Celebrity News

We're baaaaack 😘

Calling all you mighty Millennials, ballin' Boomers, groovy Gen X-ers, and everyone else ... we're tappin' y'all into Gen Z's hottest stories of the week, packed with sexy stars and piping-hot news!

The lawsuit against Johnny Depp's band Hollywood Vampires just took a stake to the heart ... a court dismissed the suit brought by a concert promoter who claimed they owed him around $277K for bailing last minute.

The court noted that Slovakian promoter Sten Hard already dropped band members Depp, Alice Cooper, and Joe Perry as individual defendants earlier in the case.

Sten was still going after the band's corporate entity, Hollywood Vampires Touring, but the judge ruled that the band lacked any meaningful contacts with the state of Texas where he filed the case and therefore couldn't be sued there.

As a result, the court tossed the case for lack of jurisdiction.

Nicki Minaj's husband, Kenneth Petty, claims the woman suing him over an alleged 1994 rape told a much different story decades ago ... and now he's using her own words against her ... but she denies ever recanting her story, TMZ has learned.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ, Kenneth submitted an alleged letter from 1994 that Jennifer Hough wrote to the District Attorney ... asking for the rape charge to be dropped and calling her allegations "half false." Jennifer's lawyer denied her client wrote the note.

In the alleged letter, Jennifer wrote ... "On the day that I said I was rape it is half true and half false. The marks on my neck was not from me being choke. They were hickies that I got the day before from someone else. I been knowing Kenneth for many years."

Prosecutors going after Kim Zolciak's son Kroy Biermann Jr. for an alleged sexual battery just filed emergency docs in his criminal case ... and it looks like they want to talk to some underage kids.

According to the court docket, obtained by TMZ, the prosecutors filed a motion asking the court to order forensic interviews of "minor children." No other details are available at this time.

Forensic interviews are conducted by professionals, and it appears the information gathered would be used in the case.

Lady Gaga and Michael Polansky's baby is a girl named Rose ... TMZ has learned.

According to the birth certificate obtained by TMZ, Rose Bean Polansky was born June 9 at 11:19 PM at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

It's unclear where the name Rose Bean originated from ... however Gaga has a large rose down her spine that she got to commemorate her performance of "La Vie En Rose" in the film "A Star is Born." The middle name Bean may have been inspired by singer/activist Carl Bean -- whom her hit "I Was Born This Way" pulled inspo from.

Before this sweet girl from sunny Los Angeles became wifey to a New York Knicks player, she was just hangin' with some famous peeps like Will Smith and his family ... and Kylie Jenner.

Her mans got down on one knee back on Christmas Day, and the duo tied the knot Summer 2026.

Michael Jackson's estate is asking the court for permission to pay its various lawyers over $9 million for services rendered over the course of six years ... as they battle Paris Jackson's request for legal fees for a much shorter time frame.

The estate says the payday is earned ... noting that when MJ died in 2009, he had more than $500 million in debt accruing interest, which has since been paid off and then some.

Now ... the executor says the estate has been transformed into a $2 billion conglomerate ... and claims the lawyers and other professionals did this by betting on their ability to turn things around. The bill is for six years of work ... which includes everything from tax planning, trademarks, business deals, legal matters, and various other issues the estate deals with.

Bobb'e J. Thompson -- a former child star known for playing Stanley on "That's So Raven" -- has been sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to a gun charge.

A judge in Iowa handed down the sentence on Thursday ... almost one year after cops say they pulled him over going 104 MPH in a 70 MPH zone.

Cops say they searched Thompson's bag during the stop and found packages of marijuana purchased at a dispensary and a loaded .40-caliber handgun ... which was allegedly stolen from a car in Kansas City, MO.

Thompson pled guilty to the charge back in April. He has been ordered to serve 30 months in federal prison ... and will be on 3 years of supervised release once he gets out.

Casey Boonstra and Maurissa Gunn are ridin' dirty on some ATVs, but which one's taking the wheel and who's giving you the bigger thrill?!

The question here is: Who'd You Rather?!

Samuel Monroe Jr. -- famous for his work in "Menace II Society" -- died of respiratory failure and meningitis ... with pneumonia also playing a role.

TMZ obtained the actor's death certificate ... and it states Samuel's cause of death was respiratory failure and a coccidioidal meningitis infection.

Sepsis pneumonia is listed as a contributing factor ... and the doc states he's been buried at a Los Angeles cemetery.

Tay Keith died from the toxic effects of drugs ... including ketamine and an active ingredient in kratom, TMZ has learned.

According to the Nashville Medical Examiner's Office ... Keith had ketamine and mitragynine in his system when he died. Mitragynine is a chemical compound found in kratom -- a tree from Southeast Asia that affects the brain's opioid receptors.

It's unclear if he was using kratom -- a federally legal substance -- at the time or if he somehow came into contact with the drug another way.

Mel B scored a legal victory earlier this month ... because her ex-husband's defamation case against her has been dismissed -- for now, at least.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ, a Florida judge dismissed the case last week ... finding Mel doesn't have enough ties to the Sunshine State to justify litigating the case there.

Basically, the judge ruled that just because people in Florida might've read the claims in Mel's book -- which Stephen Belafonte claimed caused him to lose business deals and otherwise harmed his reputation in the state -- it wasn't sufficient for Florida to handle the proceedings.

A judge has granted Haley Kalil's request to throw out her ex-husband Matt Kalil's lawsuit ... after she claimed his huge penis ended their marriage.

Haley tells TMZ ... "I am so relieved this is over. I never wanted to be in a courtroom discussing matters of my own life. I think this ruling is important and I hope it encourages women everywhere to speak openly about what they've been through. Your story belongs to you and you shouldn’t fear sharing it."

Haley's attorney, Matthew Bialick, tells TMZ ... "We are very pleased that the Court dismissed every count against Haley."

Ms. Rachel is joining Macklemore's initiative to help raise money for Palestinians ... she committed to matching his $1 million donation and says "every wealthy white celebrity" should join the cause.

The popular children's creator revealed Thursday that she'd be donating to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund -- which totally makes sense ... she's one of their ambassadors!

Ms. Rachel wrote ... "I will match Macklemore's donation and I invite every wealthy white celebrity to match it and speak out against the genocide in Gaza."

Clavicular's prescribing lookmaxxing advice for TMZ ... doling out tips and tricks to his viral trend with ... and dishing on the plastic surgery trend he just can't stand.

The streamer joined us in the office on Wednesday ... and he sat down for a wide-ranging chat with our own Charlie Neff for "The TMZ Podcast" ... taking us into his mind for his infamous rating system, which he says starts with the face.

Clav says he's a master of rating someone's attractiveness because he's got facial ratios down ... but, even if you don't, he says ya just need to look around to hone your rating skills.