurse station and a garage. Says Blaine, “We plan to rebuild and repair so that we can move forward with a safe and joyful camp experience this summer.”…

It’s a heartwarming adventure for CHER, 74, who secretly travelled across the globe to Pakistan — to help “Kaavan, the world’s loneliest elephant” believe in life after love! With approval from the national government, the Turn Back Time singer helped airlift the five-ton pachyderm from Marghazar Zoo — where he’d been kept chained in solitary confinement for 35 years — to a Cambodian compound where he’ll be reintroduced to other elephants. Overweight — but malnourished from a bad diet — the giant suffers from behavioral issues due to isolation. Cher actually sang to the critter as he boarded a truck to the airport! MAMA BILLIE KEEPS CARRIE’S SPIRIT ALIVE Hollywood royal BILLIE LOURD — who tragically lost both her Star Wars star mom, CARRIE FISHER, and movie legend grandmother, DEBBIE…

MOB rat Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano has whacked a Gambino wiseguy’s bid to get his murder conviction tossed! A federal judge scoffed at the infamous snitch’s bid to help spring 87-year-old Frank “Frankie Loc” Locascio — writing Gravano was an unlikely savior after being “condemned as a rat … [and] vilified in the harshest terms as a liar.” The convicted killer tried to clear imprisoned Locascio for the cold-blooded 1990 execution of Gambino mobster Louis DiBono, on orders from the crime family’s Godfather John Gotti, who died in prison in 2002. In a signed 2018 statement, Gravano — who sold out his criminal cohorts in return for a plea deal absolving him of involvement in 19 murders — updated his take on a wiretapped chat between Gotti and Locascio.…

ALTHOUGH Good Morning America’s Strahan, Sara and Keke was canceled, Sara Haines can still be seen on ABC — at her old stomping grounds on The View! When news broke in September of her return to the all-gal gabfest, Sara gushed, “I feel like I caught a shooting star twice … I feel very lucky.” Here are ten things you don’t know about the 43-year-old mom of three. 1 She was born in Newton, Iowa, which has a population of around 15,000. 2 Her middle name is Hilary. 3 She was the second of four kids. 4 One of her favorite memories from her childhood is eating gyros and drinking freshs-queezed lemonade at the Iowa State Fair. 5 While a student at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., she played on…

REFORMED boozer Ben Affleck reveals he never smoked pot after having “a bad experience” his first time as a teenager. But the 48-year-old actor admits he did “fake it” around co-stars while making the 1993 cult classic Dazed and Confused. “I had a bad experience with marijuana at 15,” the former big-screen Batman confesses. “I had a dissociative panic attack. “So I only smoked weed if everyone else was smoking and I had to sort of Bill Clinton it and fake it. I didn’t really like marijuana.” Ben says he “wasn’t a very heavy drinker” while making the movie. But he admits to being “a little nervous” during filming, “like should we be drinking before we’re working tomorrow? Some people were actually drinking and stoned at work.” “›› A day…

EATING one egg a day may increase your odds of developing type 2 diabetes by as much as 60 percent, cautions a new study. Hard-boiled researchers at the University of South Australia say they observed a link between consuming eggs and elevated blood sugar levels after analyzing health data from 8,545 Chinese adults. They found individuals who ate more than 38 grams of egg per day had about a 25 percent increased risk of diabetes, whereas those who consumed 50 grams — the equivalent to one egg — or more had a whopping 60 percent elevated risk. Study author Dr. Ming Li adds, “To beat diabetes, a multifaceted approach is needed that not only encompasses research, but also a clear set of guidelines to help inform and guide the public.”…

HOLLYWOOD hottie Halle Berry has come out with both guns blazing after being branded a dud in the sack! Single Ladies star LisaRaye McCoy stirred up the controversy when she hinted the Catwoman beauty, 54, was a bad lover. “That’s what they say. That’s what I read and that’s what I heard,” LisaRaye sniffed in an interview on Fox Soul. Halle, who’s dating singer Van Hunt, retweeted an article about the jab, and wrote: “Ms. @TheRealLRaye1, ask my man @vanhunt he’ll tell ya all y’all need ta know,” with a crying-laughing emoji. As GLOBE reported last week, the former Bond babe and Oscar winner’s sex life has been a hot topic since Halle revealed she had her first orgasm at age 11.…