ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Gwen Stefani Will Marry Blake Shelton Even if an Annulment Is Not Granted by Catholic Church. Gwen Stefani is finally ready to take the next step with Blake Shelton. For the past year, the songstress has been desperately trying to have her marriage to ex-husband Gavin Rossdale annulled so she can marry the country singer in a Catholic church. But because the lengthy process is delaying their plans, sources exclusively reveal in the new issue of Us Weekly that the devout Catholic has decided she'll marry Shelton -- with or without the pope's blessing. "She very much wants the marriage to be recognized by the church," says a source, but she also understands that Shelton's been restless. Unfortunately, the process has caused "tense moments" between them, adds a second insider. As Us previously reported in March 2019, the couple of four years "began the formal process" because "Gwen's religion has always been extremely important to her." Now Stefani, 50, and Shelton, 43, are getting serious about the future. The second insider says the pair are looking to have a church ceremony in Beverly Hills and a big party at Shelton's Oklahoma ranch. Babies are also on the brain. The mom of Kingston, 13, Zuma, 11, and Apollo, 5 (whom she shares with 54-year-old Rossdale), would love another child, says another source, but "if it doesn't happen, Blake's content with her three kids." For more on Stefani and Shelton's future wedding plans, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now. (UsMagazine)

Jessica Simpson Details Childhood Sexual Abuse, Battle With Alcohol and Pills In New Memoir. Jessica Simpson is sharing her truth. Several years back, the superstar was asked to write a motivational book about how she lives her best life. Alas, it was an opportunity she simply could not agree to do. "I didn't feel comfortable talking about myself in a way that wasn't honest," she says in the latest issue of People magazine. "I'm a horrible liar." Instead, she took a more authentic approach. In her upcoming memoir Open Book, the 39-year-old shares for the first time that she was sexually abused. At just 6 years old, "when I shared a bed with the daughter of a family friend," she writes, according to the outlet. "It would start with tickling my back and then go into things that were extremely uncomfortable...I was the victim but somehow I felt in the wrong." Nearly six years later, she told her parents Tina Simpson and Joe Simpson about the attack. While Tina slapped Joe's arm, "dad kept his eye on the road and said nothing," she recalls. "We need stayed at my parents' friends house again but we also didn't talk about what I had said." To cope with the traumatizing experience, the fashion designer later began self-medicating, writing, "I was killing myself with all the drinking and the pills." Rock bottom came in late 2017 after she hosted a Halloween party. It was then that the mom of Maxwell Drew, 7, Ace Knute, 6, and Birdie Mae, 10 months, turned to her friends. "When I finally said I needed help, it was like I was that little girl that found her calling in life again," the singer, wed to Eric Johnson, says. "I found direction and that was to walk straight ahead with no fear." Now, she's proudly been sober since November 2017. "Giving up the alcohol was easy," she admits to the outlet. "I was mad at that bottle. At how it allowed me to stay complacent and numb." Therapy, however, was a bigger challenge. "With work," she adds. "I allowed myself to feel the traumas I'd been through." Today, she hopes her book helps others find their way. "It's been a long hard deep emotional journey, one that I've come through the other side with pure happiness and fulfillment and acceptance of myself," she says. "I've used my pain and turned it into something that can be beautiful and hopefully inspiring to people." The latest issue of People, which includes an excerpt from her memoir, hits newsstands on January 24. Open Book is on shelves beginning February 4. (Eonline)

Henry Winkler wants his rumored feud with Tom Hanks to be buried in the same graveyard the dog from "Turner & Hooch" is in, 'cause it just ain't true ... despite his own words. We ran into the "Barry" star Tuesday in L.A. and asked about the bad blood between Tom and him, which allegedly dates back to '89. That's when Henry got fired from directing "Turner & Hooch" -- and the story goes it was due to his beef with the lead star. The human one. Naturally, the Fonz played it super cool, telling us there's nothing to the rumors -- which is all fine and dandy now!!! Fact is, he was singing a different tune back in October on "Watch What Happens Live" -- when Henry strongly hinted there really was some kinda issue with Tom. In the clip, we called him out for so obviously fueling the rumors. Henry had an explanation, and it's hard not to believe him ... he's so freakin' nice. Just to squash it once and for all, Henry told us there's photo proof out there somewhere he and Tom are on good terms. He says the moment went down at a Bruno Mars concert, but we haven't seen it to confirm. Now, Tom did make a "Happy Days" cameo with Henry -- but that was pre "Turner & Hooch." Still cool to see it. Either way, it sounds like Henry's buried the hatchet ... and says he'd even get on camera again with TH if the opportunity presents itself. Hear that Hollywood? Let's make this happen! (TMZ)

