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‘Grateful’ Storm host for fifth Rose Parade

ESPN anchor Hannah Storm, right, poses with her family, from left, husband Dan Hicks and daughters Hannah, Ellery and Riley on the parade grounds of the Rose Parade on Tuesday in Pasadena, Calif. (Associated Press)
From Wire Reports

With a wave of her bandaged left hand, and boosted by well wishes from Dr. Phil, Chris Evert and even a woman she once baby-sat, Hannah Storm returned to a most comfortable setting – talking in front of a TV camera.

The ESPN anchor hosted the Rose Parade telecast Tuesday in her first on-air appearance since sustaining first- and second-degree burns to her face, hands, chest and neck in a propane gas grill accident Dec. 11.

“I was just so happy to be there, so grateful,” she said by phone from Pasadena, Calif. “It took a lot out of me, but it went great.”

Storm lost roughly half her hair in the accident outside her home in Connecticut. She wore extensions for the two-hour show on ABC. Storm’s eyebrows and eyelashes also were burned off. When a makeup artist brushed on her first eyebrow, “I wanted to kiss her, it looked so good,” she said.

This was the fifth time Storm served as TV host for the Rose Parade. She said working alongside her former “SportsCenter” co-anchor, “Good Morning America” host Josh Elliott, eased her way.

Storm will wait to see when she rejoins “SportsCenter” in Bristol, Conn.

‘Runaway bride’ weds Hefner, 86

Hugh Hefner’s celebrating the new year as a married man once again.

The 86-year-old Playboy magazine founder exchanged vows with his “runaway bride,” Crystal Harris, at a private Playboy Mansion ceremony on New Year’s Eve. Harris, a 26-year-old Playmate of the Month in 2009, broke off a previous engagement to Hefner just before they were to be married in 2011.

The bride wore a strapless gown in soft pink, Hefner a black tux. Hefner’s been married twice before but lived the single life between 1959 and 1989.

The birthday bunch

Country musician Harold Bradley is 87. TV host Jack Hanna is 66. Actress Tia Carrere is 46. Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. is 45. Model Christy Turlington is 44. Actor Taye Diggs is 42. Singer Doug Robb (Hoobastank) is 38. Actor Dax Shepard is 38. Actress Kate Bosworth is 30.