Kids

Hoda Kotb has a hard time viewing devastating images of Ukrainian children and families fleeing the war -- she calls it "disturbing" -- but feels it's important the world sees it.

We got Hoda Monday outside NBC Studios, and she shared her emotional response to the gut-wrenching images coming out of Ukraine as Russia's gruesome attacks continue.

This harrowing video of a young boy alone and crying is a painful reality for most children throughout the country ... as they are left to fend for themselves.

The 'Today Show' co-anchor tells us it is especially heartbreaking to see photos from an orphanage, being a mom herself. Hoda adopted her first daughter, Haley, back in 2017 and her second, Hope, in 2019.

She says every mom can look at what's happening and think it "could be any of us at any time."

How's this for a birthday gift? Deandre Ayton celebrated his son's first birthday by dropping 30 points ... and he did it rockin' custom Elmo kicks!

TMZ Sports has learned Ayton's team reached out to Cleveland artist Van Monroe requesting Elmo artwork for his sneakers to celebrate Deandre Jr.'s first birthday on March 6.

Monroe brought Ayton's vision to life -- delivering a dope design featuring the Sesame Street Muppet.

Aside from a painted photo of Elmo ... the Puma's also have Ayton's son's name and birthday, March 6, 2021, painted on them.

Monroe -- who tells us he was honored Deandre chose him for such a special occasion -- says it only took him 15 hours from sketch to finished product on the size 18 shoes.

Besides the birthday sneaker tribute, Ayton went off against the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, dropping 30 points for the Suns -- a season-high for the 6-foot-11 center.

Despite the great performance, the Suns lost, 132-122 ... but that didn't stop Ayton from dedicating his best performance of the year to Jr.

"Happy birthday to my son," Ayton said post-game, "That game is dedicated to him."

Cain Velasquez will remain behind bars for the immediate future ... a judge just denied the UFC legend's request for bail.

In announcing her decision at a hearing in a Santa Clara County courtroom on Monday, judge Shelyna Brown said "the risk is too great" to release Velasquez from custody.

Cain -- who showed up to court in shackles and a black and orange jumpsuit -- is now expected to stay in a cell until at least his next court date, which is currently set for mid-April.

As we reported, Velasquez is facing 10 criminal charges -- including one count of felony attempted murder -- after authorities say he tried to kill Harry Goularte, who's been accused of molesting one of Cain's close relatives.

In court documents, officials say Cain rammed his truck into a car carrying Goularte and family members on Feb. 28, and then fired his gun into the vehicle. Officials say Goularte's stepdad was struck in the gunfire.

Velasquez has received support from many since his arrest -- with Ronda Rousey, Joe Rogan and UFC fighter Derek Brunson all publicly defending the MMA star.

In fact, several Cain supporters were seen outside of the courthouse on Monday, pleading with officials to release him from custody.

As Ukrainians try fleeing while Putin wreaks havoc -- one group that's been all but forgotten is ... unborn kids in the form of embryos, which some docs are fighting hard to save.

Word of a brave practitioner named Birol Aydin -- who runs an IVF clinic called IVMED in Kyiv -- has spread to the community online, and the story goes ... this man has attempted to remove a number of cryogenic tanks containing precious would-be life out of the country.

As one Yale professor puts it on FB ... Aydin supposedly tried smuggling upwards of 17 cryo tanks on day 1 of the Russian invasion, and after 5 days of travel -- he finally reached the border and was apparently able to get at least five of the tanks out of Ukraine in the first trip.

The professor, Cihan Halicigil, says he's hearing that Aydin had to go back for the rest shortly thereafter ... also noting he's a Turkish citizen, and under no obligation to do this.

As for the rest of the clinics in town, it's said to be very dangerous right now ... with a majority of the tanks being stored in bunkers with a low supply of liquid nitrogen (needed to keep them cold) and not a great outlook of viability the longer this conflict lasts.

Even more troubling is the fact that any male IVF docs and/or staffers are reported to have taken up arms in the military there to help fight ... leaving the facilities unmanned and mostly abandoned as Russia continues to move in on the capital.