Olympian Lolo Jones Regrets Being Honest About Her Virginity: 'That Killed All My Dates'. Truth hurts? Lolo Jones admitted that being honest about her virginity wasn't beneficial to her dating life. During an appearance on Kevin Hart's Cold as Balls series, the 40-year-old comedian asked the Olympic hurdler and bobsledder about how she's been "vocal about the virgin side" of her life. Jones, 37, candidly admitted that she regretted being so brutally honest about her virginity in the past. "That was a mistake," she said on Tuesday, January 21. "That killed all my dates after that, like, didn't even have a chance. Like, before, at least I had a chance. Before, I'd tiptoe. Like, 'OK, when is a good time to tell him? Like, do I wait until he sees my personality a little bit or do I just drop the bomb?'" Hart then asked Jones about her reasons for remaining abstinent until marriage. "This is definitely not from my mom," she responded. "I mean, my mom never was married. So, five kids, you trust she's having fun." Jones also believes being a virgin has allowed her to "have a higher level of intensity" as an athlete. Jones, who competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, talked about the challenges of being a virgin during a segment of HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel in 2012. "I want to wait until I'm married to have sex," she said. "My mom, she was with my dad for 20 years. [They] never got married and they're not together anymore. So, I just want to have that solid bond. It's just a gift I want to give to my husband." Jones also regarded keeping her virginity intact as "the hardest thing" she's ever done and argued that it's been "harder than training for the Olympics" and "graduating college." She also said that she's been "tempted" and had "plenty of opportunities" to engage in sex. The Dancing With the Stars alum is currently training for the 2020 Summer Olympics, which is set to take place in Tokyo from July 24 to August 9. This past October, the Iowa native admitted how "tough" her Olympic training has been. "We talk a lot about my age. I am competing against girls that are 10 years younger than me. I'm feeling the aches and pains of basically all the times I've crashed in a bobsled at 90 miles an hour, every hurdle hit I've had," she told Fan-sided at the time. "So, it's built up, but what's great about it is the fact that I'm super strong and determined to finish out my goals." (UsMagazine)

Lori Loughlin's daughters could be 'star witnesses' at college admissions trial. Lori Loughlin's daughters could serve as prosecutors' "star witnesses" against her and husband Mossimo Giannulli in their upcoming trial for their roles in the far-reaching college admissions scandal, a report said Tuesday. The former "Fuller House" actress has been told that federal prosecutors in Massachusetts will use 21-year-old Isabella Rose and 20-year-old Olivia Jade Giannulli "as star witnesses in hopes of securing a conviction," a source told Us Weekly. Loughlin, 55, asked if there was anything that could be done to keep the girls from testifying -- but was told the only solution would be to change her plea to guilty, the source told the gossip magazine. Both she and her 56-year-old fashion designer husband have pleaded not guilty to allegations they forked over a $500,000 bribe to get their daughters into the University of Southern California as bogus rowing recruits. The alleged scheme included having the girls pose for "action" pictures on rowing machines, which were submitted to the school alongside phony athletic profiles, prosecutors have alleged. "Prosecutors plan on asking Bella about the photo she took on a rowing machine prior to being admitted," the source told the magazine, adding: "Bella did so at the direction of her parents." The sisters could invoke the Fifth Amendment "if their lawyers advise it" and refuse to testify, the source said. "They don't want to be in the crosshairs of this mess more than they already are." Neither prosecutors nor Loughlin's attorney immediately responded to a request for comment from The Post late Tuesday. If convicted, Loughlin and Giannulli could each face up to 20 years in prison. Their trials are expected to begin this year. (PageSix)

