Gossip / Rumors

Jesse Williams is keeping tight-lipped about his divorce, but he absolutely has a response to rumors he's dating Minka Kelly.

Jesse was flying out of LAX Tuesday morning when we asked about his split from Aryn after nearly 5 years of marriage. The "Grey's Anatomy" star was trying to keep a low profile -- hoodie up, shades on -- and not at all talkative.

Still, he dressed appropriately for the occasion -- because he let the message on the back of his jacket do the talking when asked if things are serious with Minka.

As we reported, he's been hanging out with her in Paris while they work on a video game production.

Jesse Williams has been separated from the wife he is now divorcing for more than a year, and he's been hanging out recently with Minka Kelly.

TMZ broke the story ... Jesse filed to end his 5-year marriage to Aryn Drake-Lee ... they've actually been together for 13 years. They have 2 children, the youngest is a year old.

As for Minka, they're shooting a video game/movie in Paris and have been seen both on and off set for the last few months, but no one's saying if it's anything more than a friendship.

A lot of Jesse's fans are upset he's moving on, but a source connected with the couple tells TMZ ... as far as Jesse's concerned, the relationship has "played itself out."

Letters were found inside Aaron Hernandez's cell when his body was found, but none of them were written to a gay lover.

Hernandez's lawyer, Jose Baez, tells TMZ Sports, "Rumors of letters to a gay lover, in or out of prison, are false. These are malicious leaks used to tarnish somebody who is dead."

The D.A. announced Thursday 3 letters were next to Hernandez's Bible, and that's when the rumors began.

Dakota Johnson and Giovanni Ribisi might be a new couple ... or they might be extremely eco-conscious.

Giovanni and the "50 Shades of Grey" star both attended celeb jeweler Jennifer Meyer's 40th birthday bash Saturday night in WeHo. We don't know if they arrived together, but they definitely split in his ride.

No word if they're banging or just carpooling pals. If this is a friendzone sitch ... it's the first time we've seen them hanging out together.

They are both single -- Ribisi ended his second marriage to model Agyness Deyn in 2015, and Dakota split from her longtime bf last year.

Drake didn't get an Instagram model pregnant and thinks her claim is so ridiculous he didn't even sic his team on her ... sources connected to the rapper tell TMZ.

It's interesting ... Layla Lace posted earlier this week that Drake knocked her up in London and went radio silent once she told him. But she has since scrubbed all traces of the allegations.

There have been rumblings Drake's team went nuts on her and threatened her with a lawsuit unless she removed the posts. Not true. He's never even met her.

Our sources say Drake's team never reached out to Layla much less threatened her ... they believe she did it for attention and when people talked about her there was no need to keep the posts up.

Nick Cannon has been hanging out with Mariah Carey in public a lot lately, and he says that won't change ... for one obvious reason.

We got Nick Saturday night going into Au Fudge, where he was meeting up with Mimi and the kids. We asked if it's coincidence they've been seen together quite a bit since Mariah's breakup with Bryan Tanaka.

Nick sets the record straight with a friendly reminder.

As we reported ... Mariah and Bryan broke up partly because of his extreme jealousy over Nick.

Tom Brady didn't get his White House visit sacked by his supermodel wife ... that's according to his ex-teammate, Donte Stallworth, who tells TMZ Sports Brady would never duck his guy, Donald Trump.

David Spade and Naya Rivera ain't a one-off -- they were hanging again, this time on land, and everything about her outfit says he'll be back for more.

The couple did dinner at Nobu in Malibu Thursday night. It's the first time we've seen them together since the shots of them snuggling in a pool a few weeks ago in Hawaii.

Since then David's tried to blow off the relationship, telling us it's NBD. However, Naya's dress at dinner -- cut wayyy up to there -- screams it is. Or at least it was that night.

Plus, let's not forget David's ex Heather Locklear's confirmation ... of the BIG deal.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar tells TMZ Sports it's "hard to say" if Colin Kaepernick is being blackballed by the NFL ... and says we'll just have to "wait and see" if he gets hired before the 2017 season.

Kareem has been outspoken about the Kaepernick situation in the past -- he even wrote an article about Kaep's protests in The Washington Post.

But he's not ready to declare the NFL anti-Kaep yet ... and when we saw him at the Joe Torre Safe at Home event in L.A., the NBA legend said we'd have to speak with someone "in management" to get a better idea.

Well, we did that ... we talked to Denver Broncos exec John Elway who shot down the idea that Kaepernick's protest has anything to do with his current state of unemployment.

But several players, including Terrell Suggs, aren't buying Elway's explanation ... telling TMZ Sports he IS getting punished for his protest. Suggs told Kaep to stay strong.

As for whether Kareem agrees with Jim Harbaugh -- who said Kaep should be celebrated for his protest -- Kareem has thoughts on that too.

