TV’s Eamonn Holmes gets a helping hand from his lover — after they drove four hours to be with her family at Christmas.

He headed North for a festive love-in with Katie Alexander — sparking ­renovations at her home for the disabled star.

NB PRESS LTD

Eamonn Holmes spent his Christmas in Yorkshire with new flame Katie Alexander[/caption]

NB PRESS LTD

Eamonn drove over 4 hours to be with his new love and meet her family, pictured being looked after by Katie[/caption]

Katie, 43, organised work to be carried out for the arrival of wheelchair user Eamonn, 65, in the small West Yorkshire town of Mirfield.

Katie, in blue jeans and a jumper, helped him out of the car.

Then Eamonn beamed with joy as he gingerly used a walking frame.

It was the presenter’s first trip to the property.

He woke with Katie on Christmas Day and was all set to meet her loved ones.

A source said: “Eamonn headed to Katie’s home for Christmas to show just how loved-up he really is.

“It was a 4½-hour drive from his bachelor pad in London. He’s met Katie’s two younger children before, but turning up at their home was still nerve-racking.”

He plans on spending a few days in Yorkshire before returning to his own place in South West London.

The Sun told in May how Eamonn and Ruth Langsford, 64, were to divorce after she found messages from him to another woman.

We also revealed Eamonn had become close with Katie, a counsellor specialising in affair and betrayals, before his marriage split.

NB PRESS LTD

Katie gave the TV star a helping hand out of the car[/caption]

NB PRESS LTD

Getty

Eamonn split from Ruth Langsford this year[/caption]

LOTTERY winner Adrian Bayford is making extra cash by hosting office parties on his estate.

The ex-postie — who scooped £148million on the EuroMillions with then-wife Gillian — has erected a giant marquee in his grounds for New York-themed events for up to 1,500 revellers a night.

Bav Media

Adrian Bayford is making extra cash by hosting office parties on his estate[/caption]

Bav Media

Ex-postie Adrian has erected a giant marquee in his grounds for New York-themed events[/caption]

It is the latest money-spinner for Ade, 53, who has previously sold Christmas trees from his front lawn and set-up an Airbnb and a vineyard on his Cambridgeshire estate.

The music fan, who has also hosted heavy metal festivals on his grounds, has gone upmarket for the latest adventure with tickets coming in at £110 a head.

It promises to take guests on a “Lost in New York” adventure with a three-course meal, live entertainment and a disco.

The Christmas Parties Unlimited site says guests will be taken “from the beauty of Central Park to the bright lights of New York City, with some well-known Home Alone inspired music throughout the evening”.

It adds: “After dinner, we’re off to the most legendary NYC nightclub of the disco-era for a Studio 54 themed after-party!

“With our live DJ playing music from all eras, everyone will be up and dancing before you know it.”

Adrian and Gillian celebrated their mega win in 2012 by ordering Domino’s.

They broke up the following year, splitting the jackpot win. Adrian was later linked to Marta Jarosz, 30, a Polish sausage factory worker, who he employed as a bodyguard and assistant.

He then met stable girl Sam Burbidge in January 2014 and spent big on her riding hobby, buying up to 30 thoroughbred horses.

They got engaged but she left in 2017. Adrian then wooed Frankie & Benny’s waitress Lisa Kemp, 46, in December 2017.

He is now dating old friend Tracey Biles, and the couple are due to marry.

SWNS:South West News Service

Adrian scooped £148million on the EuroMillions with then-wife Gillian[/caption]

THIS afternoon, families will shake off their post-Christmas Day cobwebs and head out for a day at the races.

For many, this is an annual tradition stretching back through generations, with trips to the likes of Kempton Park, Aintree, Wetherby and Wincanton, Fontwell and Sedgefield providing the perfect opportunity to spend quality time together at this special time of the year.

Getty

Boxing Day races are a British tradition[/caption]

Getty

Thousands across our nation will rush to the racecourses[/caption]

There are eight meetings taking place today and not only will many tens of thousands head through the gates, but countless more around the country will follow the action live on ITV — and maybe enjoy a bet or two while they do.