Halicigil -- who's in the loop on all this from here in the U.S. -- tells TMZ ... these tanks contain anything from eggs and sperm to full-blown embryos that must remain at -196 degrees Celsius, or perish. The conflict has created a supply issue for the liquid nitrogen needed to help keep these tanks up and running -- and that the best of them can stay up and functioning for up to a couple months, assuming all other conditions are favorable.

As for Aydin, it sounds like he was able to get all 17 tanks to a safe place in a bordering country -- but Hilicigil wouldn't give that up for security reasons. Scary stuff, indeed.

DMX's Fiancée Desiree Lindstrom says their son, Exodus, is the apple that doesn't fall far from the tree -- he could follow in his dad's footsteps -- but for now, he's staying strong after X's passing.

Desiree was on "It's Tricky with Raquel Harper," when she opened up about whether her 5-year-old might become a rapper ... and turns out he's flashing some skills. She told Raq, "He loves to sing. I was like, 'Is my son gonna be an R&B singer?'"

She says Exodus can beatbox pretty well too, sooo ... place your bets.

As for the traumatic loss of his father -- Desiree says Exodus has been very strong, even comforting her when she gets down. If she starts tearing up, her little boy reassures her DMX is always watching over from Heaven.

She tells Raq he's eager to learn, too -- choosing to write over playing with toys! She couldn't be prouder of who he's becoming, and knows X would feel the same way.

Drake is seeking court-ordered protection from a woman he claims keeps showing up at his home and wishing death upon him.

The rapper's lawyer, Larry Stein, beelined it to court for a temporary restraining order ... to protect Drake and his family from a 29-year-old woman he claims has been harassing him for years.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Drake claims the woman was arrested at his Hidden Hills estate back in April 2017 and convicted of trespassing, but that's just the tip of the iceberg ... Drake says the woman has threatened his life as well as the lives of his family members.

It's scary ... in the docs, Drake's lawyer says the woman sent him emails last month where she says Drake should "put a bullet through your head now bitch."

Champagne Papi claims the woman's been trying to track him down by filing a $4 billion defamation case against him and seeking a restraining order of her own ... and he says he's suffering emotional distress and fearing for his and his family's safety as a result of her "harassment and obsession with me."

Russell Wilson is so desperate to have more children with Ciara ... he actually got down on one knee this week and begged his wife on national television for "at least" one more baby.

The NFL star joined the singer while she was hosting "The Ellen Degeneres Show" on Thursday -- and just seconds into the appearance, he pleaded with her to give him more kids.

"Serious question," the 33-year-old said to Ciara. "Can we have more babies?"

"It would be perfect!" he continued. "Just give me one more at least."

Ciara was all smiles following Wilson's ask and ended up accepting his proposal ... kinda.

"We definitely can, but we've got a little time before we get there," the 36-year-old said ... "But, I'm down to do it again with you!"

The couple currently has two kids together ... 19-month-old Win and 4-year-old Sienna. Ciara also has a 7-year-old son whom she had with her ex, Future.

Ciara says fatherhood has looked very good on her husband of six years -- saying to him it's a big turn-on and the "sexiest thing" about him.

"I love seeing you in daddy mode, it's the cutest thing," Ciara said on the show. "I love seeing you with Sienna."

"I'm a daddy's girl so I will say I think it's one of the sexiest things about you."

Ronda Rousey is throwing her support behind Cain Velasquez following his attempted murder arrest earlier this week ... saying if the allegations are true, she "would have done the same thing" as the UFC legend.

The WWE star explained her stance on her social media page Thursday ... saying she doesn't blame Velasquez one bit for allegedly going after the man who was accused of molesting one of his close relatives.

In fact, Rousey -- whose husband Travis Browne lost to Velasquez at UFC 200 in 2016 -- said if she had been in Cain's position ... she might have done "worse."

As we previously reported, Velasquez was arrested on Monday in San Jose, CA. after he allegedly tried to kill Harry Goularte, a 43-year-old man who law enforcement says inappropriately touched one of Velasquez's family members at a child care facility days earlier.

In court documents, officials say Velasquez chased Goularte and his family members in his black Ford F250 ... rammed them, and then shot at them repeatedly, ultimately striking Goularte's stepdad in the arm.

Velasquez was eventually hit with 10 criminal charges, including felony attempted murder, over the incident ... and if he's convicted on all counts, he's facing decades behind bars.

