Drugs & Alcohol

Jack Nicklaus says he feels bad for Tiger Woods after his DUI arrest -- and says the golf community should rally around to help him.

Nicklaus was speaking with Golf Channel's Nick Menta and said straight-up, "I feel bad for Tiger."

"Tiger's a friend. He's been great for the game of golf. He needs our help. I wish him well."

Nicklaus added, "I'm a friend of Tiger's. I feel bad for him. He's struggling ... He needs support from a lot of people. I'll be one of them."

Paul O'Neill -- the founder of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra -- died from a combination of prescription drugs ... TMZ has learned.

TMZ obtained a copy of O'Neill's autopsy report, and it says he died of intoxication from a mix of methadone, codeine, diazepam (generic Valium) and doxylamine (an antihistamine).

According to the doc, the cause of death is intoxication ... but it also mentions other ailments O'Neill was battling ... such as mild heart disease, hypertension and moderate hardening of the arteries. The medical examiner determined the death to be accidental.

When O'Neill died last month, the band released a statement saying he'd died from a "chronic illness."

Paul was 61.

Gilbert Arenas isn't buying Tiger Woods' prescription pill DUI excuse -- telling TMZ Sports, "That's the suckiest sh*t about being an athlete, you gotta lie."

The ex-NBA superstar was leaving Catch in West Hollywood (he was a passenger) -- when he told us what Tiger should have said in his statement ... instead of blaming Rx medication.

"Just say you got drunk, you got f**ked up like everyone else in America," Arenas said.

"Mixed medication, really??"

He also doesn't think the DUI charge will stick -- "As long as no one died, he should be fine."

5/30 -- Contrary to what law enforcement sources told us Monday, according to the police report Tiger did not have alcohol in his system and did not refuse a breathalyzer. He also was found stopped on the side of the road and not weaving.

And, according to the police report, Tiger was cooperative.

5:00 PM PT -- Tiger just released a statement ... "I understand the severity of what I did and I take full responsibility for my actions. I want the public to know that alcohol was not involved. What happened was an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications. I didn't realize the mix of medications affected me so strongly."

Woods goes on ... "I would like to apologize with all my heart to my family, friends, and the fans. I expect more from myself, too. I will do everything in my power to ensure this never happens again.

I fully cooperated with law enforcement, and I would like to personally thank the representatives of the Jupiter Police Dept. and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office for their professionalism."

1:00 PM PT -- We've learned Tiger's girlfriend, Kristin Smith, learned about the arrest while shopping at a Neiman Marcus store in Dallas. Someone called her and, according to several eyewitnesses, "she went crazy" and said "I knew it, I knew it." We're told she began crying, then bought $5k worth of merchandise and left.

10:30 AM PT -- Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... cops spotted Woods "driving erratically, all over the road" when they pulled him over. We're told the officer smelled alcohol on Woods' breath and at that point Woods became "arrogant." We're told the officer asked him to blow into a breathalyzer but he refused. In Florida that means automatic arrest and license suspension.

Our sources say Woods' people have been calling the police all morning asking if the cop had a body cam.

9:45 AM PT -- We're told Woods was driving a 2015 Mercedes. Cops called a tow yard to store the vehicle but then cancelled the call. Someone involved tells us a person in Woods' camp retrieved the vehicle.

9:40 AM PT -- Unclear if it's related, but Tiger had back surgery last month. As we reported, cops have not specified whether the DUI was for drugs, alcohol or both.

Tiger Woods has been arrested on DUI charges in Jupiter, Florida.

The golfer was stopped by cops early Monday morning for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. He was taken in around 3 AM and released from Palm Beach County Jail at 10:50 AM.

You'll recall ... when Tiger and then wife Elin Nordegren got into their blowout fight back in 2009, he hit a tree while allegedly driving under the influence of Ambien. He was not charged with DUI at the time.

Kaine -- one half of the hip hop duo Ying Yang Twins -- had some trouble shaking it like a salt shaker ... because he could barely stand up.

The rappers were performing at The Rev Room in Little Rock, Arkansas Sunday night ... when a shirtless Kaine started stumbling around the stage and appeared to be pretty messed up.

According to a source at the show ... he had to be removed from the stage 3 times but kept returning. Eventually, he was escorted off for good by a member of security.

G-Eazy's really got the birthday week thing down ... and he knows exactly how he likes to celebrate.