Over hundreds of years, horse racing has become deeply woven into the fabric of British culture and today’s centrepiece, the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase, has been an essential part of Boxing Day’s sporting calendar for decades.

It is a race that shapes careers and forges legends.

Desert Orchid won it four times and Kauto Star went one better with five, both roared home by passionate fans who will be back for more today to see the latest chapter unfold.

As well as appreciating the skill and courage of the horses and riders straining every sinew for sporting immortality, for a majority of those taking in the action, solving the puzzles posed by each race and putting a few quid on their fancies is an intrinsic part of what makes the day, and indeed the sport, great.

Regime of checks

Unfortunately, doing this is becoming increasingly hard for punters and racing stands to lose out if things don’t change course very soon.

Despite racing being a sector where problem gambling rates are low compared to other forms of gambling, racing has been hit in recent years by a regime of checks conducted by betting operators on consumer affordability.

These checks, which the Government admits are “inconsistent and onerous”, include being asked for personal documents like bank statements or even payslips at relatively low levels of spend.

Our 2023 Right To Bet survey of over 14,000 people found a quarter of racing betters had already experienced a check.

They have become fed up, feeling this is an attack on their individual right to spend their disposable income how they like.

Some have even taken their betting to the illegal market because it is so much easier to bet with unregulated bookies.

This has led to a £1.5billion loss of online racing turnover up to March 2024, according to Gambling Commission statistics, but no obvious reduction in the overall problem gambling rate.

The Gambling Commission is piloting whether checks on punters’ finances can be done in a frictionless way, which does not interrupt the customer experience.

If these checks are to be introduced, they must be truly frictionless and not create an environment that deters people from betting or drives them to the black market.

Almost two years after the previous government published its White Paper on gambling, it is hard not to feel that repeated warnings and the views of punters have not been properly considered.

All the racing industry is asking for is that checks on punters are proportionate and reasonable — if someone behaves in a way that indicates they have a gambling problem then the bookie should have to intervene and make checks on that customer.

But if they do not, they should be left alone and allowed to bet as they feel fit.

It is not just regulations around betting that are hitting racing’s finances.

We are continuing to push for meaningful reform of the Horserace Betting Levy, the sport’s central source of funding.

It has not changed since 2017 and its failure to keep pace with the changing realities of a severe economic downturn is seriously hurting the sport.

We are fast losing ground to our nearest rivals in Ireland and France.

Their superior prize money is partly behind why we have seen so many of the best horses head overseas.

Even just a small increase in the Levy will have a significant impact on British racing and make us more competitive globally.

Why does this matter? British racing is more than just a sport.

It is a cultural asset, one of our great soft power levers, with our races including the Derby, Royal Ascot and the Grand National revered around the world.

It is also an economic powerhouse, adding £4.1billion a year to the country’s economy as the second most-watched sport in the country.

At least 85,000 jobs in Britain are directly or indirectly linked to British racing.

And, perhaps, more importantly it is the beating heart of so many of our communities, urban as well as rural.

Getty

Paul Townend riding Lossiemouth[/caption]

PA

Constitution Hill ridden by Nico de Boinville[/caption]

Racecourses — and there are 59 of them across Britain — are places that bind our communities together.

They are places where families — unlike many sports, children under-18 get free admittance to racecourses — friends and colleagues meet to enjoy a day, socialise, have great fun and maybe, if lucky, pick a winner or two.

Racing is a great day out for everyone of all ages and all backgrounds.

Only at a British racecourse will you see all levels of our society — from the road sweeper to our King or Queen — literally rubbing shoulders.

This is a sport to be cherished by the Government for all the good that it can do for this country and its people.

Certainly, the British public has not fallen out of love with the sport as attendances have held up well during recent years at a time when millions of people have been feeling the pinch and had to cut their cloth accordingly.

Meanwhile, events like the Cheltenham Festival, the Grand National and Royal Ascot remain landmark fixtures not just on our nation’s sporting calendar, but around the world.

