Family

Tekashi 6ix9ine's loved ones are going to bat for him, trying to convince the judge he's more than just a great snitch, but also a misunderstood, kindhearted and charitable kid ... worthy a much shorter prison sentence.

The rapper's mother, brother, girlfriend and bodyguard -- along with nearly 30 other people -- submitted letters to Judge Paul Engelmayer asking for leniency in his sentencing next week. In her letter -- obtained by TMZ -- Mama 6ix9ine, Natividad Perez-Hernandez, says her boy is humble and a good person, and not the guy he's portrayed to be in the media.

Natividad describes Tekashi -- sorry, Daniel Hernandez -- a sweet, God-fearing boy, and even says his fave Bible passage is Psalm 121 ("The Lord will keep you from all harm"). She also says he was a very athletic kid, so much so ... a baseball scout wanted to sign him!

Mom added, "Danny" provides for his entire family -- including her, his brother and his daughter. She calls locking him up as an "injustice" because the whole family needs him for financial and emotional support ... especially 6-year-old Saraiyah who "adores him."

No disrespect to New Jersey or its famous shore, but Snooki wants a MUCH better life for her 3 kids, which is why she's swearing off all things 'Jersey Shore' ... for good.

Fresh off announcing she's retiring from the 'JS' game, Snooki touched down at LAX Thursday, and made it clear she has no second thoughts. She told a photog she's looking forward, not back, purely because it's what's best for her family.

When the pap suggested a possible spin-off could be in the works -- Snooki shot that down instantly ... and you gotta see the look on her face when she did it.

Remember, she complained during last season about 'JS' keeping her away from her husband, daughter and 2 sons ... so maybe she'd be down for a show focused on her family.

Not a chance! As Snooks put it, she's not trying to see her kids turn into the kinda "degenerate" she was on TV. Translation: Snooki Nicole's come a loooong way from being that chick who stumbled drunk on beaches, and got brutally knocked out in bars.

As for her costars -- she's not offering them any career advice, especially Ronnie Ortiz-Magro ... who, as we've reported, has a child custody war brewing with Jen Harley.

Ronnie Ortiz-Magro is dropping some heinous, and unproven, accusations against his baby mama -- posting texts he claims demonstrate she can't handle being a mother.

The "Jersey Shore" star is ranting on Instagram ... alleging Jen Harley has abandoned their 20-month-old daughter, Ariana, by dumping her off with friends while she's off "getting drunk with a sugar daddy."

He's offering no evidence of that, and, let's be honest, even if his claim is true -- sounds like he's describing a standard babysitting situation.

Anyway, Ronnie's rant included texts he claims show Jen is ignoring their child while Jen's in another state and he alleges she refuses to return home to care for Ariana.

The texts appear to show friends are reaching out to Ronnie for help, but he replies he can't because legally, he's not allowed to see Ariana. Jen got full custody in the wake of their domestic incident back in October, and he's been ordered to stay away from Jen and their child.

Juice WRLD's family is breaking their silence on the death of the 21-year-old rapper, shedding light on his battle with prescription drug abuse and his fight to help others beat their addictions.

In an exclusive statement to TMZ, the late rapper's mom, Carmella Wallace, says, "We loved Jarad with all of our hearts and cannot believe our time with him has been cut short. As he often addressed in his music and to his fans, Jarad battled with prescription drug dependency."

Juice rapped about drugs often, something his family says wasn't to promote using ... but instead to help those battling addiction who may have felt alone in their fight.

His mom continues, "Addiction knows no boundaries and its impact goes way beyond the person fighting it. Jarad was a son, brother, grandson, friend and so much more to so many people who wanted more than anything to see him defeat addiction."

Elizabeth Smart's parents are putting 34 years of marriage in the rearview mirror ... 'cause they're officially divorced.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... Ed and Lois finalized their divorce in Salt Lake County Court. The terms of the divorce -- the division of their property and financial accounts -- are not disclosed in the settlement.

As we reported, Ed revealed back in August that he's gay -- and also announced he and Lois were in the process of getting divorced. They hammered out the settlement pretty quickly -- by Hollywood standards, anyway -- and the judge has already signed off.

At the time, Ed said he would no longer live a lie and insinuated he contemplated suicide while he kept his secret. Ed spoke out publicly Monday for the first time and talked about being gay, telling Gayle King on "CBS This Morning" ... "There is no cure. This is absolutely not a choice. And, I wish my wife knew that. I wish that, more than anything."

Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy's youngest daughter is going to college -- and kinda rubbing it in the face of her older sis, who's still undeclared after Mom's admissions scandal.

17-year-old Georgia Macy just updated her Instagram to say she's a future Vassar College student -- with her graduation year pegged as 2024. She also added a big ol' "VASSAR" logo to her IG story ... so it's pretty clear she is celebrating big-time.

Now, Georgia isn't the kid who got roped into the college admissions scandal earlier this year -- that was Felicity and Will's other daughter, Sophia Macy ... who's 19.

