Family

Child actors and twin sisters Noelle and Cali Sheldon were only toddlers when they were slung into stardom after they were cast to play the adorable daughter Emma Geller-Green on the final few seasons of the hit television sitcom "Friends."

The cute little girls shared the screen with some iconic actors including David Schwimmer as the bumbling lover and newly neurotic father, Ross Geller ... and Jennifer Aniston as Ross' star-crossed partner and new mom, Rachel Green.

The sisters were more recently cast as the terrifying twins in the 2019 freaky film "Us."

The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will be a homecoming for 17-year-old skiing phenom Kai Owens ... and the Team USA superstar tells TMZ Sports she can't wait to return to her birth country for the very first time.

Owens' story is inspirational -- she was abandoned by her birth parents as an infant and was adopted by a Colorado couple when she was around 16 months old.

Now, the mogul skier is set to make the ultimate return and compete at the highest level during the 2022 Games ... and she tells us it's going to be an incredible experience.

"I'm just trying to explore everything I can and enjoy the moment," she told us at LAX this week.

Owens says she won't try to track down her biological parents during the trip ... but plans to make a return to China after the Games if the pandemic calms down.

"Right now, I'm mainly focused on competing, but my family and I have plans to return to China once COVID allows us to, to kind of go back to the province that I was born in and maybe do some birth parents research," Owens said.

"My primary goal for this trip is the Olympic games, but I'm definitely hoping to do a cultural experience later this year."

Horrible news ... the father of NFL star Carlos Dunlap, Carlos Dunlap Sr., tragically died following a car accident in South Carolina this weekend, family friends announced in a statement Sunday.

According to a spokesperson for the North Charleston Police Department, an adult male was hit by a car at around 10:40 p.m. on Saturday in North Charleston.

The spokesperson said the man was rushed to a local hospital, but tragically, he died there due to injuries suffered in the crash.

David Aylor of David Aylor Law Offices, a close friend of the Dunlaps, confirmed in a statement that Dunlap Sr. was the victim.

"He was a loving father and well-respected community leader," David Aylor Law Offices said in a statement. "We will miss him dearly."

"As a close friend of David and David Aylor Law Offices the family has asked us to let others know to please respect his family at this time of grieving and provide them with privacy."

Cops say "the driver of the involved vehicle was located at the scene." They added that no charges have been filed and an investigation is ongoing.

Dunlap -- one of the best pass rushers in the NFL for the past decade -- was very close with his father ... and had even run out onto the field with him before a Cincinnati Bengals game in 2019.

Chargers owner and chairman Dean Spanos is being sued by his own family ... who accuse Uncle Dean of secretly diverting money meant for them after the team moved from San Diego.

The allegations are spelled out in a lawsuit filed Friday in San Joaquin County, California.

Dean's nephews, Dimitri and Lex Economou -- beneficiaries of the trust that owns a portion of the NFL team -- have accused Spanos of secretly changing the trust, screwing them out of boatloads of money in the process, according to the lawsuit.

According to the suit, here's the deal ... the trust owns 36% of the Chargers. In addition, the trust is also partially funded by revenue from the stadium -- and therein lies the problem.

The Economous' claim Dean convinced the family the move from San Diego to Los Angeles would be lucrative with the building of SoFi Stadium ... the $5+ billion state-of-the-art facilities where the Chargers play.

However, Dimitri and Lex say Dean -- with aid from brother Michael Spanos -- surreptitiously diverted money from the trust ... cutting them off from the stadium-related revenue (ticket sales, etc.).

FYI, Dean's dad, billionaire Alex Spanos, purchased the team in 1984. In 2017, the team moved from San Diego to L.A.

The suit claims Dean and Michael redirected the money while dad Alex and mom Faye -- who both passed in 2018 -- were in "failing health."

The lawsuit doesn't specify an amount ... but we're talking about a team worth nearly $3 BILLION, according to a Forbes report last summer.

While the team has improved on the field and is worth a lot of money, the lawsuit paints a grim financial picture for the Spanos family.

According to the docs, the trust is in major financial trouble ...  and that's been compounded by Dean's alleged misconduct.

Bottom line ... the suing family members want things to go back to the way it was before the changes were instituted. Dimitri and Lex have also asked a judge to remove Dean as the co-trustee of the trust ... and they want monetary damages awarded to them.

Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra are first-time parents, welcoming a new baby girl via surrogate.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us the baby was born Saturday in a Southern California hospital. It's currently unclear what they've named their daughter.

It appears the two knew the baby's arrival was near ... they were spotted near San Diego at Del Mar Dog Beach just the day before she was born. Nick posted a message Friday, saying, "We are overjoyed to confirm that we have welcomed a baby via surrogate."

Byron Allen says losing Louie Anderson so closely on the heels of Bob Saget's death is a tremendous gut punch to comedians ... who were more like family than co-workers.

The TV mogul, who bonded with Louie over several decades, joined us on "TMZ Live" to take us behind the scenes of their most recent gig together ... the Byron-produced game show, "Funny You Should Ask."

Byron says Louie lived to make everyone laugh -- even when cameras weren't rolling -- and always preached kindness above all else.

There was one thing that especially stood out for Byron, though... he says every time they wrapped up their show, Louie would give him a hug and say "I love you. He would say goodbye to us as if it was the last time we were going to see him."

As we reported, Anderson died Friday morning after battling lymphoma -- and Byron explained why we've heard so many celebs -- especially comedians -- gushing about Louie and Bob.

He told us they're a tight-knit group, really a family, because they all came up together -- more than 40 years ago -- when no one knew their names.

Kanye West will give you a fist bump if you call him an "amazing father" ... as one fan found out while Yeezy was grabbing some ice cream.

The bizarre interaction went down Thursday in Calabasas, where Ye hit up an ice cream shop after a doctor's visit.

Kanye's licking his ice cream cone and answering a paparazzi's question about the death of fashion icon Andre Leon Talley ... when suddenly someone comes up and praises Kanye's father skills.

Ye perks up and gives the dude a fist bump, telling him he loves the praise and appreciates the recognition.

Kanye then gets behind the wheel of his whip ... which turns out to be a minivan!!!

Seems he's got plenty of room for North, Psalm, Saint and Chicago to ride in the back.

Jamie Lynn Spears says she tried to help Britney free herself from her conservatorship ... but the efforts went nowhere and pissed a lot of people off.

The former Nickelodeon star says Britney made it seem like she wanted out of the conservatorship during some late-night sister talks on a trip to Hawaii, and Jamie Lynn says she tried to get involved.

As Jamie Lynn explains on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast, she took Britney's comments to heart and talked to her sister's lawyer ... but it blew up in her face big time.

What's more, Jamie Lynn says she and her husband had some judges look into Britney's conservatorship and told her all she needed to do was move out of California for 6 months and the conservatorship would end.

JL says she even offered to have Britney live with her in Louisiana in an effort to dissolve the conservatorship ... but she still doesn't know why Britney never followed through with that option.

Jamie Lynn doesn't give an exact time frame for when any of this was happening ... but says she was always going to support whatever Britney wanted to do.

Kelly Rizzo has no regrets about what she and Bob Saget discussed very shortly before he passed away in an Orlando hotel room, and says their final chat was totally representative of Bob's entire life.

Bob's widow told Hoda Kotb on "Today" she felt she'd finally reached a point where she was all cried out about her husband's sudden death -- and yet, moments later she broke down talking about how deeply Bob loved her and everyone in his life.

Kelly sobbed as she recalled his routine during road trips -- "Every time he would be out of town he would always try to ... he would work so hard, and he loved to sleep in, but when he was away, he would still go to bed at 2 and wake up at 4" to ensure he could get home on the first flight.

As we've reported, that's exactly what Bob intended to do after checking into the Ritz-Carlton around 2 AM on January 9. He was scheduled to fly home to Kelly early that Sunday, but when Kelly didn't hear from him, she notified the hotel ... and a staffer found him unresponsive around 4 PM.

We know Bob had spoken to Kelly after his final show, Saturday night in Jacksonville. She says, "It was all 'I love you so much.' I think I said, 'I love you dearly,' and then he said, 'I love you endlessly,' and then I said, 'I can't wait to see you tomorrow.' It was just all love."

Kelly told Hoda that final convo is pretty much how they always spoke to each other -- she says Bob was all about loving the people in his life, and letting them know about it.

In fact, she says she marveled at how he found the time to talk to everyone and tell everybody that he loved them ... all the time. When you see Kelly talking about Bob and how deeply he cared about his friends, it's easy to understand the outpouring of love we've seen for him since his death.