The unintended consequences of well-meaning but misdirected policies are stark and, unless things change, Boxing Day could look very different for the future generations of those families heading to the races this afternoon.

A GROUP of OAPs on a ghost walk got a fright — when confused cops held them at gunpoint.

The weapons team got lost on a counter-terror drill, burst through the wrong door and thought the petrified pensioners were actors.

One woman said: “Don’t shoot, I’m on a ghost tour”, before the red-faced cops realised their error and left.

Mike Craig, 49, of Fleetwood, Lancs, who was also on the tour at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, said: “We were looking around the theatre and this armed team approached in the dark with lots of shouting.

“Those of us who didn’t nearly die of a heart attack could tell they were police. One man had a cane and a lady had a Zimmer frame.”

In footage, an officer returns to the group to apologise and confirm none of the weapons was carrying live ammo.

One woman in the group then jokes: “Have you got any Valium?”

Lancashire Police confirmed armed cops ran into the ghost tour, adding: “They were initially thought to be part of the scenario and officers sought to evacuate them.

“They were not treated as offenders . . but they did see the humorous side.”

Supplied

In footage, an officer returns to the group to apologise[/caption]

MEET the real-life Paw Patrol as The Sun is given a glimpse of the future of Britain’s dogs of war.

The latest combat zone gear was on show as the Army drilled its military mutts in their protective outfits.

Paul Edwards

We’ve been given a glimpse of the future of Britain’s dogs of war[/caption]

Paul Edwards

Dogs will now be kitted-out in high tech vests and blast goggles as part of a £3million upgrade[/caption]

Paul Edwards

New harnesses will even allow troops to parachute from planes[/caption]

Dogs will now be kitted-out in high tech vests and blast goggles as part of a £3million upgrade.

It also includes ear defenders and rubber-soled boots to protect their paws from temperature extremes, glass and shrapnel.

New harnesses will even allow troops to parachute from planes with them.

The four-legged fighters were put through their paces on a base in Rutland. The MoD said: “Dogs are the Armed Forces’ best friend and have invaluable roles in combat — from mine-clearing to sniffing out danger, to help keep Britain safe.”

Lt Col Ann O’Flynn, the regiment’s commanding officer, said: “Over the last 15 or 20 years, the requirement for working dogs has hugely varied.

“From our time in Afghanistan and Iraq, where numbers were swelled considerably based on the demand for increased working dog support.

“All of our efforts are trained towards our front-line assets, the dogs – they’re our stars.”

Liam Brown, SEEC Operations Manager at DE&S said: “The welfare and security of all Military Working Dogs and handlers is of paramount importance to us.

“This contract with Von Wolf will enhance our offering by catering to their needs and specific requirements in the most efficient way.”

DRAG artist Tayce won tonight’s Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special — and is now set to waltz her way onto the main series next autumn.

Insiders said the 30-year-old was at the top of BBC bosses’ wish-list for the show after impressing the panel of judges.

BBC

Tayce was awarded a perfect 40 for her cha cha with pro dancer Kai Widdrington[/caption]

BBC

The RuPaul’s Drag Race star is now being lined up for the main series after impressing BBC bosses[/caption]

Tayce was awarded a perfect 40 for her cha cha with pro dancer Kai Widdrington — beating celebs including Vogue Williams, Tamzin Outhwaite, Billy Monger, Harry Aikines- Aryeetey and Josh Widdicombe to the glittering trophy.

Viewers took to social media to praise Tayce and Kai’s routine, set to Kylie and Danni Minogue’s 100 Degrees.

And a source said: “Strictly have long wanted a drag artist on the show and Tayce has exceeded everyone’s expectations. She was an incredible competitor and the viewers clearly loved her.

“Tayce is a shoo-in for the main show in the autumn now and will be approached in the New Year about taking part.

“Strictly bosses are keen to get her on board as they start planning for the next show.”

The Sun revealed last December how festive champ Jamie Borthwick was being lined up for the main series.

He went on to perform with Michelle Tsiakkas and was the ninth star to leave the show.

