Kids

Scott Bakula inserted himself in his "NCIS: New Orleans" co-star Zoe McLellan's bitter custody battle, telling the judge Zoe's focus is not her work or herself ... it's her son.

Zoe has joint custody of 2-year-old Sebastian. Zoe and the boy are living in New Orleans where the show is filmed, but ex-hubby Jean Pierre Gillain claimed it was unfair he had to travel from L.A. to visit his son. He claimed she was pawning the boy off to nannies while she worked.

But Bakula fiercely jumped to Zoe's defense, saying in a declaration, "Her life is and has been, about one thing and one thing only: being Sebastian's Mommy." The "Quantum Leap" star went on, "I have witnessed that every fiber of her being goes into providing a safe, nurturing, creative world for her son to grow up in."

Bakula explained Zoe has put her own life on hold ... to the point she once took the hair and makeup ladies to a concert, causing everyone to express how unusual it was that Zoe actually went out to have fun.

The actor ended by telling the judge, "Zoe has a huge heart and in my opinion, she is handling this tumultuous time of her life with great care, consideration and class."

In the end the judge didn't have to side with either parent, because Zoe and Jean Pierre settled their beef. It looks like the custody arrangement is pretty much status quo, but she has to pay him $4k a month in child support.

Chris Brown is chomping at the bit to face his baby mama in custody court ... and the biggest weapon in his arsenal is the woman's boyfriend.

Chris and Nia Guzman will fight it out in 2 weeks. She wants full custody of 1-year-old Royalty and visitation for Chris, BUT only if it's monitored. She says he's a bad guy who hangs with criminals and smokes weed. Chris wants joint custody.

But we're told Chris thinks her argument will boomerang right back in her face, because her boyfriend, King Ba -- the guy who lived with her and is even named on Royalty's birth certificate -- is a wanted man ... on the run for felony forgery.

We're told Chris is eager to tell the judge Nia has terrible judgment ... hooking up with a con man.

As we first reported, Chris believes Nia's real motivation has nothing to do with custody ... she wants to squeeze more child support out of him. He's currently paying $2,500. She wants $15k.

As for Nia, her rep tells us, she's no longer with King Ba.

The Game is a proud member of the Bloods ... and says he really hopes his football prodigy son will attend Ohio State ... because the jerseys are his favorite color -- red.

Game has been braggin' about his son King's football skills on Instagram -- especially after the kid put up some CRAZY GOOD numbers in a recent pee wee game (5 tackles and a sack!)

So, when Game was leaving Couture nightclub in L.A. on Saturday night, we asked if he's already started thinking about college ball ... and where he wants King to play.

Turns out, Game's already leaning toward Columbus ... but he may be disappointed ... since OSU's official colors are scarlet and grey ... and scarlet technically has a tinge of orange.

Don't worry, there's always Wisconsin ...

A massage therapist who claims she was knocked up by Adrian Peterson has asked for $1.9 MILLION to care for the kid for 18 years ... but the NFL star has fired back with a big, fat "NO DEAL."

"Homeland" star Morena Baccarin's growing success could be exactly what hurts her in her divorce ... costing both money and time with her kid.

Morena's soon-to-be ex-husband Austin Chick just filed docs in their divorce, and he wants his chunk of her paycheck. Chick claims Morena is pulling in $1.5 million a year. He wants a cut for child and spousal support.

Chick says Morena's constant travel for work isn't healthy for their one-year-old, so he wants physical custody. He also wants Morena to cover nanny expenses up to $3k per month.

If Jerry Seinfeld thought the Soup Nazi was bad ... he must've loved the Lemonade Gestapo busting his son's roadside charity biz out on Strong Island.

The stand was set up last week in an area of Seinfeld's hood where city code prevents any type of peddling. According to a local report, some neighbors complained about a traffic buildup, and the East Hampton Village PD swooped in to pull the plug.

The stand still managed to raise some cash for Baby Buggy ... Jessica Seinfeld's clothing charity for families in need. She posted a photo of Jerry, their son and his pals assuming the position.

Rosie O'Donnell's daughter Chelsea -- who went missing on August 11 only to return a week later -- has left home again ... this time to reunite with her birth mother, Deanna, who gave up Chelsea for adoption in 1997.

According to our sources, Deanna drove down from Wisconsin to pick Chelsea up on Monday afternoon ... which happened to be her 18th birthday.

We're told Chelsea and Deanna drove back to Wisconsin, where Chelsea will stay for the time being.

Chief Keef's got a brand new baby mama situation -- she says she just had his son ... his lawyer says take a number, lady ... and Keef can't decide whether to celebrate.

According to docs filed in Kentucky ... a woman named Lauren wants CK to pay child support for her 2-month-old baby boy, and lists him as the daddy.

Sources close to the situation tell us they met last year at one of his KY shows, then he flew her to Chicago a few times -- and yada, yada, yada ... baby!

