Family

Hey WNBA (hell, maybe NBA), Kobe Bryant's daughter is coming to dominate you all ... here's video of the making of a new Mamba -- and it seems like the snake doesn't slither far from the father.

Kobe posted video of his 11-year-old daughter, Gianna, getting some work in ... and that work was learning some signature Bryant moves -- the same moves that dominated the NBA for 20 years.

Bryant explained the workout in one of his captions, saying they were both inspired to get up and sweat by the upcoming WNBA Finals rematch ... and debuted a new nickname for her -- "Mambacita."

Chester Bennington appeared happy and engaged with his own family less than 2 days before his hanging suicide ... based on a video his widow shared.

Talinda Bennington posted a video of Chester hanging out with one of his sons eating jelly beans ... she says it was shot just 36 hours before his death.

She captioned the vid saying "This is what depression looked like to us just 36 hrs b4 his death. He loved us SO much & we loved him."

We broke the story ... Chester committed suicide by hanging in July ... much like his good friend and fellow musician Chris Cornell did just a couple months before.

6:39 PM PT -- Sources who have seen the video tell TMZ there are several clips. The first appears to show a woman and Kevin in a club getting cozy. The tape then cuts to a bed, where you don't see the people in the bed ... but hear creaking and what could be people having sex. You never see Kevin in the 2nd clip. The 3rd clip shows 2 people milling around a room, one of them looks vaguely like Kevin.

We're told the person allegedly extorting Kevin has demanded payment from him to avoid the tape's release.

Kevin Hart is getting out in front of a messy situation by apologizing publicly to his wife and kids, and TMZ has learned it's all over a video that looks like he's cheating.

Kevin profusely apologized to his pregnant wife, Eniko Parrish, and his kids on Instagram Saturday ... saying he recently made some mistakes he deeply regrets.

Sources tell TMZ a woman has allegedly demanded money from Kevin after shooting a video with him in which Kevin and the woman are engaged in "sexually suggestive" conduct. We are told it is NOT a sex tape, but looks like it is a prelude to sex. We're told that at a point in the tape when the action is the heaviest, you cannot actually see Kevin.

Serena Williams's baby is just weeks old, but she's already making a name for herself.

Serena posted this pic of Alexis with a onesie that is more like a mantra for what is going to be her life.

Alexis is wasting no time becoming famous. Check out her new Instagram page, with more than 21,000 followers.

The baby's dad, Alexis Ohanian, is pictured with his daughter ... or at least his arm is.

We've been on the hunt trying to figure out if a famous kid of one sex has ever been named after his or her parent of the other sex, but so far we've come up dry.

Chrissy Teigen and John Legend aren't going the way of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Ben Affleck and Jen Garner, Fergie and Josh Duhamel ... they're in it for the long haul, according to Chrissy.

We got Chrissy coming out of LAX Friday with baby Luna in hand. She blasted InTouch for running a cover story that the two were breaking up.

The couple just celebrated their 4-year wedding anniversary ... and Chrissy knows why it's gonna last.

Kathy Griffin's sister, Joyce -- the one stricken with cancer who inspired Kathy to shave her head in July -- has lost her battle.

Joyce Griffin succumbed to an undisclosed form of cancer after undergoing extensive chemotherapy.

You'll recall, 2 months ago Kathy shaved her head in solidarity.

It's been tough for Kathy. Her older brother, Gary Griffin, died of esophageal cancer in 2014. Another sibling of Kathy's also died young. She had 4 siblings. Now there are 2.

Joyce was 65 years old. RIP.

Alan Thicke's widow, Tanya Callau, just got an assist from the judge in her legal battle with his 2 sons over her prenup and the future of Alan's estate.

The judge threw out a petition filed by Robin Thicke and his brother, Brennan, Thursday to block Tanya from challenging the prenup she signed with their dad. The judge decided the brothers' concern was misplaced, because there was no evidence Callau had any intention of mounting a challenge.

This is exactly what Tanya claimed back in July, as reported by TMZ, when she accused the boys of filing the legal docs simply to trash her in the media and make her look like a greedy widow.

It's not a complete victory for Callau, though -- the judge left the door open for Robin and Brennan to file a new petition on the matter, but he would "need more specifics." Their lawyer suggests they will, because there are other disputed issues besides the prenup ... like exactly how to divvy up Alan's property.

Fergie and Josh Duhamel are separating after 8 years of marriage.

The couple just released a statement saying, "With absolute love and respect we decided to separate as a couple earlier this year. To give our family the best opportunity to adjust we wanted to keep this a private matter before sharing it with the public. We are and will always be united in our support of each other and our family."

The two were together in July.

The couple has one child, 4-year-old Axl.

They initially began dating when Fergie appeared on Duhamel's show, "Las Vegas." They dated 5 years before tying the knot at a lavish event in Malibu.

During their marriage, the two would often talk about their love affair -- even appearing on Oprah together -- Josh said Fergie was the yin to his yang, and the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Here she is ... the first kid to ever win a major tennis tournament from inside the womb!!!!

Serena Williams and baby daddy Alexis Ohanian just revealed the first pic of their brand new daughter -- Alexis Olympia Ohanian, Jr.

