Kids

High school student Nick Sandmann was the perfect person to get into a showdown with Native American elder Nathan Phillips, according to a congressman from Nick's home state.

Rep. Thomas Massie, whose district is home to Covington Catholic School, was on Capitol Hill when we asked him about Sandmann and the criticism of how he handled the face-off. Not surprisingly, he's got a lot of love for his young constituent.

Massie says he's proud of the way Nick handled himself while Nathan continued beating his drum during the weekend confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial -- and he gives Nick ALL the credit for defusing the turbulent situation.

The congressman says he fears what kind of violence could have erupted if Nathan was drumming in front of someone else, who didn't have Sandmann's calm temperament.

As we reported ... Nick says his smirk was misinterpreted, and Rep. Massie backs that up.

Cardi B wants to return to the way things were ... before her split with Offset.

The rapper shared a screenshot Tuesday morning of a FaceTime chat with her husband -- who she split with in December -- and their daughter, Kulture. She captioned it ... "I wanna go home."

As you know, Offset's been very public about his desire to reconcile with Cardi, but she hasn't been as forthcoming ... other than announcing how much she misses his penis. It seems she's longing for some family time with him now, though.

Of course, the couple have been together since their split -- including a jet ski-riding vacation in Puerto Rico -- and we broke the story ... they were working on fixing their marriage in 2019, with Offset vowing to change his ways and be faithful and honest with her.

Still, Cardi hadn't given any clear indicators she was fully on board with the plan ... until now.

Alexis Skyy will NOT meet Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian's baby girl -- EVER -- 'cause there's a rule in place to prevent that.

Sources close to Chyna tell TMZ that she and Rob have an agreement to not introduce any significant others to their daughter, Dream, within the first 6 months of dating. This is an increasingly common restriction in custody cases, and for good reason. It's not good for a child to develop attachments to people who come and go ... especially after their parents break up.

The operative word in this case is ... relationship. Our sources say, Chyna believes Alexis and Rob are not actually into each other and are only publicly flirting to get under BC's skin. She's convinced that whatever is going on between Rob and Alexis ... it will NEVER last 6 months.

As one source told us, Chyna thinks Alexis is hanging with Rob 'cause she's clout chasing. FWIW, Alexis went on a follow frenzy shortly after Rob called her his WCW, and shortly after her and Blac Chyna's scuffle last weekend ... following just about all of Rob's sisters.

As we've told you ... Chyna confronted Alexis at a house party last week to call her out about past interactions Alexis had with Rob, that Chyna found inappropriate ... especially since BC and Rob were still together at the time.

We're told Chyna knows Rob and Alexis have fooled around in the past, but she doesn't think anything meaningful transpired between them since then.

R. Kelly's ex-wife says the stories on "Surviving R. Kelly" rang true to her because of what she says she went through with the singer -- including alleged abuse in all forms.

Andrea Kelly went on "Good Morning Britain" after appearing on Lifetime's docuseries, and she told hosts Piers Morgan and Susana Reid that R. Kelly abused her verbally, emotionally, physically, sexually ... and, as of late she claims, financially as well by cutting off child support.

Morgan asks her point blank if she believes the women and believes he's a serial abuser -- to which Andrea says she believes R. Kelly is an abuser ... but refuses to either confirm or deny the women's claims as she didn't experience them herself.

The 'GMB' hosts also ask R. Kelly's daughter, Joann, how she feels about her dad ... and she says she's torn because there's still love there on her end.

Blac Chyna had the LAPD at her home after a call came in alleging Chyna was intoxicated and neglecting her child.

Law enforcement sources tell us an anonymous person called in Sunday night and stated Chyna was drunk at her home. The caller claimed Chyna was in such bad shape, she couldn't properly care for her daughter, Dream Kardashian.

Cops went to Chyna's house and determined everything was fine, nobody was drunk, and Dream was being properly cared for. There was also a nanny at the home.

Sources close to the situation tell us earlier in the night, Chyna got in a fight with a member of her glam team and the incident may have triggered the call to cops.

As we reported -- Chyna allegedly threw a drink at 'Love & Hip Hop' star Alexis Skyy last week -- in response to Skyy hanging out with Rob Kardashian. Rob posted a video of Skyy at his home just a couple days later.

We reached out to a rep for Chyna ... so far, no word back.