The rapper's bday was Wednesday, but he kept the party going Sunday night at a private party in Malibu. A few celebs were in attendance ... along with some booty-shaking strippers and fellow weed enthusiasts.

If this kind of bash sounds familiar, it's because Eazy's done it before.

G-Eazy's birthday tour also had a stop in Reno Saturday night ... with a lot more of the same party favors.

Rich Homie Quan never made it to his gig in Georgia this weekend because he was arrested and detained by cops on the way over ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... RHQ and his crew were stopped at a police checkpoint Saturday night en route to Club Liquids in Wadley, GA, where he and 5 guys were arrested on suspicion of possession of a stolen gun and drugs. Cops say they believe the drugs to be ecstasy and weed.

Quan is in Jefferson County Jail as of Sunday afternoon, but has not been charged yet. Police there can detain someone without charging them for up to 48 hours.

Akon must've been really excited for the Monaco Grand Prix to start this weekend ... or maybe he just likes spraying champagne in Monte Carlo for the hell of it.

Whatever the case ... Akon was definitely getting his Cristal shower on Saturday night while attending an after-party for fashion designer Philipp Plein, who just had a show in Cannes.

Eyewitnesses tell us the singer was basically spraying the audience all night inside Jimmy's nightclub, where he was also performing. No harm, no foul though ... the crowd was doing the same.

Chris Cornell's wife knew something was terribly wrong with her husband during their last conversation, and it brought her back 14 years to when Chris was abusing prescription meds.

We now know what Vicky told friends and family, and it's a chilling story. The following is what she told them.

Vicky says her last conversation with Chris came about 30 minutes before his body was found hanging in a Detroit hotel room. Vicky says just before Chris called her, the lights in their family home -- which Chris could control remotely from his phone -- began flickering on and off. When he called she asked him if he had just manipulated the lights and he said no -- that he did it an hour before.

Vicky immediately became suspicious because Chris was onstage an hour before. Things got more ominous as he began slurring, and every minute the slurring got worse. He was complaining about the show and his crew, saying, "They f***ed up again. They had 3 days to fix my in-ears and I was getting static. I couldn't hear."

He then started to complain, "I blew my voice. I blew my voice." He kept repeating it. And then he changed the subject to something that made no sense.

Vicky says she knew something was seriously wrong and said to Chris, "I need to know what you took tonight. You don't sound right, sweetheart." He replied, "I was really angry and I just took 2 Ativan. I'm really pissed and I had to calm myself down."

Vicky replied, "I need to know what you took. It doesn't sound like 2 Ativan. It sounds like you took something else. You need to tell me now what you took. I forgive you."

Vicky says at that point Chris' entire demeanor changed. He got aggressive -- not toward her -- but his tone was "cocky and aggressive." She says she immediately had a flashback to 14 years before, when Chris was abusing Oxycontin ... when it got so bad at one point he nearly died.

Chris then changed the subject and made no sense at all. Vicky panicked, hung up and called Chris' bodyguard, begging him to race over to his room and get inside, and she said if he had to knock the door down then so be it. She had never had someone check on him in 14 years, but she was afraid he would die.

She says the bodyguard knocked down the front door but couldn't knock down the second, so she used a second phone to call the hotel and plead with them to open the interior door. She was screaming, "He's having a heart attack."

Vicky was still on the phone with the bodyguard when he was able to knock down the second door and saw Chris' body hanging from an exercise band.

Vicky says it took around 30 minutes from the time she hung up with Chris to the time the bodyguard found Chris.

As we reported, sources connected with the investigation tell us EMTs and cops saw fresh track marks on Chris' arm. Vicky says she never knew Chris to use needles and says just before he left for Detroit that afternoon, he was walking the streets of New York with her in a t-shirt and there was no evidence of track marks on his body.

Chris Cornell had apparently taken more than Ativan before hanging himself, because we've learned he had fresh track marks on his arm when his body was discovered in a Detroit hotel room.

Sources connected to the investigation tell us ... the track marks were "obvious." The singer had a history of using drugs. The toxicology tests will reveal what drugs were found in Chris' system.

The new information is consistent with our story that Ted Keedick, Chris' longtime house engineer and tour manager, said Chris seemed "high" and "f***ed up" during the concert ... hours before his death.

Chris' wife has said her husband had told her he took "an extra Ativan or two."

Jamie Foxx was on a fast track to blowing his career after he made the movie "Ray" ... and Oprah told him so and scared him straight.

