Family

Ric Flair says a wrestling match between his daughter, Charlotte Flair, and The Rock's daughter, Simone Johnson, would be freakin' AWESOME ... and it could happen!!

TMZ Sports talked to Flair at LAX ... and while the wrestling legend told us he hadn't given much thought to a Charlotte vs. Simone match, he says the women most definitely have -- and it'd be huge.

"I have not [thought about it], but I'm sure it's crossed their mind. They can see it down the road. It would be phenomenal!"

There's a big gap between the women... 33-year-old Charlotte has been with WWE since 2012 and is one of the biggest stars in the game.

But, Simone just started wrestling, so Ric says it's impossible to say exactly how good she'll be -- but she's got a major advantage -- The Rock's her dad.

"I haven't seen her wrestle yet, so it's hard to predict. She's got his genetics and she's got determination. I know that she's been dying to do this."

Charlotte vs. Simone would be epic ... 'cause well, remember Ric vs. The Rock in 2002?

Lil Scrappy and his wife, Bambi Benson, are adding to their brood ... with baby No. 2 on the way!!!

Sources close to the couple tell TMZ ... the "Love & Hip Hop Atlanta" stars are ecstatic about expecting their second kid together. We're told Bambi is currently around 18 weeks pregnant but they don't know the gender just yet. It's still a tad bit too early to tell.

But, the celebration's most certainly underway. Lil Scrappy and Bambi -- who got married in September 2017 -- are overjoyed and excited to add to the family. They had their first baby together in September 2018 ... 1-year-old son Breland.

This will be Scrappy's third child. He has a daughter, Emani, from a previous relationship.

This is the BEST thing you'll see all day.

14-year-old New York Mets superfan Braeden got hooked up with a once in a lifetime experience at spring training in Port St. Lucie, FL this week ... meeting all the players, hanging in the clubhouse and on the field!

Not only did Braeden -- who is battling cystic fibrosis -- hang with guys like Michael Conforto, Jacob deGrom, Jeff McNeil and Tim Tebow ... he also got to take the lineup card to home plate (in full uniform) before the game against the Cardinals on Sunday.

Braeden and his fam got to enjoy the game from the first row, behind home plate ... but the best part of his trip happened when he randomly ran into his favorite player -- Pete Alonso -- at his hotel!!

We're told PA was more than happy to hang with Braeden, take pics and even autograph a ball for his big fan.

“He was so chill,” Braeden said about the encounter “He was just a nice guy.”

Tyler Perry is not convinced his nephew hanged himself in prison, and he's hired a famous medical examiner to determine if he committed suicide or if he was killed in his cell.

TMZ broke the story ... Tyler's nephew, 26-year-old Gavin Porter, was serving 20 years for shooting and killing his dad in front of his mom -- who's Tyler's sister. He was found Tuesday night hanging in his cell from a bedsheet.

One of the reasons Tyler is suspicious ... Gavin got into a fight with another inmate last weekend and was placed in solitary.

Tyler tells TMZ, "Call me naive, but it was my hope that after serving his time, and really reflecting and showing much remorse and asking God for forgiveness, that he would have been able to come to work for me, joining all the other former inmates who work for me and turn his life around just as they have. But that day will never come."

Tyler says he's hired Dr. Michael Baden, a famed pathologist who has been involved in numerous cases, including JFK, O.J. and Jeffrey Epstein. Dr. Baden will perform a second autopsy.

Kobe Bryant's big sister just got a permanent tribute to Kobe and Gianna -- a brand new tattoo with their numbers encircled by a Black Mamba snake.

Sharia Bryant Washington -- the oldest of the Bryant siblings -- hit up tattoo artist Peter Barrios for the work ... and it turned out pretty great.

You can see the numbers 2 and 24 (worn by Gianna and Kobe, respectfully) -- with the Black Mamba snake in the shape of the infinity symbol.

In other words ... Gianna and Kobe forever.

In the past few weeks, a bunch of people who knew Kobe and Gianna have opted for tats -- everyone from LeBron James and Anthony Davis to J.R. Smith and Shareef O'Neal.