Russell Wilson appears to be responding to Future calling him a whipped man by taking the high road ... or issuing a low blow, depending on how you look at it.

The Seahawks quarterback posted a photo Saturday that might very well be in direct response to an interview Future did on Friday, where he said Russ was "not being a man" by allowing Ciara to trash talk her ex-hubby on social media and in public.

There's a couple different ways to interpret Russ's post -- but regardless, it'd be pretty hard not to call it a clap back. The pic shows Future Jr. --who's Future's biological son -- nuzzling noses with his half-sister, Sienna -- who's Ciara and Russell's biological daughter.

Russ captioned the post, "All that matters. #Love."

While you could argue this is an integrity move on RW's part, you could also say he's strategically using Future's own flesh and blood against his pops in a petty feud ... which is eyebrow-raising at best. Both arguments would be valid on the face of this.

As you know ... Ciara and Future are in the middle of an ongoing custody battle, for which Ciara now wants a mediator to intervene so a travel schedule can get hashed out for Future Jr. She's claimed in court docs that Future has allegedly broken scheduled visits and hands off the kid to family members instead of spending personal time with him.

Remember the insane shopping spree Ray J went on for his 38th birthday? Turns out, he didn't stop with treating himself to a brand new Maybach and Lincoln -- he also splurged on a classic car ... for a good cause.

We broke the story ... the R&B singer dropped $410,000 on whips for himself and his wife, Princess Love, at Barrett-Jackson Auction Co. in Scottsdale, AZ on Wednesday.

According to sources close to Ray, he opened up his checkbook again. We're told he and his pal RD Whittington, owner of Luxury Auto Collection, split a $165k tab on a yellow 1967 Chevy Camaro ... and all the cash goes to charity.

We're told the money for the classic ride will be donated to Childhelp, a foundation that helps victims of child abuse.

As for the plan for the whip moving forward ... Ray's manager, David Weintraub, tells us they'll bring the car to 60 Years of Miracles: Drive The Dream Gala in February to continue to raise awareness for Childhelp.

Gotta love it when a birthday plan comes together ... and has an extra happy ending.

Future didn't need a diss track to unleash his true feelings about Ciara and Russell Wilson -- he just came right out and said she's controlling ... and he's weak.

The rapper was interviewed by his friend Big Bank Black Thursday night for Beats 1 radio and took some shots at his ex ... starting off by claiming she introduced their son, Future Jr., to Wilson before he gave it his blessing.

Future then blasted the Seahawks QB by declaring Ciara controls him, saying ... "He do exactly what she tell him to do."

Future seems to especially have a problem with Wilson allowing Ciara to talk trash about him on social media. Future says, "He not being a man in that position ... he not tellin' her, 'Chill out with that on the Internet. Don't even talk to him. I'm your husband! You better not even bring Future's name up.'"

It sounds a tad hypocritical, but Future says if he was in Wilson's position, he'd have more control over his girl ... and wouldn't let her publicly slam an ex.

We broke the story ... Ciara wants a mediator in her ongoing custody battle with Future to help hash our their son's travel schedule. She claims Future hasn't been the best dad -- allegedly breaking scheduled visits fairly often -- and tends to hand their kid off instead of spending much time with him.

Ciara didn't just make these claims on social media either ... it's all in legal docs.

Great news for Devon Still and his family -- the ex-NFL player's daughter, Leah, is IN THE CLEAR after doctors feared her recent medical scans showed signs of cancer.

BOOM!!!

You know her story ... Leah has bravely battled and "beat up cancer" ever since she was diagnosed with stage-4 neuroblastoma in June of 2014. She's been cancer-free for 4 years.

But recently, doctors found something suspicious during one of her checkups -- and ran several tests to see if her cancer had returned.

Devon had asked for prayers for Leah and the family -- and this week, they got the good news ... IT'S NOT CANCER!!

Still documented the whole process on his YouTube channel. It's a raw experience, especially when he asks Leah if she's willing to fight cancer again, to which she responds:

"Yeah, I will. It's just that I don't want to lose my life."

Leah was a champ throughout the entire MIBG scan procedure -- which, according to the Cleveland Clinic, is "used for localization of known or suspected neuroectodermally derived tumors."

The Stills got the best news this week ... and Devon let Leah adorably share the awesome update.