Asked if she would consider a turn on the main series, Tayce said: “If I was invited, I would be here with bells on baby, I would love to.

“What a good couple of months they would be living, every night of the week baby, they would be getting it.”

Speaking about being the show show’s first drag act, Tayce said: “I’m honoured — and hopefully will pave the way to more drag icons partaking in the show.

“The response has been overwhelmingly positive.

“There’s also been some negativity from trolls, but that’s nothing I can’t handle.”

Welsh-born Tayce found fame as a contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2021.

She has also worked as a model and appeared in a Jean-Paul Gaultier campaign, as well as working as an ambassador for Coca-Cola and Absolut Vodka.

BBC

Viewers took to social media to praise Tayce and Kai’s routine, set to Kylie and Danni Minogue’s 100 Degrees[/caption]

THIS is the season for childish games, so let’s play one. What do you think our Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, got for Christmas?

Yes, I hear you. “A personality”. I can see him unwrapping it in front of the organic, vegan tree. “Well, it’s very nice, thank you — but what do I do with it?”

getty

Getty

The economy was pootling along perfectly happily in an upwards direction until Chancellor Rachel Reeves came along[/caption]

Or maybe some hypersonic electric gizmo which, when you press a button, fires a laser inside David Lammy’s head and stops him coming out with something fabulously idiotic.

Some Mr Men soaps and a pair of socks with the words, “I’m taking tough decisions” stitched into the heel? A jar of rhubarb chutney laced with strychnine from Magic Grandpa?

Well, we can laugh for a bit. But we’re all guilty for voting him in.

Me more than most, given that I thought that although he was boring and managerial, that might be just what we want right now.

And so I wrote, in these pages, maybe we should, y’know, give him a chance . . . 

Wrong! It doesn’t necessarily follow that because someone is boring and managerial, they are going to be competent.

They could be boring, managerial and f***ing useless, couldn’t they? And sadly, that is what I fear we have got.

This has been easily the worst first six months of any government, perhaps ever — certainly within my living memory.

And I remember Ted Heath!

Having told us all that Labour’s primary objective was to grow the economy, he has managed, somehow, to send it into a tailspin.

It was pootling along perfectly happily in an upwards direction until Sir Keir and his ghastly chancellor came along.

Up goes National Insurance — down goes the economy.

We will be lucky to avoid a recession. And all this means that interest rates remain highish and inflation has started to rise again.

Meaning that people will be feeling substantially worse off than they were on July 4 this year, when so many of us thought, “Could Labour really be any worse?”.

Oh yes. Yes, they could indeed.

Meantime, more and more economic migrants are crossing the Channel.

Because, just as we suspected, Starmer didn’t have a clue how to deal with that particular problem.

It was all just hot air.

So the number of people coming into the country stays at totally unsustainable levels.

And Angela Rayner is determined to pave over every last inch of countryside to build homes for them.

We are living on borrowed money and borrowed time.

Rod Liddle

Denying local people the right to object to completely inappropriate building.

Where money has been spent, it’s been on Labour’s client groups.

Starmer has bunged massive pay rises to the doctors and the train drivers. And yet there are still threats that they might go on strike.

We’re now in a position where more than half the population receive more in benefits than they pay in taxes.

I don’t need to tell you what that means for the long-term future of the country.

We are living on borrowed money and borrowed time.

With a public sector which is overpaid and under-productive.

And the awful thing is, we have to wait another four and a half years to get rid of them.

So it’s a big Christmas SORRY from me, decked out in tinsel with jumping reindeer, for ever suggesting that Labour might have been a good idea.

It’s taught me a lesson or two.

Lockdown’s back on the agenda

PA

The UK has been hit by a ‘flunami’ this Christmas[/caption]

OH no! Lockdown is back on the agenda.

Apparently, the UK has been hit by a “flunami” this Christmas.

That’s journo speak for quite a large number of flu cases. And now heath experts say we should bring back lockdown or social distancing. Really?

Because it was so successful last time? Because it wrecked the economy, ruined children’s education and convinced millions of us we never need to work again?