Lori Harvey pleaded not guilty in her hit-and-run case this week. An attorney for Steve Harvey's 23-year-old stepdaughter entered the plea in court on Tuesday in Los Angeles, People reported. She is due back in court on Feb. 28. Lori was arrested in October after allegedly crashing her car into a parked vehicle in Beverly Hills, Calif. Lori was issued misdemeanor citations for a hit and run and delaying, hindering or resisting an officer. No injuries were reported in the accident. She was formally charged earlier this month. Meanwhile, she recently celebrated her birthday in Montego Bay, Jamaica, with her boyfriend, Future, and friends. (Page Six)

Lawyer Jose Baez suing former client Rose McGowan for saying he was 'bought off' by Harvey Weinstein. A top legal eagle, Jose Baez, is suing Rose McGowan for suggesting that he was "bought off" by Harvey Weinstein. Baez was retained by McGowan in a 2017 case in Virginia, and later served on the legal defense team of Weinstein, whom McGowan has accused of sexual abuse. Baez claims McGowan -- who was charged in 2017, and last year pleaded no contest to misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance -- defamed him in comments on Twitter and in the Daily Beast, the New York Times and on CNN. Last year, McGowan told the Daily Beast of Baez being on her legal team and then Weinstein's: "This is a major conflict of interest, but I knew there was shadiness going on behind the scenes ... This is why my case didn't go to trial -- my instinct was my lawyers had been bought off." She told the Times, "Baez did nothing for my case and now I know why. A truly terrible human and a disgrace of a lawyer." In court papers, Baez claims his firm never handled McGowan's plea negotiations and was just on hand if the case went to trial. He says his firm prepped Weinstein "after McGowan's criminal case ended," and he "obtained an opinion from an ethics attorney" before repping Weinstein. The suit, filed in Illinois, alleges: "McGowan knew that her criminal conviction harmed her reputation and her ability to sell her new book, 'Brave.' As a result, McGowan and her attorneys ... concocted a malicious scheme to salvage McGowan's reputation at the expense of the reputation of Baez." The suit claims, "Defendants ... have gone so far as to astonishingly contend that Weinstein somehow planted the ... cocaine in McGowan's wallet ... and that McGowan should thus never have [pleaded] guilty." Baez is being prepped by fellow power lawyer Joe Tacopina. Julie B. Porter of Salvatore Prescott & Porter, which was named in the case, told us on Tuesday, "Not having seen the entire complaint, we decline to comment at this time." A rep for McGowan could not be immediately reached. (PageSix)

Terry Jones -- beloved comedy icon and founding member of the "Monty Python" comedy troupe -- has died after battling dementia. Jones died Tuesday with his wife, Anna Soderstrom, by his side, according to his family. He'd been diagnosed in recent years with primary progressive aphasia -- a rare form of dementia that left him unable to speak. Terry's family says, "Over the past few days his wife, children, extended family and many close friends have been constantly with Terry as he gently slipped away at his home in North London." "We have all lost a kind, funny, warm, creative and truly loving man whose uncompromising individuality, relentless intellect and extraordinary humor has given pleasure to countless millions across six decades." Jones is known for playing a variety of roles for "Monty Python," including female characters often with hilarious falsetto voices. Terry's the one who screamed the iconic line in 1979's 'Life of Brian' ... "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy," while playing the mother of the title character. The line was twice voted the funniest in film history in the UK. Along with starring in Monty Python -- though rarely receiving the same acclaim as the other members -- he also directed the famous movies "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" with Terry Gilliam and 'The Meaning of Life' and 'Life of Brian' on his own. He was regarded in the comedy group as its passionate heart ... who drove the early innovation on its BBC show that led to stardom -- "Monty Python's Flying Circus." After his Monty Python success, Jones also became a prolific children's author who published 20 fiction novels, including "Fairy Tales" and "The Saga of Erik the Viking." He continued to write for the big screen, as well, famously penning the family comedy, "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" -- which he costarred in with Steve Coogan and his Python pals Eric Idle and John Cleese -- and the David Bowie movie, "Labyrinth." His most recent work included the 2012 film, "A Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman" which was co-directed by his son, Bill, and the sci-fi comedy "Absolutely Anything" in 2014 ... which featured all the living MP members and Robin Williams in his final movie role. Terry was 77. RIP. (TMZ)

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