Family

Welp, here's a first ...

A big time college football star is opting out of the 2020 NCAA football season over COVID concerns -- and will prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft instead.

The player is Virginia Tech star Caleb Farley -- one of the best cornerbacks in the country. He made 1st team All-ACC in 2019 after recording 20 tackles, 4 pics and a TD.

But, Farley says he will NOT return to VT for his junior year because quite frankly, he doesn't feel safe with the pandemic still in full swing.

"I am opting out due to uncertain health conditions and regulations and all of the other opt outs going on in football right now," Farley said Wednesday in a video statement.

"I tragically lost my mother Robin January 2, 2018 to an illness and I cannot afford to lose another parent or loved one."

The good news for Farley ... some experts already have him slated as a 1st round pick in 2021.

The bad news for Virginia Tech ... it's a big loss for that defense.

In fact, 247Sports ranked Farley as the 16th best player in college football going into the 2021 season.

"Though the competitor in me badly wants to play this season, I cannot ignore what's going on in my heart and I must make the decision that brings me the most peace," Farley added.

"Thank you, Virginia Tech -- my coaches, teammates and anyone else who has supported me in the past."

The question now ... with so much uncertainty surrounding college football -- will other big stars follow suit?!

NY Giants tackle Nate Solder is opting out the 2020 NFL season -- saying it's just too risky to play while his 5-year-old son is still battling cancer.

Hudson Solder was diagnosed with cancerous tumors in his kidneys when he was 3 months old. He's been undergoing treatment ever since.

Just last fall, Hudson had a surgical procedure to remove a tumor -- and also underwent a 3rd round of chemotherapy. Yeah, he's one tough kid.

Nate also battled testicular cancer prior to the 2014 season.

Oh, and Nate's wife JUST gave birth to a brand new baby boy.

The 2-time Super Bowl champion was set to make $13 MILLION in 2020 -- but after weighing the risks, Solder decided the juice just ain't worth the squeeze.

"With fear and trembling, we struggle to keep our priorities in order and, for us, our children's health and the health of our neighbors come before football."

Solder added, "We fully recognize that being able to make a decision like this a privilege."

The 32-year-old lineman says he will miss his Giants teammates ... and thanks the team and fans for respecting his decision.

Solder joins a list of NFLers who have opted out this week -- including Eagles WR Marquise Goodwin, who said he refuses to risk the health of his 5-month-old daughter.

Kim Kardashian is back in California after what seems to have been a very difficult visit with Kanye West in Wyoming ... and she flew back solo.

Kim landed in L.A. Tuesday morning, and as you can see, she was all by herself as she walked down the stairs of her private jet. Kanye's still at the ranch.

We broke the story ... Kim and Kanye reunited Monday in Wyoming for the first time since Yeezy's off-the-rails campaign rally in South Carolina ignited a bitter back and forth that saw Kim desperately trying to get Ye treatment for a serious, bipolar episode.

As we reported ... the couple stopped at a Wendy's drive-thru in Wyoming, and things got super emotional in the car, with Kim breaking down crying.

As for why Kanye didn't fly back with Kim ... we're told he's deep into the final touches of his album.

As you know ... Kanye talked about divorcing Kim, but he apologized Saturday for a comment he made to hurt his wife, and we're guessing it's the abortion talk.

Devastating news ... PGA golfer Camilo Villegas has revealed his 22-month-old daughter has died after battling brain and spine cancer.

Mia Villegas passed away on Sunday in Miami, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan confirmed. Mia is the only child of Camilo and Maria Villegas.

Mia was initially diagnosed in March -- and underwent surgical procedures to try and remove the cancerous tumors found on her brain and spine.

Just last month, the family said Mia was set to undergo a second round of chemotherapy.

Unfortunately, the treatments just weren't effective enough.

"The PGA Tour is deeply saddened having lost a member of our family, Mia Villegas," Monahan said.

"We grieve with Camilo and Maria and our thoughts and prayers are with the Villegas family."

Back in May, Maria wrote an emotional note on IG to her daughter -- saying, "Being your mom has been the greatest gift in my life!"

"I thank God every day for this experience that we are going through together. Yes, it has been the most difficult challenge I have ever experienced but it has also been the most beautiful."

"I am thankful for the lessons. You are the strongest warrior and I am so proud of you, of us."

38-year-old Camilo joined the PGA Tour in 2004 -- and the Colombian golfer has 4 tournament wins on the PGA Tour since turning pro.

Ja Morant from wayyyy downtown ... JUST HOOKED HIS MOM UP WITH A DOPE NEW CAR!!!