According to prosecutors, she was the one Felicity shelled out $15k to have her SAT test fixed to make sure she got a good score. Of course, Felicity pled guilty and did her time, brief though it was.

Since then, Sophia hasn't announced she's enrolled anywhere.

We have seen Sophia hitting the books lately, which could mean she's ramping up for a second shot at college. AKA ... the ol' college try.

For now ... congrats, Georgia!

Chris Brown just introduced the world to his new baby son ... Aeko Catori Brown.

CB posted the first pic of his and Ammika Harris' new son Wednesday on Instagram. He simply captioned it with his son's name. Ammika posted the same picture on her Instagram Story and captioned it, "Forever won't be enough with you."

As we reported back in November ... Chris welcomed his second child with his ex. At the time, both of them posted cryptic messages on social media alluding to the birth of their child.

Chris had posted a pic of himself smiling and looking down at something off-camera with the caption of the date ... 11-20-19. We now know he was proudly looking down at Aeko. Ammika had also alluded to the child's birth on her Instagram Story, writing ... "I was in love, when I first saw you."

This is CB and Ammika's first child together. It's Ammika's first child and CB's second child. He has a 5-year-old daughter named Royalty with Nia Guzman.

22-year-old boxer Evan Holyfield's favorite fighter is NOT his legendary father, Evander Holyfield ... it's Filipino star Manny Pacquiao.

Yes ... NOT his dad a.k.a. George Foreman/Mike Tyson (twice) slayin' Evander "The Real Deal" Holyfield.

TMZ Sports talked to the younger Holyfield -- who's dominated his first 2 professional fights -- and asked, who's your favorite boxer?

"Manny Pacquiao. I love Manny Pacquiao. Besides my dad, of course. I'm gonna take some stuff from him, but Manny Pacquiao. I watch that man before I go to sleep, I watch that man when I wake up, when I get bored."

"Manny Pacquiao's my guy. I watched all his movies. I stole so much stuff from Manny Pacquiao, it's ridiculous."

Suffice it to say, Evan likes Manny ... and is super pumped about the prospect of having some face time with his hero in the future.

"I haven't had a chance to meet Manny yet, but I'm sure if I was ever to meet Manny, I don't know what I would do."

"I don't fan out when it comes to celebrities because my dads had me around a lot of them, but someone like him, ain't no telling what would happen."

That's a wrap for Caroline Wozniacki ... almost!

The 29-year-old tennis star says she's officially retiring from the sport -- right after the Australian Open in January -- to focus on other aspects of her life, including growing her family.

"I've played professionally since I was 15 years old," Wozniacki says.

"I've always told myself, when the time comes, that there are things away from tennis that I want to do more, then it's time to be done. In recent months, I've realized that there is a lot more in life that I'd like to accomplish off the court."

Caroline says getting married to NBA star David Lee "was one of those goals" -- along with "starting a family with him while continuing to travel the world."

She also wants to focus energy on raising awareness for rheumatoid arthritis -- a condition she suffers from.

"So with that, today I am announcing that I will be retiring from professional tennis after the Australian Open in January," Wozniacki says.

"This has nothing to do with my health and this isn't a goodbye, I look forward to sharing my exciting journey ahead with all of you."

As far as her tennis accomplishments, Caroline was pretty damn good.

"With 30 WTA singles titles, a world #1 ranking for 71 weeks, a WTA Finals victory, 3 Olympics, including carrying the flag for my native Denmark, and winning the 2018 Australian Open Grand slam championship, I've accomplished everything I could on the court."

Not bad, right?

Wozniacki and her hubby recently took classes at Harvard Business School as part of a program that helps athletes build a second career outside of sports ... so post-tennis life has been on her brain for a while.

Congrats!

Justin Timberlake is apologizing to Jessica Biel for getting cozy with his female costar in New Orleans ... and while he admits he was drunk, he insists nothing sexual happened.

Justin was photographed with Alisha Wainwright on a balcony at a NOLA bar last month, and they seemed to get handsy. He's clearly seen and heard all the buzz about the pics. He says he "displayed a strong lapse in judgement" with Alisha, his costar in "Palmer" ... a movie they're currently filming down there.

He added, in a lengthy IG post, the rumors about the incident are "hurting the people I love."

Justin blames the whole situation on alcohol, saying he drank way too much that night, but adds nothing happened between Alisha and him.

Translation, we held hands but didn't have sex.

JT says he should be setting a better example for his and Jessica's 4-year-old son, Silas Randall, and apologizes to his wife and family for putting them through what he calls an "embarrassing situation."

Barack and Michelle Obama are busting out the champagne, we imagine, to celebrate closing the deal for a mega-estate on Martha's Vineyard.

The Obamas got the keys Wednesday for the awesome mansion which sits on 29 acres of beachfront property. TMZ broke the story back in August when the former Prez and First Lady were in escrow on the luxurious home ... formerly owned by Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck.

