Kids

LaMelo Ball's professional hoops career is taking a pause ... because the youngest Ball brother is returning to high school basketball, having been accepted at a super exclusive prep school.

Ball just announced he will enroll at Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio, a school that boasts state-of-the-art facilities also used in training the U.S. Olympic team.

We know what you're thinking -- according to Jake Weingarten, Melo was never paid during his time as a pro, so he never lost his eligibility ... apparently, that makes it okay for Ball to suit up starting November 13.

Theoretically, his college eligibility might still be in play as well.

Melo will be teaming up with fellow H.S. hoops sensation 7'7" Robert Bobroczky ... whose highlights have gone viral for obvious reasons.

It was a controversial move for LaVar Ball to ship his kids over to Lithuania to play professional ball earlier this year ... and with Melo going back to high school, that experiment is officially over.

Melo later played in LaVar's Junior Basketball Association league ... and totally dominated the competition.

"I thank my dad for the JBA Experience and playing overseas," LaMelo says of the move. "I’ve been accepted to attend Spire Prep Academy in Geneva, Ohio where i look forward to earning my highschool diploma and winning with my new team!"

LaMelo's dad appears to be cool with the move as well ... saying, "My youngest son Melo has decided to complete his Senior year of highshool at Spire Prep Academy in Geneva Ohio."

"He will earn his highschool diploma, and help lead his new team to W’s!"

A Nickelodeon exec recently expressed interest in rebooting "All That" ... and a former (adult) cast member thinks the idea is brilliant for more reasons than just nostalgia.

Kevin Kopelow -- who used to play the stage manager on Nickelodeon's 'SNL' for kids -- tells us he was thrilled when he heard Brian Robbins tell THR he wanted to bring it back. Brian said it should never have gone off the air ... and Kevin agrees.

Aside from the fact there'd never been anything like it on TV -- and there hasn't been since 2005 when it got canceled -- Kevin says the show was a perfect farm system for breeding stars like Nick Cannon, Kenan Thompson, Amanda Bynes and others.

As far as what might change if Nickelodeon actually pulls the trigger on the reboot ... Kevin tells us he thinks keeping the format simple would probably be best, just like 'SNL' has for all these years.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt will go head-to-head in a full-blown custody trial, which begins early next month ... TMZ has learned.

Angelina and Brad have filed legal docs asking an L.A. Superior Court Judge to give them until next June to hash out their bitter divorce ... with the help of a private judge.

The custody trial is now set to begin December 4, and the 2 parents could not be further apart. Angelina wants sole physical custody of their 6 kids and Brad wants 50/50 joint custody.

We're told the custody trial should take somewhere between 2 and 3 weeks, and then the judge has to sort it all out.

In addition to custody, the private judge needs to handle the property settlement. There is not a prenup ... which is huge, given the bad blood between the two.

Deontay Wilder learned how to floss from the creator of the dance himself in the middle of an airport this weekend ... and TMZ Sports has the amazing video.

The 6'7" Wilder and the Backpack Kid randomly ran into each other at LAX ... and, of course, a floss lesson went down.

Deontay was surprisingly terrible at it ... but tells us he might find a way to work it into one of his next fights with a little more practice.

As for BPK ... he got shown a couple moves from Wilder too -- but says he hopes The Bronze Bomber can perfect the floss and turn it into his new post-knockout routine.

Kenya Moore is a mom for the first time at age 47, but she gave birth this weekend a few weeks early due to health complications.

The 'RHOA' star revealed she'd given birth to a baby girl, Brooklyn Doris Daly, early Sunday morning with her husband, Marc Daly, by her side. Kenya said she'd be delivering her baby early because she'd developed preeclampsia. She was due around Thanksgiving.

Kenya appears to be doing better now, sending out an update on her health via Instagram, saying ... "She's so perfect and strong! Marc was incredible in the deliver room. I lost a lot of blood so I'm very weak but they both were strong for me."

She added ... "God is so good. We are blessed and doing well. My heart is so full at the abundance of love for our family! We love you all."

This would be Kenya's first kid ever, and a lot of people doubted she was even pregnant when she first made the announcement earlier this year. Her ultrasound put those questions to rest ... and, obviously, an actual baby does too.

Emily Fernandez -- aka Right Cheek, half of the rap duo from "Little Women: Dallas" -- is a proud new mama to a baby boy and TMZ's got the first pics!!!