And saved no more lives than had we not been locked down at all?

Get a grip! There are always lots of flu cases in winter.

It’s a dog’s life at Xmas

Supplied

GOT to tell you, I do miss the Christmases of my childhood. The traditions and everything.

On Boxing Day, my mum would sit at the kitchen table with a ledger and write down every gift we had received from friends and rellies. And estimate the cost.

Then she would compare that to how much WE had spent on THEM.

And write it all down, doing the maths. “A pair of socks from C&A??? When we got her a Filofax? That cow’s getting nothing next year.” And so on, all the way through that long list. I liked that.

Recent years have been different.

What happens now is all presents are for the dog. We started wrapping presents up for Jessie ten years ago.

It was fun watching her tear them open. And finding some doggy treats.

But then she started getting really arsey. And when any present was being unwrapped by someone else, she’d growl and bark. So now we let her tear open all the presents.

To stop the fuss.

And it’s a problem if the present is a delicate silk blouse, say. Or worse still, something edible.

In that case, the present is just gone. Swallowed by a deranged Labrador.

Also, our children are in their twenties. But they still get a stocking. When the f*** does that business stop?

Still, we had a good time and everyone was happy, until Gavin & Stacey came on. Then we went out. Hope you all had a lovely day.

TSUNAMI survivor Sharon Howard sobs as she lays flowers at the Thailand hotel where she last saw her fiance and two sons 20 years ago to the day.

While families around the country gather for Christmas, Sharon is 6,000 miles from her home in Hayle, Cornwall, at the beach resort of Khao Lak where David Page, 44, Mason, eight, and six-year-old Taylor died on Boxing Day 2004.

Wayne Perry

Tsunami survivor Sharon Howard recalls how that fateful day derailed her life and explains why she felt compelled to return this Christmas[/caption]

Devon & Cornwall Police

Sharon with fiance David and her sons Mason and Taylor[/caption]

Brian Roberts

Sharon Howard sobs as she lays flowers at the Thailand hotel where she last saw her fiance and two sons 20 years ago[/caption]

The trio were among the thousands — including 151 Brits — who lost their lives when an earthquake in the Indian Ocean with a force 23,000 times stronger than the Hiroshima bomb triggered 100ft-high waves.

The wall of water and debris hit coastal resorts in South East Asian countries including Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.

The Boxing Day Tsunami, as it became known, killed more than 227,000 people, making it the worst natural disaster of the 21st century.

Sharon, now 57, recalls how that fateful day derailed her life and explains why she felt compelled to return this Christmas even though her family could not understand her decision to make the long journey.

Sharon still lives in the family home where she raised Mason and Taylor with David.

Happy pictures of the four together — including many taken on that tragic holiday — line the walls. Two decades on, they are never far from her mind.

“I was dreading going back to Thailand, absolutely dreading it, but it’s something I had to do for myself,” she says.

“My family don’t really understand but we all grieve differently and they prefer to leave it in the past and remember them as they were.

“But I knew I would regret it if I didn’t go.

“I feel more emotional now than I did when it happened. I think it was because it was like a part of my brain shut down for years.

“I have thought about David, Mason and Taylor every day for the last 20 years.

“The boys are around me constantly; they are in my heart.

“You learn to live without them but you never forget. You never heal.

“I see their friends around still and what they are doing and it makes me wonder what my boys would have been doing — if they’d have had children, what they would look like. But I’ll never know.”

‘They are in my heart’

Sharon, then 37, was in the ground-floor hotel room when the disaster struck.

The family had all enjoyed breakfast together, then David and Mason dropped Taylor to the resort’s kids’ club before Mason went to relax on a sun lounger directly outside their room.

They stood no chance when the tsunami struck with no warning.

Sharon says: “Suddenly there was this really loud and powerful noise. I ran to the door, screaming, ‘the boys, the boys’.

“I opened the door slightly and David said, ‘Shut the door, the water will go down’.

“The next thing, water just crashed through the patio door and we were pushed into the corner by the weight of it. All I could think of was my sons.”