Odell Beckham and rapper The Game also got Kobe-inspired body art.

Lamar Odom, who was extremely close with Kobe, told us he's strongly considering a Kobe tat and will likely get one soon.

It's been more than a month since Kobe, Gianna and 7 others passed away in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, Ca.

As we previously reported, Kobe's widow, Vanessa Bryant, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the company that operated the doomed chopper essentially blaming the pilot for the crash.

Ray J and Princess Love are still husband and wife -- doing the whole co-parenting thing -- but they're not back under the same roof, and that's just the way they like it for now.

Sources close to the couple tell TMZ ... they still haven't reconciled after she claimed in November he'd "stranded" her and their daughter, Melody, in Vegas after a heated argument. Remember, Princess was weeks away from giving birth to their second child at the time.

We're told they're getting along fine now ... doing family stuff together with no drama or arguing. This includes over the holidays, which is also when they welcomed their baby boy, Epik.

Our sources say the couple's living situation -- Princess stays at her luxury Beverly Hills condo while Ray J's at a nearby bachelor pad -- helps keep the peace. We're told she keeps the kids but Ray comes by to visit daily, and he has their dogs at his house.

As for the potential threat of divorce ... our sources say there's zero talk of that currently, and they're using the time apart to focus on themselves and being good parents. Princess, we're told, is very happy with the current set up.

That doesn't mean Ray J's not still trying to make amends though ... our sources say he went all out for Valentine's Day, covering the Bev Hills condo with more than 2,000 roses for both Princess and Melody.

As we've reported ... Princess said she was done with the marriage after the Vegas incident, and Ray J briefly stopped wearing his wedding ring. He had it back on a few days later, though ... but said Princess was still mad.

We're told things are looking a lot better now, but clearly, they still have plenty of smoothing out to be done.

Steven Spielberg is reportedly worried about his daughter jumping into the adult entertainment scene -- but he's got nothing to sweat about ... so says Maitland Ward.

We spoke to the former "Boy Meets World" star-turned-porn star Wednesday in L.A. and asked her to weigh in on the famed director's adopted child, Mikaela Spielberg, announcing she's now a porn star ... and dad apparently not being thrilled about it behind closed doors.

At first, Mikaela said her parents seemed pretty supportive about her career choice ... which Maitland says is awesome and how more parents should look at it if their kid goes down that road. But, when we point out Steve is said to have been privately "concerned" and "embarrassed" over the whole thing ... Maitland says she gets that side of it too.

Fact is ... it might be surprising for parents to hear, but with more talking -- the more Maitland feels people will come around to the porn scene being part of the entertainment biz. And, as far as Mikaela goes, MW thinks her name alone will keep her safe and sound.

Mikaela, who's 23 years old BTW, isn't doing hardcore stuff yet -- just solo on-camera performances. If she makes that next step to include more people, that's where Steve might need to fret a bit, according to Maitland. Even then though ... she says she'll be fine.

John Singleton's youngest child son is growing up so fast ... little Seven is about to start preschool in Bev Hills, and the late director's baby mama wants his estate to cough up the tuition.

Rayvon Jones has filed a petition asking Singleton's estate to give her a monthly allowance of $1,078 to cover Seven's expenses. The money would cover things like the kid's clothing, groceries, gas, and phone costs ... according to the docs. The phone cost might seem weird -- Seven is only one year old, but that's an L.A. one.

In docs, Jones also requests a one-time payment of $2,450 to cover Seven's preschool registration fee to a popular Beverly Hills school. Jones, who says she used to live with Singleton and stayed home to take care of the kid, says she'll begin looking for a job to support their son once he starts preschool.

Tyler Perry's nephew appears to have killed himself behind bars -- but the answer officials are giving the family doesn't have them convinced it wasn't foul play.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... the filmmaker's 26-year-old nephew, Gavin Porter, was found dead in his cell Tuesday night at a prison facility near Union Parish in Louisiana. We're told Gavin's immediate family -- which includes Tyler's sister, who's Gavin's mom -- was told by prison officials he had hanged himself with a bedsheet while in solitary confinement.