The Academy Award-winning actor went on "The Howard Stern Show" and confessed he was drinking and partying way too much back in 2005 when Oprah staged what amounts to an intervention.

O called him and told Jamie straight-up he was ruining his career, saying, "All of this gallivanting and all this kind of s**t that's not what you want to do. I want to take you somewhere."

Jamie met Oprah at Quincy Jones' house after the call for a come-to-Jesus moment, where Sidney Poitier and other black Hollywood actors were on hand to push Jamie toward more sober and responsible living. Unclear whether he went to rehab, but whatever he did worked.

Jamie won the Best Actor Oscar award for "Ray."

Chris Cornell was messed up during his Detroit concert ... hours before he committed suicide -- this according to a longtime confidant who was present and working the event.

Ted Keedick, who worked with Chris for the last decade as his house engineer and tour manager, tells TMZ, "Chris was out of character from note 1 of the show. I've never heard or seen him that way before, at least if we did not cancel a show."

Keedick says Chris seemed "high" and "f***ed up," but not depressed. In fact, Keedick says during sound check Chris was in good spirits. It's consistent with what Chris' widow says of her phone conversations with Chris before and after the show.

Vicky Cornell says Chris told her he had taken "an extra Ativan or two" and she was so alarmed she called hotel security to check on him. Chris' own security guy discovered the singer had hanged himself in his bathroom.

Keedick says Chris was off during the entire show, saying, "I'd never heard his voice that way before. He was having serious control problems."

Keedick was positioned in the middle of the audience with his mixing board, and at one point during the concert he was so concerned he phoned someone backstage and asked what was wrong with Chris.

As we reported, Chris had struggled with drug abuse for years, but his wife says he was clean when he died. Based on Keedick's account, it appears he fell off the wagon before his last concert.

Ethan Embry's hooked on something else these days ... GETTING YOKED!

The "Can't Hardly Wait" star was in Larchmont Village Tuesday and the convo started on a serious note -- drug addiction. Ethan was hooked on heroin and painkillers, but says he's 6 years sober now.

He railed against those who want to criminalize drug addiction -- going off on a Twitter rant to get his point across ... but in the midst of that convo, we learned he's picked up quite the fitting habit.

Sinbad thinks a D.C. bar serving a cocktail that mocks the Bill Cosby case is the exact opposite of funny ... in fact, it's just wrong.

We got the comedian Monday at LAX and asked him about the bar -- called Diet Starts Monday -- pouring a "Pill Cosby" ... complete with empty pill capsules.

Sinbad doesn't mince words here -- he says it's not a joke, and his stance has nothing to do with defending Cosby's name.

His point is ... bars should leave the edgy comedy to the pros.

NFL free agent Matt Elam was arrested again Monday morning in Florida after allegedly fighting his girlfriend over a cell phone.

According to a police report, obtained by TMZ Sports, police were called to his girlfriend's Delray Beach home around 4 AM.

Cops say they spoke with his girlfriend and her mom, who told them Elam -- who last played for the Baltimore Ravens -- had just came by their house to pick up his car.

According to the report, his girlfriend told police Elam tried to grab her cell phone out of her hand because he had paid for it. She told cops they fell onto the ground while fighting over the phone.

Cops say he got ahold of the phone and took off on foot. They said his girlfriend had small cuts on her finger and left foot from the fight.

Police say they found Elam a couple hours later at a house in the area. He told cops he asked his girlfriend for money and when she refused, he took her phone. He said she took his phone in return.

Elam -- who was arrested on drug charges back in February -- was booked for domestic battery and grand theft. He's currently being held on $4,500 bond.

Chris Cornell's wife believes her husband's death was actually caused by an overdose of Ativan and that if he took his life he was not in his right mind.

Vicky Cornell confirms the story we broke Thursday ... that she spoke with Chris twice hours before his death and he was not suicidal ... not even depressed. Vicky says when she spoke with Chris before his Detroit concert they discussed vacation plans over Memorial Day.

She says after the show when they spoke, she noticed he was slurring his words, and that's when Chris told her he "may have taken an extra Ativan or two."

The family lawyer is not ready to concede Chris' death was suicide, and says the toxicology tests may provide the key. The lawyer notes Chris was a recovering addict and, "The family believes if Chris took his life, he did not know what he was doing, and that drugs or other substances may have affected his actions." He adds Ativan can cause paranoid or suicidal thoughts.