Sharon suffered a head injury on impact.

She says: “When the water was coming over us I said to David, ‘I’m going now I love you’ as I felt myself drifting away and I passed out.

“I came round and David was in front of me, not moving. His head was in the water. I shook him and shook him to get a response and there wasn’t one.

“I knew I had to go and look for the boys.”

Although Sharon didn’t know it at the time, David and Mason had died instantly when the wall of water hit.

Sharon managed to get into a flooded walkway outside her room, scrambling over smashed furniture and debris, screaming for help.

With the corridor flooding fast, her life was saved by Australian holidaymaker Ian Walsh, who dangled a beach towel from an upper level and hauled her up to safety. She says: “People shouted that the water was coming again.

“He grabbed some towels and helped me up to the next level.
“That saved me from being washed away. I just thought ‘I’ve got to get to the children’s club’.

“I managed to get down there but there was a man in there who said, ‘There’s no one in there’. He was also looking for his little boy.”

AFP

The Boxing Day Tsunami killed more than 227,000 people, making it the worst natural disaster of the 21st century[/caption]

Wayne Perry

Sharon keeps a casket at her home[/caption]

Sharon made her way to a medical centre and then a hospital where hundreds had gathered hoping to be reunited with their loved ones.

But she could only find Ian, whose 39-year-old wife Kim was also missing in the disaster.

She said: “If it wasn’t for Ian I would’ve been on my own. I walked, looking for my sons, all night. The next day, the man I saw in the children’s club came to find me and he said he had found Taylor’s body huddled with his little boy.”

Sharon’s eldest son Jack Coop, then 17, and her sister Beverley flew to Thai capital Bangkok while she recovered from concussion and her injuries in hospital.

Memorial ceremony

Sharon had to wait three months for Taylor’s body to be returned to her in the UK due to bureaucratic issues. She said in March 2005: “Every night I go to bed and all I can think of is Taylor lying there, cold, all on his own and that thought terrifies me.”

David and Mason were not found for months.

This year will be the first time Sharon has been back to Thailand for 15 years to lay flowers at the site of the Sofitel Magic Lagoon Resort Hotel where her family were staying.

The building was destroyed by 46ft waves, but another hotel has since been established on the site.

While many of the resorts have been rebuilt, survivors are still wracked with physical and mental trauma. Like Sharon, many want the world to remember that fateful day and the thousands of lives lost.

You learn to live without them but you never forget. You never heal.

She had hoped there would be an official memorial ceremony today, but despite repeated calls to the British Embassy in Thailand, nobody called her back.

Sharon says: “In the end, I went on to Facebook when I couldn’t get answers and was told people would be gathering near the local memorial centre. So I decided to go there for the anniversary.” She adds: “I am not the same person I was before.

“I lost my two babies who still needed me. I needed to mark the anniversary where it happened.”

David, a commercial deep sea diver, had proposed to Sharon on Christmas Day just hours before tragedy struck.

They had been excitedly planning their future together.

AFP

The Sofitel Magic Lagoon Resort where the family were staying[/caption]

EPA

The hotel was destroyed by 46ft-high waves[/caption]

She says: “When David and I got engaged the day before it was one of the happiest moments of my life.

“I’d been single for a while.

“I’d been married to Mason and Taylor’s father, but he left me when I was six months’ pregnant.

“I’d been on my own so it was nice to think I’d got a family again.

“I was looking forward to the future, but it was all sadly taken away from me.”

In the years following the Boxing Day Tsunami, survivors Sharon and Ian formed a lasting friendship.

Family members of Ian and his teacher wife had flown out to Thailand to join the search, but Kim was not found until February 2005. Her body was returned to Cairns where she was buried.

‘Face reality’

Sharon says: “We met up on the first anniversary in Thailand then I went back to Australia and spent some time with him.

“We just had so much to talk about because he knows what I was going through and I know what he’s going through so we had this special bond.

“He came to England and stayed here too. We speak on Boxing Day, and we chat now and again. We’ve cried together and consoled each other. His friendship helped me a lot.”