"Guess what, guys? We got good news. Uh huh! The scans were clear. Mhm! Thank you, everybody, for praying for me."

The man charged in the kidnapping of 13-year-old Jayme Closs and the murder of her parents showed his face in court Monday, as cops said he planned the crime for weeks.

21-year-old Jake Patterson appeared by video in a Wisconsin courthouse. He did not enter a plea and his bail was set at $5 million. According to the criminal complaint ... Patterson made up his mind to abduct Jayme when he saw her getting on a school bus.

According to prosecutors, Patterson said, "He knew that was the girl he was going to take." He allegedly went to the Closs' home twice before Jayme's parents were killed and she was kidnapped on Oct. 15. The last time was one week prior, and he was scared off because the family had several guests.

According to docs, Patterson shot Jayme's father at the front door while she and her mother hid in the bathroom. He eventually broke down the bathroom door, bound and gagged Jayme, then fatally shot her mother.

While she was held captive, Jayme says Patterson made her hide under his twin-sized bed if he had any guests. She said his father frequently visited. She also says Patterson threatened, "bad things would happen to her" if she let anyone know she was there.

Closs was able to escape her captor last week about 70 miles north of her Wisconsin hometown. She says Patterson told her he was leaving for 5 hours, and when he did, she pushed the barbells and weighted totes he used to keep her under the bed ... slipped on a pair of his shoes and fled his house.

As you know, a neighbor found her wandering and called police. Jayme was reunited with her aunt, and Patterson was arrested shortly afterward.

Jada Pinkett Smith says she fended off potential creepers from Willow at a young age -- and in light of "Surviving R. Kelly" ... she seems grateful she did.

Jada released another episode of "Red Table Talk" Monday, which continued a conversation with alleged R. Kelly victim Lisa Van Allen who explained why she gravitated toward the singer. She says the fact she was orphaned played into her embracing him.

It's just as emotional as their last segment, with tears being shed in recounting her experience.

At one point in the convo, Jada reveals she had to have some serious talks with Willow as a young teen -- Willow's now 18 -- to warn her about the dangers of the world, and people who might want to take advantage of her. She says she told Willow she couldn't be alone with certain people, no matter how close Willow thought she was with them.

Chrissy Teigen's throwing a birthday bash for her hubby John Legend tonight, and she's asking for help from her fans on what to wear ... for her son.

Chrissy shared a couple beyond adorable shots of the couple's 7-month-old son Miles in a black tuxedo and a white one, adding ... "need your help dressing mini-john. Which one!"

She also added a poll -- which as of now has nearly 400,000 votes -- and the baby white tux is ahead big time with 67 percent.

John's 40th bday was actually in late December, but the family's celebrating Saturday night ... and there's no doubt Miles' outfit will be a hit.

R. Kelly is rationalizing his daughter's powerful condemnation of his behavior -- he believes his ex-wife cooked it all up, despite the fact he's been estranged from their child for years.

Sources close to R. Kelly say ... the R&B singer isn't upset with Joann Lee Kelly for breaking her silence and calling him a "monster," because he thinks his daughter was only parroting her mother, Drea Kelly's views. We're told he feels Drea's brainwashed all 3 of their kids into hating him.

Although our sources say Kelly loves and misses his kids, he seems to be ignoring the reality -- that he has no relationship with them -- and hasn't for some time now.

Kelly did have a musical collab in 2015 with Joann, who is a talented singer -- but we're told he thinks Drea drove a wedge between them after that, because she was furious Joann had been in the studio with him.

We're told Drea brought their kids to an R. Kelly concert in Atlanta a couple years ago, but since then he's had little contact with them, and he has no clue why things switched up.

However, anyone who's seen "Surviving R. Kelly" knows exactly how Drea feels about her ex ... and it ain't good. Worth nothing, Drea told us earlier this month she's open to Kelly reaching out to the kids because they're all adults now and free to make their own choices.

North West is not your average kid ... she put on her Sunday best for a Friday night out at one of the glitziest restaurants in all of L.A.!

North joined Aunt Kourtney Kardashian and Grandma Kris Jenner in WeHo for a meal at Craig's. Check out what looks like a $1,000 Fendi tracksuit and $400 Fendi slides.

Corey Gamble, who's becoming a longtime BF of Kris, was also on hand but no sign of Kim or Kanye.