Exclusives

We spoke to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals L.A., who told us "It is permissible to hold a kitten by his or her scruff for a brief amount of time" ... but warns, "the manner in which Ms. Kardashian is holding the kitten could lead others to mishandle animals."

According to sources on the set of the photo shoot where the pic was taken, Kim only held the cat by the scruff for a few seconds -- and did it with the owner and a vet's consent.

We're told the cat is "doing fine."

Lamas -- who won Season 12 of the reality show -- just met Nik Richie (the guy behind TheDirty.com) on Saturday night ... and sometime in the next 24 hours, the two fell in love and decided to become man and wife.

Sources close to the ceremony tell TMZ the couple invested in the "Michael Jordan Package" -- a $519 value that includes 36 pro photos and a DVD copy of the wedding.

Jesse James' alleged mistress #1 and Tiger Woods' #we-lost-count would front a show called "Celebrity Cheaters," which is currently being shopped around town. The show was created by Bobby Goldstein, who created the original "Cheaters" -- and would, according to the pitch, try and "catch celebrity cheaters with their pants down."

Ironically, we're told McGee once applied to be on "Cheaters" to try to trap an ex. She was denied.

The show hasn't found a home yet -- but Goldstein says McGee and Jungers have both agreed to do it, though nothing has been signed yet.

Charlie put on his favorite pair of pajama bottoms and showed off his nearly chrome dome as he made a trip to the dentist Friday afternoon.

Shaunie O'Neal's lawyers just fired off a letter to Shaq's people, claiming the bball star "interrogated" the couple's children to tell him everything they knew about her new man ... "to the point that they felt intimidated and scared of him."

Shaunie also claims Shaq told their 6-year-old son to tell her boyfriend that Shaq "is going to kill him" -- and that Shaq even screamed at the kid and said, "Say it now! My daddy is going to kill you!"

Shaunie's lawyers are demanding Shaq halt "further inappropriate discussions" with their children -- which is an alleged violation of the non-disparagement provision of their divorce judgment.

Joy Pierce is holding on tight to Beresford-Redman (left) in this photo taken last summer. Multiple sources close to the Beresford-Redmans, and several published reports, have said that Joy and Bruce had an intimate relationship.

We're told Bruce and Joy worked together on the boxing reality show "The Contender" in 2005 ... and a game show for ABC called "Crash Course" last year.

The photo was taken when the pair was out to dinner with "Contender" boxer Tarick Salmaci.

TMZ made several attempts to contact Pierce -- by phone and in person -- but she has not gotten back to us.

TMZ obtained photos of Rodgers gettin' all sorts of cozy with Scott inside Vanity nightclub at the Hard Rock Hotel last night.

Law enforcement sources confirm that roughly two weeks ago, McGee's ex-husband, Shane Modica, reported that he received a call from a man in Missouri who claimed Bombshell wanted to put a hit on both Modica and Bullock ... and the mystery caller claimed he was the person who was supposed to carry out the hits.

Sources tell us Modica reported that the caller claimed he received his killing orders before the cheating scandal came to light.

Law enforcement sources confirm that the man in Missouri contacted his local FBI office to inform them about the situation -- and the FBI then contacted the local sheriff's office.

We're told the sheriff's office told the FBI they had prior run-ins with the Missouri caller -- a person said to have had a head injurythat caused him to "lose sense of reality." Furthermore, authorities have no reason to believe McGee ever contacted the man.

The FBI in Missouri notified the FBI in Los Angeles -- but sources tell TMZ that investigators concluded the threat was bogus.

According to a document obtained by TMZ, The Sitch -- formally known as Mike Sorrentino -- filed for unemployment in New Jersey on October 25, 2009 ... "Jersey Shore" didn't premiere until December 3.

New Jersey then sent a Request for Separation Information form to the restaurant in Florida where Mike was last employed ... to verify that he was really terminated.

The mayor of the Georgia town where Ben Roethlisberger allegedly sexually assaulted a woman in a nightclub bathroom has found a silver lining to the whole mess ... TOURISM!

TMZ spoke to Milledgeville Mayor Richard Bentley who told us he hopes the incident will draw new visitors to the college town --saying, "Anything that can draw interest to our town and make people want to visit, we would like."

TMZ has learned Cage recently had a 9-foot tall pyramid-shaped super-tomb built in a New Orleans cemetery -- with the expectation that it will be his final resting place.

It's unclear why Cage chose a pyramid-shaped building -- but it's probably no coincidence that there happens to be a pyramid-shaped symbol on the poster for his classic film, "National Treasure."

According to tax documents, Jesse's restaurant owes $5,639.71 to the State of California.

It's no chump change -- but it's still a whole lot better than Jesse's enormous sexual harassment settlement with a female employee back in 2007 ... which cost the biker $725,000.

And for the record, that's not a drawing of Cinnabun in the picture -- it's a portrait of Jesse's other beloved pit bull Cisco, who's now in doggy heaven.

The woman who claimed to be Michael Jackson's secret wife will not get a cent of his money, according to new court documents.

Shellie Doreen Smith filed a creditor's claim with the Jackson estate back in December. She claimed they got married sometime in the 70s in New York City.

The woman, who accompanied Larry to his son's baseball game yesterday, is Wendy Walker (above) -- the longtime senior executive producer of "Larry King Live."

Sources tell us the phones have been ringing off the hook with inquiries about Larry's "mysterious" new lady friend -- but we can confirm that they're just friends.

TMZ has learned not only are Larry King and Shawn Southwick having second thoughts about filing for divorce ... they've agreed to go to therapy to try and save their marriage.

Sources intimately familiar with the situation tell TMZ, Shawn and Larry both say they love each other and both would like to figure out how to work things out, but there's one little thing standing in the way ... Shawn believes Larry is still shtupping her sister.

That aside ... we're told when Shawn and Larry met up at their son's baseball game last night, they genuinely connected and expressed their love. They plan on speaking today and they have both agreed to meet with a marriage counselor on Monday.

That said ... no one has withdrawn divorce papers yet. In a bizarre twist, mega-divorce lawyer Robert Kaufman showed up again to the King mansion this morning, but he wasn't speaking with Shawn because she was still sleeping -- he was speaking with Shawn's dad.

As of the time of this post, Shawn is still connected to her present lawyer, Joe Mannis.