It has been a long journey of healing for Sharon, who has battled alcoholism and depression as she struggled to cope with her loss.

At first, she made twice-yearly visits to Khao Lak, about 40 miles north of Phuket.

She says: “I would go to Thailand on their birthdays and on Boxing Day, but eventually I had to face reality, clip my wings and come back home and try and get a life again.

“If I could I would have carried on going, but I just couldn’t afford to keep doing it. I was just blanking everything else out.

“The first couple of years I went wild, going out drinking and just madness really. But I needed it to get me through. I was going down a very slippery slope and I knew it had to end — it got to a stage where it was affecting my health and I thought ‘I’ve got to stop’.

“I knew the boys and David wouldn’t want to see me the way I was. I knew I had to pull myself together and try and carry on.

“The only thing that kept me going is my son Jack. I’m so grateful he wasn’t there that day, without him I don’t think I’d have coped.”
Jack has gone on to have children of his own.

Sharon says: “Becoming a grandma has brought life and light into my world when otherwise there was just a lot of darkness.

“Seeing them grow up has brought a real joy to me again and I cherish every second I spend with them.”

OVER the years, Gwen Stefani’s appearance and face have seemingly changed quite a bit.

Earlier this year, fans speculated that hitmaker Gwen, 55, might have undergone plastic surgery in order to alter her appearance and keep her ageless beauty.

Getty

Gwen Stefani seen above during her time in the band No Doubt in 1995[/caption]

Getty

The hitmaker had a very distinctive and edgy look while in the band[/caption]

WireImage - Getty

Gwen’s appearance changed slightly over the years, with her opting for different clothes[/caption]

WireImage - Getty

The hitmaker often sported a dark lipstick shade, usually red, with her still opting for this to this day[/caption]

At the time that speculation was rife back in the spring, Dr Corey Maas, a facial plastic surgeon in San Francisco, suggested Gwen’s new look might be down to fillers.

He also suggested that Gwen may have had a lower facelift.

Speaking to MailOnline at the time, Dr. Maas said that Gwen had “probably had some filler,” before revealing why he thought a face lift might have also been had by the star.

He added: “Her jawline is also really indicative of some work, a 55-year-old woman just doesn’t have a jawline like that.

“I think she may have had a lower facelift, because that does a really nice job of tightening the jawline and chin, and hers are nearly perfect.”

But how much has Gwen’s face and appearance really changed over the years? Scroll on as we take a look back at some her most iconic looks as the star has aged throughout her career.

Getty

When Gwen was in No Doubt, she often rocked lots of prints and bright red lips[/caption]

Getty

Gwen has remained faithful to her platinum locks and distinctive style over the years[/caption]

Instagram/Gwen Stefani

Gwen Stefani was subject to plastic surgery rumors earlier this year, with her face looking slimmer and nose looking smaller than it did in No Doubt’s heyday[/caption]

During the 1990s, Gwen was the lead singer of the rock group No Doubt.

While in the group, Gwen and her bandmates went on to release hit songs including It’s My Life, Don’t Speak, and Hey Baby.

Gwen sported a very punky look while in No Doubt, with her often sporting her platinum blond locks in pigtails beneath a cap.

GWEN’S DISTINCTIVE LOOK IN NO DOUBT

The hitmaker would often wear plaid and tartan, with her rocking low-rise jeans and cargo pants, crop tops, and sports bras.

In the early 2000s, Gwen departed from No Doubt to work on solo music, with her image also getting overhauled.

With four albums under her belt, Hollaback Girl became her first solo number-one hit, along with four other top 10 hits.

During this time, fans saw Gwen’s style move away from her punky era.

REMAINING FAITHFUL TO PERSONAL STYLE

Ditching the face jewels she sometimes donned, Gwen did keep a few accents that have become synonymous with her personal style.

Gwen kept the face jewels she rocked at the start of her career with No Doubt, with her rocking them in the early days of her solo career.

Another aspect of her personal style that Gwen has remained faithful to over the years is lowrise jeans and cargo pants, with the blond bombshell often sporting these alternative looks even to this day.