Jamie Lynn Spears is NOT intimidated by Britney's threat of a defamation lawsuit over her book ... in fact, she says if anyone has the facts wrong ... it's her big sister and her lawyer.

Attorney Bryan Freedman, who reps Jamie Lynn, sent a blistering letter to Britney's lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, who triggered this war of words with his letter Tuesday night threatening a lawsuit.

For starters, Freedman says, for all its bluster, Rosengart's letter doesn't show any mistruth on his client's part.

Freedman says it's rich Britney and her lawyer have attacked Jamie Lynn for mudslinging, claiming they took the high road. Freedman notes some of Britney's recent social media posts directed at Jamie Lynn ... she should have "slapped you and mamma right across your f***ing faces!!" And, "Whipped your ass." And, "popped the s*** out of your ass."

Freedman essentially says Britney has mobilized her fans to threaten the lives of Jamie Lynn and her family.

A few more points ... Freedman says it's ridiculous Rosengart didn't read Jamie Lynn's book before sending the cease and desist letter. He says if Rosengart would have read the book, he would have seen Jamie Lynn is kind to Britney, characterizing her as "kind, supportive and a protective sister."

He says it was also disappointing to see the letter plastered all over the media, and says it's no way to resolve a dispute and try to repair damaged relationships.

Chris Daughtry's daughter Hannah Price died from suicide by hanging, while under the influence of narcotics... this according to her family.

TMZ broke the story ... Hannah was found dead in her home back in November, although the cause of death was uncertain at the time. The Daughtry family now says Hannah took her own life.

Deanna and Chris said Hannah struggled with mental illness and later turned to drugs and found herself in abusive relationships, adding, "We did everything we could to support her and get her the help she needed to recover from these tragedies and get her life back on track."

Law enforcement told us Hannah's boyfriend Bobby was arrested the same day her body was found... at the time, police didn't reveal the reason behind his arrest.

Chris and Deanna now say the morning of her death, she contacted her parents in fear for her life... claiming her boyfriend had physically abused her. When officers arrived, they concluded she was fine. After her death, Bobby was arrested on an unrelated matter.

Chris Daughtry said he was absolutely devastated and heartbroken, in an emotional Instagram post... and canceled his concert tour.

Chris and his wife Deanna met back in 2000... Deanna had two children-- Hannah and her brother Griffin -- from a previous relationship. Chris and Deanna later had twins Adalynn Rose and Noah James.

Hannah was 25.

Britney Spears has already taken the gloves off when it comes to her dad, but she's now ready for war as Wednesday's hearing approaches because she's saying Jamie Spears lined his pockets with millions of dollars she earned and claims it was all blatant self-interest ... and that's just a small fraction of what Britney paid members of the conservatorship.

Britney's lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, has filed legal docs, claiming Jamie "engaged in self-dealing, financial and business mismanagement ... engaged in abusive and bullying conduct toward his daughter, deprived his daughter of fundamental civil liberties ..." and that's just for starters.

He claims Jamie got $6 million over the 13-plus years of the conservatorship.

And the legal docs go on to claim Jamie had engaged in "chronic alcohol abuse impairing his ability to serve faithfully."

And there's this ... Rosengart claims some of $6 million was used by Jamie to pitch a show called, "Cookin' Cruzin' & Chaos." The docs also claim to sell the show Jamie converted one of the tour busses into a food truck.

Rosengart says in addition to Jamie's $6 million, millions and millions more were spent on lawyers to keep the conservatorship going.

Rosengart says the legal fees amounted to more than $30 million. So with what Jamie made, that would bring the total to more than $36 million.

Jamie has said all of the money he made during the conservatorship was court-approved.

The hearing is a petition by Jamie for more attorney's fees. Rosengart's filing is in opposition to that.

Danny Cooksey's ex-wife claims he's gone off the rails again — but this time, she's alleging a beating that actually required a judge to step in.

Amber Cooksey filed for and was granted a temporary restraining order against her "Diff'rent Strokes" ex ... because she claims the guy thrashed her on NYE ... and in front of their young son, no less.

In court docs, obtained by TMZ, Amber says Danny came over to her house on the holiday to be with their boy ... but his presence quickly became unwelcome, Amber says, because he allegedly started boozing and turning aggressive.

