Family

Brad Pitt crossed a line he had never crossed before by lunging at his 15-year-old son on a private jet and making contact with him, but the details of precisely what happened are in conflict ... and frankly, murky.

TMZ broke the story ... the L.A. County Dept. of Children and Family Services launched an investigation after getting an anonymous tip that Brad allegedly attacked his eldest son on a trip back from France.

Here's what's alleged -- Shortly after the plane took off, Brad and Angelina began arguing and Maddox jumped up to verbally defend his mom. We're told Brad then lunged at the boy and Angelina jumped in between them to block her husband. Brad connected in some fashion with his son.

Now here's what's in dispute:

-- Whether Brad and Angelina were arguing, or whether Maddox was acting up on the plane.

-- Whether Brad made contact with his son intentionally or inadvertently.

-- Whether Brad was drunk at the time. Although authorities were told Brad was drunk when the incident went down, we're told Angelina says he was sober at the time but got drunk later in the flight. Sources connected with Brad tell TMZ he was drunk at the time of the incident.

As we reported, Angelina wants sole physical custody of the kids. A source connected with Angelina says this is not about alcohol ... she would never leave Brad if it was just a substance abuse problem. The source says this is all about protecting their children.

Brad has denied there was any abuse, but sources connected with him acknowledge there was an incident on the jet.

And our sources say Brad has never acted aggressively toward his kids in the past -- other than verbally -- and Angelina felt the incident on the plane was a deal breaker.

Brad Pitt is under investigation by the LAPD and L.A. County Dept. of Children and Family Services for allegedly getting verbally abusive and physical with his children, and that's what triggered the divorce ... TMZ has learned.

Sources familiar with the situation tell us, Brad, Angelina and their kids were on a flight last Wednesday when he allegedly got wasted on the private jet. He allegedly went wild, screaming and getting physical with the kids.

We're told the plane landed at an airport around 8 PM, and witnesses say Pitt continued his rant on the tarmac, and even tried leaving in one of the fuel trucks.

Our sources say someone either on the plane or the tarmac anonymously reported the incident to the L.A. County Dept. of Children and Family Services. We're told Brad and Angelina have already been interviewed and DCFS plans to interview the kids as well. That investigation is ongoing.

We're also told the LAPD has the case ... which is routine when anyone reports child abuse. We do not know the specifics of the alleged abuse ... just that it was supposedly both verbal and physical.

Our sources say this incident triggered Jolie to separate from Brad the next day and file for divorce just days later.

A source close to Brad tells TMZ, "He takes the matter very seriously and says he did not commit any abuse of his children," adding, "It's unfortunate that people involved are continuing to present him in the worst possible light."

Mia Farrow's son, Thaddeus Farrow, died Wednesday ... TMZ has learned.

Thaddeus died at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut, where Mia lives. Law enforcement confirmed he died from a life-threatening injury he suffered in his car ... and there was no foul play. There are no other details at this time. He was 27.

Mia adopted Thaddeus -- who was paraplegic due to polio -- in 1994 from Calcutta, India. He was one of 10 children Mia has adopted.

Thaddeus was adopted after Mia's split from Woody Allen.

Metta World Peace claims he and his family have been targeted by a deranged woman who's threatened violence, attacked his property and waited for his kids after school ... and now, he's obtained a restraining order against her.

Gene Simmons wants more Americans profiled ... but Nick Simmons just wants Gene to quit shooting off his mouth about everything other than playing bass for KISS.

We got this awesome clip with Gene's son outside The Nice Guy, where we asked him about his dad saying the key to the war on terror is racial profiling. Nick thinks he knows why Gene believes that -- but still, absolutely disagrees with him.

He's obviously looking forward to going toe-to-toe with his father over this topic. In fact, the way Nick put it to us ... it could be a family wide battle.

#LetsPlayTheFeud

Angelina Jolie is lying by spreading the word ... Brad Pitt has anger issues that become dangerous when mixed with weed and alcohol ... so say sources directly connected with Brad.

TMZ broke the story, Angelina filed for divorce because she believes Brad poses a danger to the kids by fueling his "anger problem" with pot and alcohol.

Our Brad sources say it's "a malicious lie" and that "he's a loving and devoted father who has never and would never put his children in any dangerous situation."

The sources did not address the weed and alcohol issues.

As we reported, Angelina wants sole physical custody, with Brad getting only visitation. Our Brad sources say he wants to "share" physical custody with Angelina to make sure he remains a "present father" to the children. As for whether he asks for joint custody in his legal response ... stay tuned.

Joy Bounds is terrified R&B singer Lyfe Jennings wants to hurt her and take their boys.

According to docs obtained by TMZ ... Lyfe's ex and mother of their two sons claims he's tried brainwashing their boys against her and threatened her with violence.

Lyfe was arrested in 2008 and reportedly sentenced to prison for 3 years for kicking down the door of Joy's residence, firing shots, and leading police on a high-speed chase.

Joy says Lyfe's still very scary, claiming he made veiled threats like "I'm gunna remember this" and telling her she was "not that hard to find."

She says he's continued a campaign of brainwashing the kids, recently taking them to a park and feeding them lies about her.

Lyfe tells us he never threatened Joy or the kids in any way. He claims she's throwing a tantrum because he cussed her out about being a bad mother. He also says he's a good dad ... and everyone knows that.