Emily gave birth to Zayne Odell Johnson last month in Dallas. He was a healthy 6 pound, 1 ounce newborn, despite being born at just over 35 weeks. And, because you're wondering ... Zayne is a little person. He's now home with mom surrounded by friends and family.

As we first reported ... Fernandez used IVF to conceive and choose the gender. There was no way to know before birth if the baby would be a little person, and now we know.

Jenna Dewan and Channing Tatum seem to really have the conscious uncoupling thing down -- going from peaceful reunited exes one night to love birds with their new boos the next.

Jenna was spotted out Thursday near Palm Springs with her boyfriend, Steve Kazee, holding hands and enjoying a mid-day walk. She had a grin on her face while chatting on the phone -- and, honestly, couldn't look happier.

Meanwhile, Channing took their daughter, Everly, to Jessie J's concert in L.A. later that night. He's been dating the pop star for at least a couple months after splitting from Jenna earlier this year.

Speaking of Everly, her mom and dad DID link up on Halloween to go trick-or-treating with her.

Both Channing and Jenna are clearly moving on, but they also don't seem bitter over the breakup -- especially since they each have their own new relationship.

Bradley Cooper and Kate Hudson aren't about that Hollywood bar scene -- scoring candy bars with the kiddos is more of their thing.

Bradley and Kate teamed up on Halloween in Brentwood for a little trick-or-treating ... with Kate's BF, Danny Fujikawa, also in tow. Bradley sure got in the spirit with a bear costume as he happily carried his 1-year-old daughter, Lea, on his shoulders.

Hard to tell what Kate and Danny were going for -- comfy PJs maybe? Anyway, their daughter, Rani, is only a month old -- too young for candy hunting -- but they ushered some other kids ... probably relatives. Knocking on a door with 2 huge movie stars behind ya has to help score better candy, right?

Hopefully no candy corn. #WorstHalloweenCandyEver

Chris Brown and Nia Guzman are getting along better than ever ... so good, in fact, sources tell us they're on the verge of hammering out a new child support deal.

Sources connected to Chris and Nia tell TMZ ... for several months now they've been in mediation and they've all but ironed out a deal that would have Chris upping his monthly payments to Nia for their 4-year-old daughter, Royalty.

We're told Chris has been paying Nia around $2,500 per month. She's asking for $21k per month, but we're told that, while she won't get that amount, she WILL get a significant increase.

And, get this ... our sources say as part of the deal, Chris is buying Nia a new house. He'll also pay over $100k in Nia's legal costs. We're told they're still ironing out details on the custody split.

As we reported ... Chris claimed Nia tried squeezing more money outta him back in 2016 after he was arrested for felony assault with a deadly weapon. Things got so bad between them, DCFS got involved.

Our sources now say over the last few months, Chris and Nia went from screaming matches to remaining civil and polite ... all for the sake of Royalty.

French Montana is looking out for the next generation and paying it forward in his home country of Morocco by footing the bill for 2 preschool classrooms.

The "Unforgettable" rapper is working with the Sabae School of Fida-Mers Sultan district ... and we're told his donation will be able to provide supplies and sustain the classrooms for at least a few years.

French grew up in Morocco and moved to the United States when he was 13. In June, he became a U.S. Citizen, but it's clear he hasn't forgotten his roots.

French's investment in education comes on the heels of the $500k he raised to help build a hospital in Uganda. The hospital opened in March and it's now servicing more than 300,000 women in 40 villages.

His latest act of altruism also follows his label boss, Diddy, announcing a new charter school in the Bronx.

The L.A. County D.A. has rejected criminal charges against Gloria Govan ... this after she was arrested for felony child endangerment in a super bitter custody war with ex-husband Matt Barnes.

Gloria was arrested the Friday before Labor Day after Matt claimed she put the lives of their twin boys at risk by allegedly flying into a rage in her car, blocking Matt and the kids from driving away from their school.

Sources connected with Gloria called BS on Matt's claim he had custody of the kids that weekend. Gloria says she even asked her lawyer well in advance to notify Matt's attorney Labor Day weekend was hers.

On the day in question ... her rep told the D.A. Gloria went to the school to pick up the boys, but Matt was already there. She says the kids were in her car when Matt ordered the boys to get in his car ... she believed in violation of the custody order. Gloria says she blocked his car, called 911 and "calmly" waited for cops.