The NBA star is currently stuck in the NBA Bubble in Orlando -- but wouldn't let the distance stop him from sending a sweet, expensive gift to his mother on Monday!

Check out the footage ... Ja had a brand new white Audi A8 L delivered to his mom Jamie (who presumably still lives in South Carolina where he grew up) ... and her reaction is AWESOME!

Don't worry, one of the people had Ja on FaceTime so he could witness the whole thing live!

"Got you dat car you wanted," Ja later posted on IG ... "I love you my queen."

Remember, the 20-year-old Memphis Grizzlies star hooked up his DAD with a fancy new ride before he left for the bubble earlier this month.

Soooo ... best son ever!?!

Of course, it helps that Morant -- the #2 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft -- signed a 2-year, $17.8 million rookie contract!

Plus, he's been beastin' on the court -- averaging 17.6 pointer per game and 6.9 assists -- potentially ROY.

We're told the baby's name is Willa.

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner's 2020 just got exponentially better -- they've welcomed their first baby, and it's a girl ... TMZ has learned.

The "Game of Thrones" star gave birth Wednesday at a hospital in Los Angeles. We don't have a name yet, but we're guessing the couple will announce that soon.

Sophie was spotted in L.A. the week before she gave birth, and looked like she was ready to pop.

As we reported ... Sophie and Joe were out last month shopping for three, with her baby bump on full display. She looked pretty comfy in grey leggings, a crop top and plaid blazer. Joe was truly kicking it ... with a Bruce Lee t-shirt. And, yes, they both wore masks. Now that's setting a good example.

The married couple never publicly acknowledged expecting a baby. You'll recall back in May they were out and about ... and Sophie for the first time revealed her baby bump in public.

We didn't say it back then but we'll say it now ... CONGRATS!!!

Britney Spears is still seeing her sons, Jayden and Sean, without any pushback from Kevin Federline amid the new wave of concern raised by the #FreeBritney folks.

Sources close to the situation tell TMZ ... if Kevin ever felt any concern about Britney's state of mind, he would try to take legal steps to end -- or at least reduce -- her visitation with their boys, but he doesn't think she poses a risk.

Our sources say Kevin is confident their boys are healthy and safe when they're at their mom's home -- which is about 30 percent of the time -- and he's not the least bit influenced by the persistent buzz from some fans who claim Britney should be freed from her conservatorship. There are always other people at the home when the boys visit ... making Kevin feel that much more comfortable.

As we've reported ... some Britney fans think she's being held against her will, but we've been told there's no truth to this. Our sources say Kevin is not going to weigh in on Britney's state of mind, because he's not an expert and sees no benefit in sharing his opinion.

Bottom line ... Britney's going to keep seeing the boys with no resistance or concern from their father.

THIS IS HILARIOUS!!!

LeBron James' 13-year-old son has some serious comedy talent -- feasting his famous dad with an amazing impression of the L.A. Lakers superstar ... and the video is laugh out loud funny!

With LeBron inside the NBA bubble in Orlando, Bryce Maximus -- Bron's youngest son -- decided to show off his impersonation of LeBron meeting someone ... and it was so good, Bron's wife, Savannah, captioned it, "I'm in literal tears!"

Watch the vid ... Bryce, doing his best LBJ, asks his older brother, Bronny, several times how tall he is -- before Bronny finally relents, "I'm 6'2."

That's when Bryce REALLY hams up the impression ... "Dang! You 15 years old, 6'2?! Daaang! You about 6'11" when you came out the womb my boy!!! Yessir!"

Bronny cracked up. Savannah chuckled hard. It was great.

Even LeBron himself had to give Bryce a shout out for the clip ... he shared the vid on social media with crying laughing emojis!!!

Any Jimi Hendrix collectible is significant, but this rare electric guitar oozes with so much history ... it's no wonder it'll fetch a HUGE sum of money when it goes up for auction.

The folks over at Kruse GWS Auctions are in possession of Buster's early 1960s Japanese Sunburst electric guitar that's expected to snag at LEAST a cool $50,000. That's the minimum bid but GWS expects to fetch a historic amount ... and here's why they just might.

Legend has it the guitar god used this exact axe shortly after he returned home from the U.S. Army in 1962 and moving to Clarksville, Tennessee. While he was there, Jimi played the Chitlin' Circuit with some incredible talent -- like Sam Cooke and Ike and Tina Turner.

Jimi's brother, Leon Hendrix, has said "that was the last time that Jimi sounded happy." Leon recalls, "I remember Jimi calling me from New York saying he so broke he can't even pay attention. He pawned his guitar and his friends got him one."