Washington Redskins rookie Su'a Cravens is about to find out why he should NEVER ignore his mom's phone calls ... even if she's a fan of his team's rival.

Cravens told reporters earlier this week that he was preparing for his first matchup with the Dallas Cowboys by shutting down all communication with his mom -- a DIE-HARD supporter of America's Team.

Yolanda Cravens -- who admits she's slowly transitioning into a 'Skins fan -- tells us there will be consequences for Su'a's antics if the Redskins aren't victorious.

"If the Cowboys win, he has to wear something Cowboys. I don't know, they might throw tomatoes at him if he does that."

As for the Redskins drafting Su'a ... Yolanda says there's only one team she REALLY didn't want to select him ... and her reaction is hilarious.

1:55 PM PT -- The Orange County Coroner's Office says both autopsies are complete.

An emotional Robby Gordon broke his silence on the death of his father and his father's wife in an apparent murder-suicide ... saying he's devastated and vows to get to the bottom of the deadly incident.

"This is devastating," Gordon told The Orange County Register ... "[My father] taught so many and I want everyone to know what a good man he was."

The bodies of Robert "Baja Bob" Gordon and Sharon Gordon, were found at a home owned by the NASCAR driver Wednesday night. Cops say a rifle was found at the scene.

Cops are not saying what they believe happened inside the home -- but Gordon told The OCR, "The truth will come out."

Gordon also held a news conference and thanked his friends in the racing community for the support.

The father of NASCAR superstar Robby Gordon was found dead along with a woman believed to be his wife ... inside a Southern California home owned by his son.

Officials say 68-year-old Robert Gordon -- aka Baja Bob -- was discovered inside the home on Wednesday. The body of 57-year-old Sharon Gordon was also found inside the home.

Baja Bob was a famous off-road racer.

Cops told CBS2 in L.A. they believe they are dealing with a murder-suicide. Investigators say they found a weapon inside the home.

UPDATE -- Officers say a rifle was found inside the home.

LeBron James' world could collide with the Kardashian family ... soon ... because his mother's fiance is putting the full-court press on Kris Jenner to manage his rap career.

Producers of the Blac Chyna/Rob Kardashian reality show are teasing viewers that Chyna underwent a paternity test while she was pregnant because she doubted Rob's the dad, but it's all made up.

The tease shows Chyna demanding a paternity test and there's a shot of her with a needle in her arm ... it makes it seem like she herself is saying she was sleeping with multiple guys.

However, production sources tell us the needle is for a routine blood test ... NOT a paternity test. We're also told she has made it clear ... Rob's the only guy who could possibly be the dad.

In fact, we're told Chyna and Rob planned the pregnancy almost from the get-go. They tried for several weeks to do the deed before she actually got pregnant, despite the fact they only dated each other for a minute.

Chyna actually did tell Rob at one point he might not be the father, but did it "to get under his skin because she was pissed off at him."

One half of LMFAO is sounding off at the other claiming despite family ties he's been left in the dust.

Sky Blu posted a scathing letter on Facebook about Redfoo, who's also his uncle, calling him out for ditching him after he suffered a debilitating back injury.

Sky, who now goes by 8ky, is trying to drop his new solo LP but says Redfoo's lawyers fired off a letter saying he gets zero LMFAO royalties ... money he needs to underwrite his album. He says he's also been unsuccessful getting his share of money held up by Rick Ross' lawsuit against the group.

8ky claims Redfoo pushed him out of LMFAO and "just kept shuffling everyday without me," going as far as using their trademark party rock theme on his own solo LP.

8ky also sounded off on their label, Interscope, saying it needs to "stop treating artist like cows and chickens and using them for all they can produce and then just discard them without a care."

It's kinda history repeating itself. They're both blood related to Berry Gordy, founder of Motown ... a label that had its fair share of royalty fights.

Blac Chyna has no limits when it comes to hawking gear ... even if it's a total rip-off of the clothing line of her brother-in-law to be.

Kanye unveiled his Yeezy Season 4 collection this week ... and just hours later Chyna posted an ad on her Instagram for some shiny boots from Fashion Nova -- and she gets $$$ to push their stuff.

The boots are a dead ringer for Kanye's line. And here's the galling part for Kanye ... Chyna's kicks way undercut him ... $39 a pop, compared to Yeezy boots which run around $1k a pair.

Chyna deleted the post, as she sometimes does. We're guessing she might have gotten a call.

We reached out to a rep at Fashion Nova, who hardly apologized, saying, "We look to the past, present and future for fashion trends ... at Fashion Nova we have great admiration for Kanye West as he is clearly a trend setter for both fashion and music."

No shame in their game.

Miley Cyrus' baby sister, Noah, is joining the family biz ... and it's already paying off with six figure deals before she's recorded a hit.

16-year-old Noah signed 2 contracts -- one that will pay her $250k for recording her first album and another, for writing that album, will get her $100k ... this according to docs obtained by TMZ.

And there are a million more reasons for her to follow in Billy Ray, Miley and Trace's footsteps. If the first album's a hit she can get up to a $1.5 million advance for the second!

Minimum wage ... it's not for every teenager.

Shaq and Shaunie O'Neal are proving the best fights come AFTER marriage ... 'cause the big fella is DOUBLING DOWN on his NBA prediction for their sons ... despite the objections of mama.