As we told you, it was listed for $14,850,000 ... but our sources told us the Obamas were paying much less. Now we know how much less. According to real estate records, they're plunking down $11.75 million.

That kinda dough gets them 6,900 square feet with 7 bedrooms. The enormous pad has a pool, outdoor fireplace, and vaulted ceilings. It also has 2 guest wings off the main home.

Michelle and Barack test drove the house over the summer ... when they were renting it. Obviously, they were impressed and decided to make it permanent.

Tom LeClair and Gerret Conover of Landvest were realtors for the transaction. We reached out, but they had no comment.

Congrats to the new homeowners! Did we mention their estate comes with a private beach and a boathouse?

"Tarzan" star Ron Ely's son's fatal encounter with cops was caught on camera ... and you can hear police giving commands before unloading a deadly barrage of bullets.

TMZ's obtained police footage of the officer-involved shooting that killed Ron's 30-year-old son, Cameron Ely, outside his parent's California property after Cameron allegedly stabbed his mother, Valerie Lundeen Ely, to death.

While you don't actually see Cameron get shot to death, the video rolls from the hood of a police cruiser through the whole incident. You hear a deputy clearly order Cameron to keep his hands up before dozens of gunshots ring out.

Another deputy then says there's a gun under Cameron -- but cops later concluded Cameron was unarmed -- and only faked having a weapon.

As we reported ... police rushed to Ron's Hope Ranch property after Cameron called 911 at some point after killing his mom. The operator said Cameron was crying and out of breath.

Criss Angel is sharing some somber news about his young son's dire medical battle ... the leukemia is back after a brief dip into remission.

We got Criss and his kid, Johnny Crisstopher, at LAX Tuesday, and the famous illusionist told us his 5-year-old will be going back to a hospital next week to restart treatment for a rare form of leukemia.

Criss says before Johnny's readmitted, he's going to make sure the little guy has the time of his life in SoCal. Sounds like dad's got some fun stuff on tap.

You'll recall, when Johnny was first diagnosed with cancer back in 2015 at just 21 months old ... Criss set out to make a documentary on his son's chemo treatments, and to raise $1 million for pediatric cancer research.

Jenna Dewan is trading in birthday cake and candles for cardboard boxes and dollies ... she's moving into her new digs as she celebrates 39 trips around the Sun.

Check out these pics of Jenna and her boyfriend Steve Kazee on her birthday ... no celebrations, just business as they move into her new crib in Los Angeles. This is 39.

The good news is Jenna doesn't have to do any heavy lifting ... she's got a hunky BF and some movers to take care of everything. Of course, it looks like she's still overseeing the whole process -- it's the birthday girl's day after all.

Jenna's been living with a Steve for a little while now, and we're told she recently closed on the home ... and Tuesday was the big move-in day.

As you know ... Jenna's locked in a nasty custody battle with her ex, Channing Tatum, with the parents going at it over daughter Everly's custody. Channing is asking a judge to lay out a detailed schedule for who gets their girl and for how long, including holidays, birthdays and work trips ... something sources on Jenna's side say was already figured out.

Beyonce's dad, Mathew Knowles, says before there was Destiny's Child ... there was Girls Tyme -- which apparently had A LOT of pieces filling in around his daughter over the years.

Mathew came on "TMZ Live" Tuesday to give us the 411 on a new book and album he just released about the girl group he started nearly 30 years ago. You know about DC, obviously, but that success was built on Girls Tyme.

The book, "Destiny's Child: The Untold Story," and the album by the same name offer previously unreleased music, and a deep dive into the making of the group -- which Mathew says involved more than a couple dozen different members.

We've always heard about Bey, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson -- but, as it turns out, that was just the tip of the iceberg between Girls Tyme and the final version of DC.

Pablo Escobar's brother knows how to move merchandise -- show off the goods ... and make sure to toss in a little extra eye candy. Or a lot.

The notorious Colombian kingpin's bro, Roberto, is adding to his tech portfolio by unveiling one of the world's first foldable smartphones. Based on the ad ... sexy women in lingerie will especially enjoy using it.

According to his company, Escobar Inc., the flexible screen Android easily folds out into a 7.8-inch screen tablet ... and comes with all the top-of-the-line bells and whistles.

Its name -- the Escobar Fold 1. Retail price -- $349. The company says they'll sell out quickly, because it's only producing 100,000 units to start ... so get 'em while they're hot.

Of course, the pioneering new phone comes a few months after Roberto got into a business beef with tech guru Elon Musk ... over their competing flamethrowers.

We broke the story ... Pablo's bro threatened to take legal action against Musk, claiming Elon jacked his idea after one of his engineers paid a visit to the family compound in mid-2017.

However, days later Roberto changed his tune and offered a solution to Musk -- get Trump to issue him a pardon so they can partner up ... and get into the weed biz.