When Jimi moved to London in 1966, he left this guitar in NYC at the apartment of one of his best friends. Cut to 54 years later and the winner of this bid will also get a letter of provenance from Leon, who will also have a private lunch with the winning bidder.

BTW ... there will be TONS of other cool items up for auction, like Prince's custom purple boots, Elvis Presley's owned and worn Neo-style sunglasses, Tom Hanks "Cast Away" costumes -- and perhaps the greatest ... Muhammad Ali's custom white terrycloth "World Champion" robe!!!

Naya Rivera's ex-husband, Ryan Dorsey, has broken his silence on her untimely death -- and his tribute to her is gut-wrenching.

Ryan -- who's also the father of her son, Josey -- took to Instagram Saturday with a heartfelt post about his ex-wife for the first time since she disappeared and was later discovered dead at Lake Piru, throwing up a photo of her and their boy together along with a lengthy caption.

He writes, "This is so unfair...there's not enough words to express the hole left in everyone's hearts. I can't believe this is life now. I don't know if I'll ever believe it. You were just here... We were just in the back swimming with Josey the day before."

Ryan continued, "Life just isn't fair. I don't know what to say...I'm thankful for our times and our journey that brought us together and gave us the sweetest and kindest smart little boy we could ever hope for. I remember sometimes you used to get annoyed at me: 'Ryan can you stop snap chatting!' Haha. I'm glad I didn't listen to you because I have hundreds and probably thousands of snaps and videos that Josey will have forever and know his momma loved him more than life, and how much fun we had together as he was growing up."

He went on to say that Josey's presence alone would make any bad times a little less because a piece of Naya will forever live on within him, and by extension ... with Ryan. He added, "(Josey will) never forget where he came from. We miss you. We will always love you. Love you Meep."

Ryan went on to thank everyone for the outpouring of support, saying ... "I'll just say in closing, be kind to yourself, be kind to others, forgive...forget...don't hold grudges....if you have nothing nice to say maybe try not to say anything. There's peace in silence." He finished, "Time on Earth is precious and you just never know....you never know what could happen. Hold your loved ones close, and cherish the times you have with those you care about."

Ryan was one of several members of Naya's loved ones who went to Lake Piru in the days after her disappearance -- even getting in the water at one point to feel a connection.

They had a somewhat tumultuous 4-year marriage -- Naya was arrested for domestic violence in 2017 after an argument over their kid turned violent. She filed for divorce shortly thereafter.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just wished his second-oldest son, Conor Kennedy, a happy birthday ... blessing us with a collage of hot shots that truly show just how strong that Kennedy DNA is.

RFK Jr. posted a b-day shout-out Saturday to his boy to celebrate his 26th birthday, writing ... "Happy Birthday,Conor! #condorkennyabish Nakuruai." He also attached several photos of the handsome young buck, several of which showed CK looking hunky and shirtless.

Look, the guy is VERY good looking -- we'd say like father like son, but with this family -- it's more along the lines of ... like Kennedy like Kennedy. Just a bunch of handsome dudes.

In Conor's case ... he's no exception. Some of the photos his dad posted showed him with his sister, Kyra, his brothers William and Aidan and his niece Bobby. The new generation of Kennedys are pretty tight it seems -- and the family seems to only get bigger by the year.

Now, Conor here has already sorta broken through the fame threshold ... even at his relatively young age. The guy dated Taylor Swift briefly in the summer of 2012 -- and by all accounts, she was pretty smitten with him. This was on the heels of his mother, Mary Richardson Kennedy, passing away by suicide -- which left him and his siblings grief-stricken.

Taylor was reportedly a rock for Conor during that difficult time, but things seemed to turn when she bought a house in Hyannis Port, MA ... literally a few houses away from the Kennedy compound, where Conor lived. There were reports ... it made him "nervous."

That's all water under a bridge now though -- he's moved on, and so has Taylor, obviously. Conor's since beefed out to be quite the man. If you need more proof, his stepmom, Cheryl Hines, posted even more throwback photos/thirst traps of the kid ... and yes, they too are to die for.

Elon Musk enjoys firsts, and he can rack up another, because he may have had the first twitter argument with his quarantine partner!

It's not entirely clear, but it sure looks like Elon and Grimes were in a heated argument over ... pronouns. Elon had tweeted, "pronouns suck." Grimes replied, "I love you but please turn off ur phone or give me a dall [sic]. I cannot support hate.  Please stop this." BTW ... Grimes deleted her tweet.

So what, pray tell, does this all mean? Well, as you know, Elon and Grimes named their child, X AE A-II Musk. They said they wanted a gender-neutral name so their child could freely choose which to identify with.