Our sources say the officials told the fam Gavin had gotten into a fight with another inmate over the weekend and was placed in solitary. We're told that around 6 PM, guards checked on Gavin and found nothing of concern.

Our sources say guards came back at 8 PM Tuesday and found Gavin dead. He had hung himself with bedsheets. We're told the family has been notified there's no foul play in the death -- but our sources say Gavin's family isn't necessarily buying the story.

Gavin was arrested for shooting and killing his biological father back in 2016 -- in front of his mother -- after cops say an argument erupted between the two. He pled no contest to manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years.

Future says his alleged baby mama's treating her baby girl like an ATM to squeeze money out of him, and he even claims she's given the child a nickname ... "check baby."

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the rapper claims Eliza Seraphin has referred to the 9-month-old little girl by that phrase. Future's lawyers define the term as "slang terminology describing a child conceived solely for the purposes of extorting monies from the father of a child in the child support setting."

Translation: Future's claiming Eliza got knocked up just to get money out of him. TBH, it's a claim he's made before, but now he's claiming even Eliza cops to it.

In the docs, the rapper claims one of her friends alleged, during an online interview, Eliza had gone as far as researching the amount of child support Future paid to his other baby mamas ... just to see what she could get out of him.

What's more, Future claims that friend also said Eliza started taking fertility pills to increase her chances of getting impregnated by Future.

He says the kid only needs around $450 per month -- a number he based on a financial affidavit Eliza filed in court, detailing her monthly expenses. Anything above that is a money grab, in Future's eyes.

Jenelle Evans says she's not back together with David Eason, but they're still doing a lot together ... like buying new pet supplies, including a dog bed.

The former 'Teen Mom' star was spotted Tuesday shopping at a Walmart in Leland, NC -- where she was leaving the big box store with whom we're told was none other than her baby daddy, DE, and a couple of her kids tagging along. As you can see, they had their hands full.

One of the kids is holding what appears to be a doggy bed or pet bed of some kind. We're also told by eyewitnesses, their bags had dog food inside as well.

In case we have to remind you ... David killed their last family dog, which led to their kids being temporarily taken away. Since then, they've gotten the kids back ... and they've also welcomed a few new animals into their lives, including at least 2 dogs and a goat.

It's unclear if they still got the hounds running around the yard, or what these supplies might be for exactly ... but when ya buy new dog stuff, you probably have a new dog around.

As for whether they're actually a thing again in the wake of their split, we'll let you decide. If it looks like a relationship and walks like a relationship, it's probably ... ah, you get it.

Meghan Markle's dad is pissed at the way she's treating Queen Elizabeth, and the entire Royal Family, but he isn't surprised -- in fact, he claims it's just her MO.

Thomas Markle was out Monday at an Office Depot in Rosarito, Mexico, when he was asked if his daughter has the right to use the term "royal" as part of her brand. He unloaded on Meghan and Prince Harry, for that matter, flat-out saying they "don't have a right to speak to the Queen the way they've spoken to her."

He was clearly referring to Harry and Meg's claim the Queen has no ownership of the word "royal" ... after she blocked them from using it in their Sussex Royal brand.

Pops Markle didn't stop there ... he went on to say Meghan's disrespecting the British people as a whole, and then got very personal. You gotta see it, because it's clear there's a ton of bad blood over how he feels Meghan's treated him, her mother and, yes ... the Windsors.

As we reported, Thomas said he will NOT stop making money off his, albeit strained, relationship with Meghan and his connection to the Royal Family. It's pretty clear he's on the Queen's side post-Megxit but this is about as raw Thomas has ever been.

John 'Sonny' Franzese, Sr., an Italian-American mobster who served as a Colombo crime family underboss and even had his finger in the movie biz ... is dead.