She has also kept on rocking bold lipstick throughout her entire career, with Gwen often opting for red or burgundy lips, a pale complexion, and wispy lashes.

In 2014, Gwen became a judge on The Voice, which is when her style took a more sophisticated turn.

Wearing more modest clothing on the hit NBC show, Gwen often rocks pretty patterned dresses, blazers and pantsuits, and sweet matching sets.

CANDID ABOUT AGING

As mentioned earlier, Gwen’s face has been subject to several rumors that she has undergone aesthetic enhancements such as filler, but it seems that she quite likes how she is aging.

In 2021, during a candid interview with Australia’s Stellar magazine, Gwen admitted that she is obsessed with how she is aging.

She also spoke about how growing older in the public eye can be especially difficult.

“It’s really hard for everyone to age and have to face life,” she shared.

“Especially for females and people who have been in the spotlight, it can be daunting, but you tackle it by just trying to be the most beautiful version of yourself inside and out.”

Instagram/gwenstefani

Gwen still rocks crop tops and lowrise jeans to this day[/caption]

Instagram/gwenstefani

The hitmaker also rocks a bold lip on the regular[/caption]

Getty

Gwen’s style for The Voice is a little more modest than her early career looks[/caption]

Getty

Gwen has probably had some facial filler, according to a surgeon[/caption]

Getty

The blond bombshell often rocks iconic ensembles for TV shows and events[/caption]

A LUCKY lottery player managed to turn their $30 purchase into $600,000.

In a miraculous turn, another Colossal Crossword lottery player, also in New Jersey, pulled the winning numbers after purchasing their ticket a day later.

Getty

According to the New Jersey Lottery website, there are two more $600,000 prizes that are yet to be claimed[/caption]

The game happened last week, in which two players won $600,000 on back-to-back days.

One ticket was bought on December 16 at the Krauszer’s on North Broadway in South Amboy in Middlesex County.

The other was purchased a day earlier at a 7-Eleven on South Summit Avenue in Hackensack in Bergen County.

The 7-Eleven player spoke of the immense shock they felt after realizing they had won the cash.

They said, according to the New Jersy Lottery: “That’s all I play the Crossword.

“I probably sat and looked at it for like 20 minutes.”

According to the New Jersey Lottery website, which is updated daily, there are two more $600,000 prizes that are yet to be claimed.

The winning tickets for these two prizes may have been purchased, but they have not been given out yet.

Along with these massive prizes, the New Jersey Lottery has plenty of other cash sums to give out to players.

Currently, there are still seven opportunities to win the $2,000 out of the 36 total games.

Players can also take home one of the remaining 889 $500 prizes, if they have the right ticket.

There are also totals worth $250, $150, $100, $75 and $50, with over 1,000 prizes remaining in each of these games.

To see how much is still up for grabs in the New Jersey Lottery, players can visit this website and find out.

CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

The US Sun has also reported on the Mega Millions, which has surged to $1.15 billion after no tickets matched all the numbers drawn on Christmas Eve.

Mega Millions officials have urged players to buy tickets ahead of Friday’s drawing at 11pm.

The cash value is estimated to be the fifth largest in the game’s history.

Tuesday’s winning numbers were 11, 14, 38, 45, 46, and Mega Ball 3.

To win the big Mega Millions jackpot, a player must match all five numbers and the Mega ball.

No one matched all the numbers for the big jackpot, so it continues to grow.

Mega Millions lead director Joshua Johnston said it would be a Christmas gift for the lucky winner.

He added that there would be no better way to celebrate the holiday season.

“We know that many people will likely receive tickets to Friday’s drawing as holiday gifts, and what a gift that would turn out to be if you ended up with a ticket worth a $1.15 billion jackpot,” Johnston said.

“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holidays – whether Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, or any other way people choose to celebrate the season – than by helping fulfill the dreams that come with a prize like this and prizes that will be won at all levels of the game.”

Getty

Mega Millions officials have urged players to buy tickets ahead of Friday’s drawing at 11pm[/caption]