Keef actually posted a photo of the boy Monday with the caption, "The White Sosa" (referring to his nickname) and then deleted it after an hour. Our sources say Lauren sent CK the pic, and he hasn't met the kid yet. In the docs, Lauren says she hasn't seen Keef since conception.

Keef's lawyer says Lauren's claims are untrue, and the rapper's constantly targeted by women looking for easy paydays.

Apparently the lawyer forgot about this story ... and this one.

Mikki Willis doesn't care about raising his kids by "traditional rules" ... so when his son picked out a doll as his new toy, this awesome dad was all for it.

After 4-year-old Azai got two of the same toys for his birthday, Mikki brought him to the store to exchange it for a new gift ... and the first thing he wanted was a Little Mermaid Barbie doll.

Steven Sheerer, the man arrested in the disappearance of Rosie O’Donnell's daughter, will claim he relied on Tinder to ensure the girl was of legal age.

Sheerer, who's 25, claims he met 17-year-old Chelsea after she came up in his Tinder feed, leading him to believe she was an adult. His lawyers say Sheerer relied on the app separating users into age groups.

Sheerer allegedly sent Chelsea a nude photo over the Internet, which is a crime if she's underage. His legal team also believes the child endangerment charge is bogus for several reasons. First, she came to him and also, she wasn't harmed in any way.

The man arrested in the disappearance of Rosie O'Donnell's daughter allegedly sent her at least one naked photo ... TMZ has learned.

According to docs ... Steven Sheerer knowingly distributed "a nude photo over the internet." As we reported ... police say they found evidence on a phone belonging to Rosie's 17-year-old daughter, Chelsea.

It's unclear when Sheerer sent the pic.

Kim Kardashian hit up a Toys"R"Us in L.A. Saturday, and it looked a segment from that TV show, "Supermarket Sweep."

Kim's nephew Mason tagged along as she loaded her cart with goodies. She bought some mermaid toys, which probably has North West and Penelope's name on it, because the 2 little girls came face-to-face with a mermaid earlier in the week in St. Barts.

You've heard from athletes, pundits ... even Rush Limbaugh ... but now the question -- how does Kevin Federline feel about James Harrison's anti-participation trophy stance??

HE LOVES IT!!!

We were talkin' football with Federleezy on his way out of Boa Steakhouse on Sunset Blvd. when he applauded the NFL star for making his kids give their trophies back.

K-Fed knows a little something about parenting ... he's got 6 kids ... and says it's important that all of them understand how the real world works.

"Don't give 'em something, make 'em EARN IT."

Kelly Rutherford's ex Daniel Giersch says her claim their children were "panicky" about going back to him in Monaco ... is total BS, and everyone in court saw it that way.

Giersch's lawyer fired off a response on his behalf saying, "There was no scene. They were fine ... smiling broadly."

Rutherford has said she held off on returning Helena and Hermes on Aug. 6 -- the court-ordered date -- because they told her they were afraid. But Giersch's side says ... the children immediately warmed up to their grandmother when she took custody in court, and "didn't seem to miss a beat. It was an easy transition."

Giersch seemingly poured salt in Kelly's wounds with one last line -- "When they left the courtroom they were happy and showed no signs of missing their mother."

10:15 PST: The Fogle family has released a statement following the hearing:

"Our family is shocked and profoundly disappointed in Jared's abhorrent criminal behavior and we are very concerned for the well being of those affected by his conduct. At the same time, we are gratified that Jared is accepting responsibility for what he has done ... . We hope that he will become healthy again ... and look forward to the day that he rejoins our family and society."

Jared Fogle was just charged with "travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with minors."

Up to now, the only information in the case was that he allegedly possessed child porn, but the case is far more serious. According to the complaint, between 2010 and 2013, Fogle traveled between Indiana and NYC to engage in sexual acts with minors. The complaint says Fogle paid for sex.

The complaint says in text messages with one of the 14 minor victims, Fogle said he would accept a 16-year-old girl while stating that "the younger the girl, the better."

The complaint says he asked some of the victims to send him pictures of themselves.

The complaint says the child porn authorities found photos and videos of boys and girls. It's unclear the gender of those with whom he had sex.

Part of the case involves images Fogle received from Russell Taylor, the head of Fogle's foundation. According to the complaint, Taylor sent Fogle photos and videos from hidden cameras in Taylor's house, featuring children as young as approximately 6.

Under the plea deal, Fogle agreed to serve at least 5 years in prison and must pay restitution of $1.4 million -- $100,000 per victim. And he must register as a sex offender.

Part of Fogle's punishment ... he can't possess obscene materials, he must participate in a sexual disorders program, can't have unsupervised meetings with minors, and his computers will be subject to random checks.

Fogle turned himself into the FBI today and he's currently being processed.

Jared Fogle -- who will cop a plea today in his child porn case -- will get prison time as part of the deal ... sources tell TMZ.

As we previously reported, Jared's home was raided in connection with a child pornography investigation and several of his computers were seized by the feds.

We're told child porn charges will come down at the same time the plea deal is announced.

We do not know the length of the prison sentence, but our sources say he will do time.