Franzese was an organized crime wheeler and dealer for decades, but he also dabbled in film. Franzese helped finance the '72 iconic porn flick, "Deep Throat." BTW ... it cost $22k to produce and grossed as much as $50 million. He also helped finance "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

Sonny served as an underboss of the Colombo family from 1964 to 1967, when he was sentenced to 50 years for bank robbery. He was paroled in '78 but prison became a revolving door. He went back and forth 6 times for crimes that included extortion.

He may have done worse ... in 2006, he talked about techniques for mob murders with a man who turned out to be a secret government informant who was wired. One of the things he said ... he put nail polish on his fingertips before murdering someone to avoid leaving fingerprints at the scene of the crime ... of course, to blunt DNA testing.

Interesting fact ... His son, John Franzese, Jr., testified against him in one of the trials. It marked the first time the son of a New York mobster turned state's evidence on his dad.

Sonny died in a nursing home in upstate New York. One of his daughters was by his side when he passed. We're told he died of natural causes.

Sonny was dubbed "The nodfather" for falling asleep during one of his trials.

When he was released for the last time in June 2017, he was the oldest federal inmate in the U.S. at age 100.

Franzese was born in Naples, Italy in 1917. He and his family moved to NYC when he was a child. He had 8 kids and 18 grandchildren.

Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott are still hanging out quite a bit in the wake of their breakup -- but it looks like they're only doing so when their kid's in the picture.

KJ and TS were spotted with young Stormi Sunday at Sky High Sports in Woodland Hills -- which is a giant trampoline warehouse. As you can see, it was just the three of them here (plus at least one bodyguard trailing behind) ... and the parents got pretty close.

It looks like Kylie might've even attempted to take a selfie of the trio while they were walking in. BTW, eyewitnesses tell us they didn't rent the place out -- the family just rolled up like regular customers, although they did bounce around in a VIP area.

In any case, it's clear they're not averse to one another. We've heard they're on a up trend, romantically, since Stormi's recent birthday party. Remember, sources told us the former couple were hanging out pretty much through the whole party and gave off signs of a possible rekindling.

Anyway, later on Sunday ... they hit up a nearby mall and plaza where we're told they stopped off for frozen treats at Afters (great ice cream spot out there). At this point, you could definitely make out one security guard who was rolling with them, but again ... pretty intimate setting.

If they aren't meant to be together romantically, it's at least comforting to know they can get together and co-parent their child successfully. Good on them.

Pop Smoke's loved ones will be gathering this weekend to remember him, say some prayers and grieve together ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to the rapper's family tell us ... they are taking care of some final formal business, but will be transporting his body back to New York soon.

We're told a private event for family and close friends only is scheduled for Sunday at a church in his hometown of Brooklyn. It's a prayer and grief service, but not his final memorial service or burial ... that will be held at a later date.

We broke the story ... Pop Smoke's family is reeling after his tragic death, and desperately seeking answers. They've been heavily involved in the investigation process and we're told they'll continue to be as much as possible back in NYC.

Along with dealing with law enforcement, our sources say the family's also been handling a lot of the rapper's music business with his label and his lawyers in L.A. ... but they're ready to get out of California and bring their son home.

As you know ... Pop Smoke was shot and killed Wednesday morning in what initially appeared to be a home invasion in the Hollywood Hills. However, we've learned surveillance video suggests his murder was a target hit and not a robbery gone wrong.

Quentin Tarantino just became a dad for the first time at age 56 -- because his wife, Daniella Pick, has finally given birth ... TMZ has confirmed.

A rep for the acclaimed director tells us ... "Daniella and Quentin Tarantino are happy to announce the birth of their first child. A baby boy born February 22, 2020."

According to reports, the child was actually born in Tel-Aviv, and thus ... he's half Israeli by birthright. Daniella -- a singer and model -- is from Israel, so it looks like they went back to the homeland for the delivery.

This would be Quentin's first kid -- same for Daniella actually, who's 20 years his junior. They got hitched in 2018 after first reportedly meeting in 2009 during production of 'Inglourious Basterds.' They first announced they were expecting back in August of 2019.