The death of Alonzo Brooks is still a mystery, but his mom believes the cold case is heating up and they're close to getting some real answers ... thanks in large part to the national attention it just received.

Maria Ramirez tells TMZ ... as bittersweet as it may be, the timing of the pandemic, along with the story of her son's murder featured on the rebooted "Unsolved Mysteries" series on Netflix, has been beneficial to the investigation.

Alonzo's mother says it got so many viewers -- along with so much interest and support -- because of the current situation in the country ... and she has faith it's going to lead to cracking the case and providing her with some closure.

As we reported ... there have already been some major developments this week in the murder case. Brooks' body was exhumed in Topeka, KS as tips have continued to pour in.

Alonzo was found dead in a creek in May 2004, about a month after he went missing, after attending a party in La Cygne, KS, at which he was one of only a few Black people.

Law enforcement had no suspects or solid answers for the family and the case went cold until the FBI reopened it this month. It's now calling Alonzo's death a hate crime ... offering a $100k reward for info leading to an arrest.

Bobby Shmurda's plan for life after prison includes dropping new music and talking to at-risk youths about leading a better life .... but these plans all hinge on how well his parole hearing goes.

The rapper's mother, Leslie Pollard, tells TMZ ... Bobby plans to tell the parole board next month if they release him, he's going to put his nose to the grindstone in the studio and also stay out of trouble.

Leslie tells us Bobby's been doing a lot of writing since he's been behind bars, and he plans to record his work for Epic Records, the label that signed him.

And, get this ... Leslie says Bobby also wants to produce a documentary about his life, which he hopes will also be used as an educational tool for troubled youth. Bobby's plan with at-risk kids includes visiting them and spending time with them and telling his story so they can avoid going down the path he traveled that led him to spend years behind bars.

As we've reported ... the rapper copped a plea deal back in September 2016 ... to conspiracy to possess weapons and possession of a weapon. The other charges -- including conspiracy to commit murder -- were dismissed. He was sentenced to 7 years behind bars and 5 years probation.

Fast forward to now ... Bobby's weeks away from his parole hearing and he's crossing his fingers. Leslie's support never wavered. She'd visit him every 2 weeks but those visits came to a screeching halt when the pandemic hit.

Houston Rockets guard Austin Rivers has left the NBA Bubble in Orlando due to an "urgent" family matter ... but plans to rejoin the team soon, according to reports.

The 27-year-old shooting guard left Orlando Friday and expects to return "sometime this weekend," The Athletic's Shams Charania says.

Of course, Rivers will have to quarantine for 10 days before he can re-enter the bubble ... as part of the league's strict safety protocols.

As we previously reported, Rivers' teammate, Russell Westbrook, tested positive for COVID-19 before the NBA restart and quarantined before joining the team in Orlando this week.

Rivers joins Pelicans superstar rookie Zion Williamson and Clippers forward Montrezl Harrell ... who also recently left the bubble due to family matters.

Rivers -- the son of L.A.'s Clippers coach, Doc Rivers -- is averaging 8.7 points per game, shooting at 41% from the field.

No word on if coach will be leaving the bubble as well.

Taylor Swift's taken out 2 birds with one surprise stone -- her album, "Folklore," beat her nemesis, Kanye West, to market, and revealed the top secret name of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds' third child ... or so it seems.

So, the thing Swifties are really latching on to with her 8th studio album, which dropped at midnight, is the song "Betty" ... because they think it solves the mystery of Ryan and Blake's daughter. They had the kid late last year, but have never said what her name is.

Taylor's fans theorize it's Betty, because the song also mentions their 2 other daughters ... 5-year-old James and 3-year-old Inez.

Some of the lyrics include, "You heard the rumors from Inez. You can't believe a word she says. Most times, but this time it was true. The worst thing that I ever did was what I did to you." She also sang, "She said, 'James, get in, let's drive.' Those days turned into nights. Slept next to her, but I dreamt of you all summer long."

Keep in mind, Taylor, Blake and Ryan are BFFs ... so Swifties might've nailed this one.

As for "Folklore" as a whole ... Taylor's never dropped one of these surprise albums before, and it just coincidentally (if ya believe in that) came on the day Kanye was supposed to drop "Donda."

Not shockingly, Ye didn't deliver his album today ... so, score one for T-Swift?

Alright, one more "Folklore" theory ... some guy named William Bowery has 2 writing credits on the record ... but he's never written on any of Taylor's previous albums. Fans seem to think it's a new pseudonym she's using.

This theory, of course, will remind hardcore Swifties about the "This Is What You Came For" drama ... after it was revealed she secretly wrote that song under the pseudonym, Nils Sjoberg.