Gloria denied she drove crazy to get at Matt's car and ultimately the D.A. said there was insufficient evidence to move forward.

Matt subsequently got a restraining order, keeping Gloria 100 yards from the kids. She's only allowed to see the boys once a week with a monitor present.

Sofia Vergara's ex is trying to destroy her marriage to Joe Manganiello ... so say sources close to the actress.

Sofia's been locked in a long legal battle with her ex-fiance, Nick Loeb, over two frozen embryos the couple produced. He wants to keep them but she wants them destroyed.

Our Sofia sources say the driving force behind the fight has nothing to do with bringing another life into the world ... it's pure and simple revenge. The sources claim Nick remains angry Sofia dumped him and they believe his end goal is to ruin her marriage.

The sources point to the fact that Loeb had a daughter with another woman last October, so his desire to become a father has already been fulfilled, yet he continues to fight over the embryos.

And, speaking of the fight ... Nick has moved his lawsuit against Sofia to Louisiana -- a heavily pro-life state that recognizes embryos as human beings.

In order to sue in Louisiana, Nick needs to be a resident of the state. We've learned the longtime California resident now claims he lives in Plaquemines Parish, LA, where he's even established a trust fund for the embryos, whom he named Emma and Isabella. Our Sofia sources say Nick never stays at the home, and is only using the address as a front.

Nick's attorneys, Pierre Miller and Jasha McQueen, confirm Nick is renting a place in the area and is registered to vote in LA, but would not get specific when asked how often he stays at the property. McQueen also says Nick has a Louisiana driver's license, and they're confident a judge will see he's taken the appropriate steps to establish residency and win his case.

The parents who threw a party for their kid but no one came say they never meant for their sad photo to go viral ... and we're inclined to believe 'em.

Sil Mazzini, the mom of 6-year-old Teddy, whose pizza party went bust over the weekend, tells us they would never stage such a deflating event for their son ... ever.

Mazzini gives a play-by-play breakdown for those who think the soiree was staged ... explaining why pieces of the pies were missing and how the photo got out in the first place.

Check out the clip and judge for yourself ... but this mama bear's got us convinced this was no scam.

One group that definitely believes her ... the Phoenix Suns! They caught wind of the story -- as did DJ Khaled and other big-time celebs -- and they treated Teddy to a VIP experience at one of their games this week.

"Ray Donovan" star Marion "Pooch" Hall had a brief day in court, and pled not guilty in his drunken car crash case.

Hall was present, with his attorney, in L.A. County Superior Court Thursday morning and entered his pleas to felony child abuse and DUI. TMZ broke the story ... Hall was charged earlier Wednesday. As we first reported, witnesses saw Hall driving with his toddler in his lap, holding the steering wheel, when he crashed into a parked car.

He blew a .25, more than 3 times the legal limit and, miraculously, nobody was injured.

In court, Hall revealed he's entered a 60-day residential rehab program. The judge told him to continue and when that's done, ordered him to attend 2 AA classes per week and get outpatient treatment ... as a condition of his bail.

Remember that kid who went viral for having NOBODY show up to his pizza party?? Joke's on his friends now ... 'cause the kid got the ultimate hookup at the Phoenix Suns game on Wednesday!!

6-year-old Teddy Bollinger's story *was* really sad -- he invited 32 of his closest friends to a pizza party on Sunday, just to have ZERO show up.

The picture of the bummed out kid made its way around the Internet like wildfire. The Suns got wind of the tragedy and quickly swooped in to give Teddy an awesome VIP invite to their game against the Lakers.

Not only did Teddy get to go to the game ... the dude got HOOKED UP -- from his own custom jersey, to meeting stars Josh Jackson and Trevor Ariza, to courtside seats to watch LeBron James play.

"Ray Donovan" star Marion "Pooch" Hall has just been criminally charged with felony child abuse and DUI ... this for driving totally wasted and letting his 2-year-old son take the wheel.

TMZ broke the story ... Hall was arrested earlier this month in Burbank after a witness saw him driving with his toddler in his lap, holding the steering wheel.

The boy was not strapped in -- in fact, the child car seat was sitting unattached in the back seat. The car veered off and smashed into a parked car. Remarkably ... no one was injured, although the child dissolved into tears.

Hall blew a .25 ... more than 3 times the legal limit.

Hall now faces a maximum of 6 years and 6 months in prison.