That's right ... she's got the same name as her daddy -- and she's a junior!

Serena says Alexis Jr. weighed 6 lbs 14 ounces when she was born on Sept. 1.

And she's already crediting the kid with winning a Grand Slam title, since Serena won the Australian Open while she was pregnant with A2.

But the delivery wasn't exactly smooth sailing -- 35-year-old Serena says there were "a lot of complications" at the hospital that required them to stay there for 6 or 7 days.

The good news ... everything seems fine now and Serena says, "Look what we got! A baby girl!"

Congrats!

Mel B's being accused of harassing another potential witness in her divorce war with Stephen Belafonte ... and this time the woman claims Mel wants her to lie about rape.

TMZ has confirmed ... a 22-year-old Swedish student allegedly had threesomes with Mel B and Belafonte and made sex tapes -- just like with their former nanny, Lorraine Gilles.

The student claims she got a surprise call from Mel and, according to the Daily Mail, Mel told her ... "Your sex tape is already out there and your name is already out there and you have to be in court in about 2 or 3 weeks."

Mel allegedly told her it's the law for her to appear in court, and insinuated she wanted the student to testify that Belafonte raped her in the sex tape. She claims Mel said ... "I know about the sex act and that you were crying and saying 'no' and I want you to be in court for that."

The Swedish student denied Belafonte raped her. Our sources say Mel then became angry and tried to badger her into saying he did.

Janet Jackson was verbally abused by her estranged husband, Wissam Al Mana, particularly while she was pregnant with their son ... this according to Janet's older brother, Randy Jackson.

Randy claims Wissam called Janet a "bitch" every day while she was expecting. Randy added, "It came on later in the relationship, verbal abuse and being [made to feel like] a prisoner in her own home."

He went on to tell PEOPLE Janet's been breaking down into tears backstage during her recently resumed world tour ... because "the abuse is still going on" through harassment related to the custody battle over Eissa.

Wissam's attorneys said they would not dignify the hurtful allegations with a response.

Aaron Carter's family is full of crap and merely trying to keep him down on his knees ... according to Aaron.

Aaron was in NYC Monday evening when a photog asked him about police coming to his home 3 times in one day. As TMZ first reported, at least one of those calls was placed by a family member concerned Aaron might harm himself, or relapse into substance abuse.

The troubled singer's blowing off those concerns, and says he doesn't even talk to anyone in his family ... besides his mother. As he puts it, "When I'm trying to get back up on my feet, don't try to swing me off my feet."

On a positive note -- he appears to have a new chick, fresh off his breakup with the last. He was spotted Monday night in Times Square with the mystery woman, only identified as Chloe. She's reportedly a fan who paid for a meet-and-greet with Aaron.

Score!

Taj Gibson has made nearly $40 MIL playing in the NBA -- so, he's a big baller -- but the Timberwolves stud says there's NO WAY he's droppin' $1,500 on LaVar Ball's new shoe!

For the record, LaVar hasn't debuted his upcoming "LaVar-icci" kicks yet -- but says the price tag will be more than 3 TIMES higher than his son Lonzo's ZO2s.

So, when we saw Gibson at LAX we had to ask ... you gonna cop these kicks or what!?

"No, I don't think I'll wear a pair," Taj says ... "But I'll probably show support."

Of course, Jay-Z recently threw his support behind BBB -- saying he was impressed with a black entrepreneur challenging massive athletic wear companies like Nike and Under Armour.

Still, ya gotta wonder if $1,500 is too much for Jay, too.

Alexis Arquette died a year ago on September 11, and her brother, David Arquette, still gets choked up talking about keeping her memory alive.

We got David Monday night at Bootsy Bellows, where he and his fam were holding a memorial for Alexis ... who died of a heart attack and battled HIV for years.

He talked about launching the Alexis Project to support LGBT communities in L.A. He also told us what he thinks Alexis' legacy will be.

Emotional moment, but Dave did laugh when we asked how Alexis would have wanted the party to go.

Tyson Beckford hunkered down during Hurricane Irma solely to support, and potentially save, family and neighbors -- and he says anyone giving him crap for it should get their priorities straight.

Tyson tells TMZ ... ever since he posted a vid outside his Miami home -- in the middle of the storm -- haters have been blasting him for ignoring the evacuation order.

TB says a lot of those critics don't understand his family situation.

He made the rounds Monday in his jeep loaded with supplies, and says he's glad he stuck around for his community instead of jetting to NYC for Fashion Week events.

Jean-Claude Van Damme's youngest son got busted for allegedly holding his roommate at knifepoint ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... 21-year-old Nicholas Van Varenberg was arrested Sunday in Tempe, AZ. We're told cops got a call to check on him because he'd punched the elevator in his building. Cops say they found a trail of blood leading to his apartment, and after speaking to him and a roommate, discovered Nicholas injured his hand.

Officers left, but 20 minutes later, the roommate ran downstairs, claiming he'd escaped the apartment where Nicholas was holding him at knifepoint. He told officers Nicholas was pissed he'd opened the door for them.

Cops immediately searched the apartment, and say they found the knife and marijuana.