One more time around the block

Donnie Wahlberg might look and act tough, but he’s a softie underneath.

The resident bad boy of New Kids on the Block says he has cried tears of joy while performing for thousands of screaming fans on the reunited boy band’s arena tour:

“We’ve had old banners being held up, new banners being held up, people singing the old songs, partying with the new songs, bras thrown onstage with women flashing us, husbands holding their wives and singing along to the songs with their wives in their arms … .

“I don’t like to overblow the significance of anything, we’re a pop group after all, but there’s something really magical that’s happening every night. I’ve been moved onstage on more than one occasion.”

Adds Wahlberg, whose acting credits include “Righteous Kill,” “The Sixth Sense” and the gory “Saw” flicks:

“I’m not some guy that is desperate, you know? I didn’t, like, need to go and do this to make money and stuff like that. … It’s just right. It just felt right. We did it for the right reasons and the reward is to share this with the fans and to see that they’re so dialed in.”

All they need is love

Paul McCartney, criticized over his concert today in Tel Aviv, insists he isn’t playing favorites between Israel and the Palestinians.

“I’m bringing a message of peace, and I think that’s what the region needs,” McCartney said Wednesday while touring the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

It’s just a part of her

Taylor Swift wept when “Grey’s Anatomy” producers told her they’d use her song “White Horse” in tonight’s season premiere.

“This is my life’s goal – to have a song on ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ” she says. “My love of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ has never wavered. It’s my longest relationship to date.”

The truth will out

In a pair of less-than-shocking confessions:

•Lindsay Lohan admitted on the syndicated radio program “Loveline” that she’s been romantically involved with DJ Samantha Ronson for “a very long time.”

•Clay Aiken appears on the cover of People magazine holding his infant son under the headline, “Yes, I’m Gay.”

“I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things,” he says of Parker Foster Aiken, conceived through in vitro fertilization. “I wasn’t raised that way, and I’m not going to raise a child to do that.”

Water power?

Nicole Kidman says swimming in Outback waterfalls while filming the epic romance “Australia” may have contributed to her unexpected pregnancy.

“Seven babies were conceived out of this film and only one was a boy,” she says.

“There is something up there in the Kununurra water because we all went swimming in the waterfalls, so we can call it the fertility waters now.”

The birthday bunch

Newswoman Barbara Walters is 79. Actor Michael Douglas is 64. Model Cheryl Tiegs is 61. Actor Mark Hamill is 57. Actor Michael Madsen is 50. Actress Heather Locklear is 47. Actor-singer Will Smith is 40. Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones is 39. Rapper T.I. is 28.