Amber claims she repeatedly asked him to leave, to no avail. She claims he hurled insults at her and "grabbed [her] breasts and crotch violently." She says she was terrified and tried to escape but claims Danny grabbed her by the neck and choked her until she passed out and he then stomped on her.

Amber says cops came the next day. In the meantime, she says she fears for her safety and needs court-ordered protection. The court agreed, giving her the TRO until a hearing later next month.

Keep in mind ... this isn't the first time Amber has asked for help with Danny — she got a restraining order against him in 2019, when they were in the thick of their divorce.

Pete Rose has a shocking revelation ... and no, this time it's not what you think -- the all-time MLB hits leader claims he was much better at football than he was at baseball.

Rose made the comments on Rob Gough's brand new podcast, "Talking to Titans With Rob Gough" show (entire convo can be heard here) ... telling the host that his father -- who was a great football player himself -- was the reason he was a far superior football athlete than baseball star.

"Back in the '40s, '50s and '60s, that's all we had to do was sports," Rose said. "We didn't have the iPads, we didn't have the computers, we didn't have the iPhones. We didn't have none of that stuff."

"We had sports and I was a three-sport player but, to be honest with you, I was a much better football player than I was a baseball player because of my dad."

It's a pretty shocking statement ... especially considering Rose would be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame had it not been for his gambling controversy.

Pete says growing up, he simply wasn't into school ... but that he did well enough so he could remain eligible to play.

However, looking back, Rose -- who almost attended the University of Tennessee -- said if he knew then what he knows now ... he'd have put more emphasis on his education.

"If I was growing up, I would have been a ding dong," Pete said, "Because I just didn't give a darn about school ... I just went to school and got your grades enough to stay eligible."

"But if I was playing today in high school, I'd probably try to get really good grades knowing what's ahead of ya as far as going to college. We didn't worry about going to college back in the '50s and early '60s."

Rose -- who spent 7 seasons as a manager for the Cincinnati Reds -- had a message for kids who might have the same feelings towards school as he did when he was younger.

Jamie Lynn Spears is disturbed by Britney's behavior on social media ... and she's taking it as a sign her older sister is spiraling out of control.

Sources close to Jamie Lynn tell TMZ ... Britney's Instagram post harkening back to a moment she wanted to slap her 12-year-old sister over a milkshake is "terrible" and not something Britney should be sharing on social media.

We're told Jamie Lynn is upset by the posts, and believes Britney has immense jealousy over JL's childhood.

Our sources say Jamie Lynn and her children get death and rape threats from Britney's followers whenever BS rips her sis on social, and Jamie Lynn's told Britney about this and asked her to stop ... but Britney's ignoring her pleas. Jamie Lynn says she and Britney have been texting.

We're told Britney explained to Jamie Lynn she's just having fun on social media, and didn't have any idea what her fan army was saying ... and even apologized.

But, as we reported ... a truce between the sisters went up in flames Tuesday ... and now we're told Jamie Lynn believes Britney is continuing to attack her on social media because, in JL's view, Britney finds delight in her sister and nieces being harassed.

Our sources say Jamie Lynn is saying she only wants to support her sister and hopes Britney can learn how to readjust after the conservatorship, which JL thinks went too far.

Jamie Lynn's new book, interviews and her own social media posts continue to garner angry reactions from Britney ... and we're told Jamie Lynn feels like she deserves to have a chance to tell her story, and doesn't get why Britney is criticizing her over her own experiences.

And just like that ... the truce between Britney Spears and Jamie Lynn Spears is over, 'cause Brit's now openly wishing she'd slapped some sense into her sister and their mom when she had the chance.

Jamie Lynn's new book, interviews and social media posts continue to trigger angry reactions from Britney -- and in the latest one she laments not being "strong enough to do what should have been done" to Jamie Lynn and Lynne.

In the post, speaking directly to her kid sis, Britney says she should've "slapped you and Mamma right across your f***ing faces!!!!!"

Britney's rant is basically about how, in her view, Jamie Lynn was a spoiled younger sibling riding Britney's coattails and living the good life at home while Britney worked her butt off to make tons of money for her family.

BS also accuses her mom of being high on pain meds after splitting from her dad, Jamie Spears, claiming Lynne "was more messed up than anything !!!!"

As you know ... Britney's been taking shots at Jamie Lynn over claims her little sister makes about life with Britney in the book, "Things I Should Have Said."