Richard Simmons was playing with the paparazzi Thursday, with a lot of help from the LAPD.

TMZ broke the story, Simmons returned home after spending 3 days in the hospital for gastrointestinal issues.

As Richard sat in his garage waiting for cops, a photog got a pic that partially shows his face, which we haven't seen in 3 years ... except for one Bigfoot-like image last summer.

Sources who have been around Richard all tell us he's fine ... he's got a bum knee and often walks with a cane but mentally he's "all there" and is just sick of maintaining the "Richard Simmons persona."

So Thursday late afternoon ... Richard was returning home, didn't want to be seen and knew paparazzi were at his gate. So he and his housekeeper called the LAPD and apparently made things sound urgent enough that at least 4 cops showed up and ended up forming a human shield, allowing a blanket-covered Simmons to slink into his home without anyone snapping his mug.

It's looking like Gisele Bundchen may have been behind Tom Brady's decision to bail on the New England Patriots' White House celebration.

Just hours before the White House ceremony began Wednesday, Gisele promoted an anti-Trump protest called The People's Climate March -- saying, "On April 29th in Washington- D.C. - March for climate, jobs, and justice. To change everything, we need everyone."

It's no secret Gisele dislikes Donald Trump. The day before the election, someone on social media baited her, saying, "Gisele I heard you and tom were backing Trump! Is that true??" She fired back, "NO!"

Gisele clearly has an influence on her hubby. Right after the election, he muzzled himself about politics for what he obliquely called "a good decision ... made for our family."

For some reason few media outlets are reporting the obvious ... Donald Trump feels betrayed. The president has gone out of his way for years to sing Brady's praises, yet at Wednesday's ceremony he made no mention of Brady, despite calling out other players.

As one source said, this is now at feud level ... "When Donald Trump feels betrayed, it's over."

Fair to say ... the relationship between Trump and Brady is kaput.

Richard Simmons has been tooling around L.A. in disguises and a cane that are good enough that no one has noticed.

We've learned Simmons DOES leave his Hollywood Hills mansion we thought was his entire universe for the last 3 years. We're told the disguises are not always elaborate ... sometimes a hat and street clothes do the trick.

As for where he goes ... sometimes lots of people see him but don't notice. We know he's been to the Beverly Center, a bustling shopping mall near his home.

We're told Richard is walking with a cane, because he's still dealing with his knee injury. He's gained some weight, but our sources say he sounds "totally normal."

Richard has been temporarily sidelined ... he checked himself into a hospital Monday for a gastrointestinal problem.

Rudy Giuliani thinks Donald Trump is doing a brilliant job keeping North Korea guessing.

Rudy landed at LAX Tuesday when our photog asked if we should strike North Korea first or wait until they engage in overt aggression against us or an ally.

The former NYC Mayor clearly thinks if this were a poker game, Donald Trump knows when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.

The University of Tennessee football program is NOT freaking out over video of one of its players beating up a top high school prospect ... because the footage is 2 years old, team sources tell us.

The video has gone viral Tuesday showing incoming freshman lineman Trey Smith pummeling Ole Miss recruit Tony Gray.

Our Vols sources tell us the team was very familiar with the video and determined it was shot almost 2 years ago at an Under Armour football camp when Trey was 15 years old.

We're told the video was brought up by multiple schools during the recruiting process -- but Tennessee ultimately decided Trey is not a bad guy.

As one Tennessee source put it, "Ask anyone in the state, they will tell you he's an unbelievable kid. They'll tell you who he really is. Not the video."

We reached out to Ole Miss to try and get Tony's side of the story. So far, no word back.

Interesting point ... both guys now follow each other on Twitter.

Rudy Giuliani says basketball fans shouldn't turn their backs on Carmelo Anthony in the wake of adultery allegations ... because HALF of all athletes cheat.

The ex-NYC mayor was out in L.A. when we asked how he felt about the standoff between Melo and the NY Knicks ... with Phil Jackson saying he wants Anthony off the team next year.

"He's a Knick," Rudy told us ... "Once a Knick, always a Knick."

The Rock and Vin Diesel have buried the hatchet and both will star in the next installment of the insanely popular 'Fast and the Furious' franchise ... sources involved in the production tell TMZ.

Our sources say Vin and Dwayne have met privately several times since animosity between them exploded on the set of "The Fate of the Furious." We're told they are "good" and both are "1000% in" for the next flick.

The sources are opening up about the feud ... one explaining it was all over "real estate." In movie language, real estate is all about how much an actor shines -- who gets the best action scenes, who gets the hottest girl, who shows off their body more, and who gets the most face time.

It became a big issue for Dwayne and Vin, but ultimately, Dwayne acknowledged it was Vin's movie -- he's listed #1 on the call sheet.

The one thing the feud was not about ... money. They both make a fortune off the franchise.