Jayson Tatum has played with a ton of great players so far in his career, but his best teammate might very well be his son, Deuce ... who wished his NBA Star dad a happy birthday by hitting up some of his favorite childhood spots!!

The Celtics forward is celebrating his 24th birthday on Thursday ... and posted a video on social media of his adorable son showing him some love on the special day.

The video starts out with 4-year-old Deuce in a Cardinals jersey ... which, of course, is only fitting since Tatum is a native of St. Louis, Missouri.

Deuce is seen jumping excitedly in front of a place where JT has childhood ties to ... before the video transitions to Tatum's favorite pizza spot.

Deuce then hit up Tatum's old high school, Chaminade College Preparatory School ... where Jayson averaged 26.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per game his sophomore season.

After leaving his dad's old stomping grounds, Deuce made his way to the gym at the WOHL community center in St. Louis ... while wearing his pop's Celtics jersey.

The video's precious ... with Deuce signing off by saying, "This is St. Louis," as Nelly's hit song "St. Louie" plays in the background.

Tatum will have his hands full when he plays Ja Morant and the Grizzlies later on his birthday ... but don't be surprised if he balls out and has a career game in honor of the occasion.

Ukrainian tennis star Sergiy Stakhovsky is back in Ukraine, voluntarily returning to defend his homeland against Russia -- and his second mission is making his wife understand why he's chosen to do the first.

Sergiy was in Kyiv Thursday when he joined us on "TMZ Live" ... and explained the extremely difficult decision he's made to leave his wife and 3 young kids -- ages 3, 6 and 7 -- in Hungary while he takes up arms in Ukraine.

As you can imagine, telling his wife he was leaving safety to go to the middle of his war-torn country was not easy ... and you can hear the agony in Sergiy's voice.

Sergiy says his wife was mad when he told her he was going back to Ukraine ... but he understood there would be no way she could understand.

He says things were initially extremely icy between them, but they are communicating again, and now he's just hoping he'll be able to ask for her forgiveness one day ... in person.

You wanna talk about being torn in separate directions -- Sergiy tells us he's not sure he made the right choice in joining Ukraine's reserve army, but at the same time he says staying home with his family in Hungary wouldn't be the right choice either.

This is just a few powerful moments of our conversation with him -- but Sergiy also told us how he and other Ukrainians are feeling about the possibility of a ceasefire, and about Vladimir Putin.

Just hours after Cain Velasquez was hit with 10 criminal charges on Wednesday stemming from his alleged role in a Monday shooting ... he appeared in a courtroom in shackles.

Velasquez was flanked by an officer and wore a COVID mask ... and looked stern as he faced the judge.

According to sources close to the UFC legend, he was not granted bail at the hearing ... and instead will now be forced to remain in custody until his next court date next week.

As we reported, prosecutors hit Velasquez with one count of felony attempted murder and several other charges after they alleged he tried to a kill man who has been accused of molesting one of his close relatives.

In court docs, officials say Velasquez opened fire on the man and his family members as they were driving in San Jose on Monday afternoon.

Velasquez has yet to publicly issue any comment on the situation -- and he did not enter a plea at Wednesday's hearing.

Many of Velasquez's peers in the fighting world have thrown their support behind the UFC legend following his arrest, with Derek Brunson even making T-shirts to try to raise money for Cain's legal fees.

Cain Velasquez allegedly rammed his truck into the car of a man accused of molesting the UFC legend's family member, before allegedly firing multiple shots into the man's vehicle, striking the alleged molester's stepfather.

TMZ Sports has obtained court docs that spell out the allegations against 39-year-old Velasquez.

In the docs, officials say Velasquez followed a 43-year-old man named Harry Goularte -- who was recently charged with 1 felony count of a lewd and lascivious act for allegedly molesting Velasquez's "close relative" -- along with his mom and stepdad from their San Martin, CA home on Monday afternoon.

Velasquez, who was driving a black Ford F-250, then allegedly began shooting into the Chevy Silverado driven by Goularte's stepdad.

Authorities say Cain caught up to the car and rammed it, before eventually firing off more shots.

Cops were called, and Velasquez allegedly left the scene. Soon after, cops located Cain on the road, pulled him over and took him into custody without issue.

According to the docs, police found a 40-caliber semi-automatic handgun in Cain's truck. They also noted they found two 10-bullet magazines in the vehicle, noting that 8 total bullets were missing from the mags.

Cain has been hit with 10 charges, including 1st degree attempted murder, multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and shooting an occupied motor vehicle, among others.

If he's ultimately convicted, Cain is facing decades in prison.

But, it's the circumstances surrounding the case that makes this situation unique.

If you thought the story behind Matthew Coleman -- the QAnon-obsessed dad who confessed to killing his 2 kids because he believed they had "serpent DNA" -- couldn't get any weirder ... it just did.

According to new docs in the horrifying case ... Coleman told the FBI, last August, he'd been "seeing all the pieces being decoded like 'The Matrix,' and that he was Neo," before he says he murdered his children.

In that same interview, following his arrest, Coleman also talked to FBI agents about time travel, teleportation and claimed his kids -- 2-year-old Kaleo and 10-month-old Roxy -- had told him about babies being placed in fireworks, food and walls.

The affidavit, first obtained by People, is a truly bizarre read, and includes Coleman's assertion he had to kill Kaleo and Roxy because they might have been corrupted with serpent DNA from their mom ... and he had "to prevent them from becoming an alien species that would release carnage over the Earth."

Also interesting ... months before the kids were killed, Coleman spent hours each day looking up conspiracy theories online, according to one of his close friends.

The intended target in the Cain Velasquez shooting on Monday was a man who allegedly molested one of the UFC legend's family members ... TMZ Sports has confirmed.

Multiple sources tell us the person who Velasquez opened fire at near a school in San Jose, CA. earlier this week was the man who was accused of repeatedly sexually abusing Cain's close relative.

We're told the man lived at a home that hosts a daycare where Cain's young family member attended. Sources say the man allegedly molested Velasquez's relative there and was ultimately arrested and charged with one felony count of a lewd and lascivious act with a child under the age of 14 last week over the allegations.

The man, however, was granted a release from custody following an arraignment hearing last Friday despite strong opposition from the district attorney's office.

Our sources say the release infuriated Velasquez so much, he attempted to take justice into his own hands and shoot the man while he was in a car outside of a local school.

Velasquez was arrested and booked on a felony charge of attempted murder for the actions.

The former UFC fighter -- who has wins over Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos on his resume -- is due in court for a hearing on the matter later Wednesday.

Sources say he is expected to be formally charged by the DA's office prior to the court hearing.

Prince Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt's recently-adopted son, Kevin Feucht, can't believe his dad wants to un-adopt him .. and says he won't go quietly, in fact, he's looking punish him.

We got Kevin outside Wally's Monday in Bev Hills and he told us he's "shocked, disappointed, and sad" Prinz wants to reverse the adoption process. While Zsa Zsa Gabor's widower has claimed his son isn't spending time with him, Kevin says, "I've put so much effort and time into this."

Kevin tells TMZ he wants to "slightly punish" his dad, although he wasn't specific about exactly how he'd do that. Not shockingly, we think, he says Prinz has been ignoring him since last week.

You'll recall ... Anhalt says he adopted Kevin to carry on his and Zsa Zsa's royal lineage.

But, if we're keeping it real -- the adoption was featured on the reality show, "Adults Adopting Adults." When A&E canceled it after 3 episodes ... Prinz decided to reverse the adoption process.

Kevin says he really wants things to work out, knowing how big of a legacy Zsa Zsa left behind, and it sounds like he already had big plans.

Naomi Osaka is the latest superstar to enter the world of Fortnite -- the tennis sensation is joining the game's Icon Series with her own custom outfits!!

The popular game made the big announcement this week ... saying the 24-year-old will have two unique looks available for purchase starting Thursday.

One of the outfits is a super badass tennis player -- the Naomi Osaka Outfit -- which fittingly comes with a tennis racket pickaxe.

The other 'fit is the Dark Priestess Naomi ... which also has a racket-esque feature to it, but is a much more fantasy look than sporty.

Osaka joins massive names like Neymar, LeBron James and Travis Scott ... who have all collabed with the battle royale game in the past.

Of course, Osaka is a diehard gamer ... so the new partnership is a no-brainer.