Legal

NFL linebacker Matt Adams' time in Chicago is off to a bad start -- the 26-year-old was arrested for gun possession on Thursday, TMZ Sports has learned.

We're told Adams -- who signed a 1-year deal with the Bears in April -- was questioned by cops around 6:45 PM after he was spotted near a Jeep that was reported stolen.

Adams allegedly claimed to have bought the car ... but when cops searched the vehicle, they found a loaded handgun in the center console and an extended mag in the trunk.

Adams was arrested and booked on misdemeanor unlawful use of a weapon -- carrying/possessing a firearm ... and was cited for having a high capacity magazine and metal piercing bullets.

We're told Adams had a permit for the gun ... but it was NOT issued by the state of Illinois.

Adams -- who is still in custody at the time of this post -- is due in court in August.

As for the car, we're told the owner did not want to press charges ... chalking the whole thing up as a misunderstanding.

Todd and Julie Chrisley are asking for thoughts and prayers in the wake of their recent convictions for bank fraud and tax evasion.

The "Chrisley Knows Best" stars asked fans to stop spending their hard-earned money on flower arrangements and gifts and instead keep the couple in their prayers.

Todd, who's on house arrest, made the request Wednesday in the latest episode of this "Chrisley Confessions" podcast ... telling folks the gifts being left at his door are overwhelming and appreciated, but the best gift is prayer.

Julie agrees ... she's in the background saying "Amen" to Todd's wish.

As we reported ... Todd's hanging out in his huge Nashville mansion while he awaits sentencing after being found guilty of a laundry list of charges ... and he's facing up to 30 years in federal prison.

"Cheer" star Jerry Harris should spend 15 years behind prison bars for his child pornography case ... at least according to federal prosecutors.

In legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the U.S. Attorney's Office is recommending that sentence when the judge metes out Harris' punishment next week.

As we reported, the "Cheer" star is facing a maximum of 50 years behind bars after pleading guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography, and one count of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.

Prosecutors called Harris' actions horrific, but noted his rough childhood also factored into their recommendation of a somewhat lenient 15-year sentence.

They've also requested he get 10 years of supervised release once he gets out of prison.

For his part, Jerry's legal team is trying to convince the judge to give him an even lighter sentence of 6 years in prison, and 8 years supervised release.

You'll recall, Harris -- a breakout star from the popular Netflix series -- had been under a 2019 FBI investigation for soliciting sex from minors at cheer competitions, and coercing teen boys to send inappropriate photos.

Chelsea Handler is suing a lingerie company ...  claiming she was completely blindsided after spending countless hours and tons of her own cash while agreeing on a deal to promote the brand.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Chelsea cut a deal with a company called ThirdLove to promote its clothing. She claims the company loved Handler's unique body-positive image and brand and thought it was a fit for its customers.

Chelsea says she went through a specialized exercise routine to stay in shape and get ready for the photo shoots ... and claims she passed on other potential deals to honor her exclusive commitment to the company.

She claims she had to fly out to Canada from L.A. for a photo shoot as part of the deal -- and did so on her dime. But, Handler claims ThirdLove ended up pulling the plug on the entire thing at the eleventh hour.

The comedian and late-night host is seeking no less than $1.5M from ThirdLove.

Elon Musk's daughter is officially free of her famous last name ... she's been granted the name and gender change she requested.

Court docs, obtained by TMZ, show the L.A. County Superior Court judge signed off on the name change for the 18-year-old ... who is now Vivian Jenna Wilson. Wilson is her mother's maiden name.

She was also granted a gender change ... Vivian identifies as female, and the docs state a new birth certificate reflecting the change in gender will soon be issued by the state registrar.

As we reported, Vivian said her reason for the change is "the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form."

Back in December 2020, Elon tweeted his support for the transgender community, but added ... "All these pronouns are an esthetic nightmare."

It's unclear what's at the root of Vivian's desire to part ways with her father -- seems like it must be more than just that tweet.

Fred Goldman says the staggering sum that O.J. Simpson owes him has now ballooned to a whopping $96 MILLION, TMZ Sports has learned.

Goldman laid it all out in new court documents, in which he's applying for a renewal of his old judgment against the former NFL star stemming from the death of Fred's son, Ron Goldman.

You'll recall, in 1997 ... O.J. was ordered to pay $33.5 million to the Goldman family after he was found liable in the 1994 killing of Ron, who died along with Nicole Brown Simpson in Brentwood, Calif.

In 2015, Fred said with interest, O.J. owed him $57 million. But, in the new docs, Fred now says interest has continued to pile up over the last 7 years and has now reached nearly $97 mil.

Rupert Murdoch's heading back to divorce court to end his marriage to famed model Jerry Hall ... according to a report.

The CEO and Chairman of Newscorp -- the parent company of FOX -- is splitting from Hall after a little more than 6 years of marriage ... according to the New York Times. The report does not say either has filed divorce papers yet.

This would be Rupert's 4th divorce and Jerry's first. Although she famously dated Mick Jagger for 22 years and had 4 kids with him ... she'd never been married before 2016 when she and Murdoch tied the knot in a small London ceremony.

The 91-year-old Australian media tycoon has 6 children from his previous marriages, but he and Jerry did not have any kids together.

Interestingly, Murdoch swore off social media right after he and Hall got married -- he said he was done tweeting for at least 10 days "or ever."

Unclear if that was a thing he and his new bride agreed to do before walking down the aisle ... but he's been true to his word, not a single tweet since then.

Johnny Depp is getting the band back together -- prepping for an overseas tour with The Hollywood Vampires -- all in the name of rock and roll.

Depp and the Vampires -- consisting of Joe Perry, Alice Cooper and Tommy Henriksen -- had previously canceled their tour back in March because of COVID restrictions, saying, "We kept trying to make it happen, but unfortunately due to the uncertainty of COVID-19 travel restrictions, it is just not possible."

But now, fans in Germany and Luxembourg will get the chance to see Depp and co. back in action ... though there's still a delay -- as the first show isn't until June 2023.

Of course, JD's been getting some practice in with Jeff Beck, and got a ton of praise for those shows in the U.K.

The Vampires tour announcement comes just a few weeks after Johnny defeated his ex-wife Amber Heard in court ... and was awarded a net judgment of $8.35 million.

Bill Cosby seemingly didn't care he was found liable in a civil suit accusing him of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl ... cheering over the phone when he found out the whole thing was only going to cost him $500,000.

Cosby's rep Andrew Wyatt tells TMZ he called the 84-year-old directly after the judgment was read -- informing Cosby the jury didn't award any punitive damages -- which could've cost the disgraced comedian millions.

Wyatt says when he let Cosby know the jury only awarded his accuser, Judy Huth, $500k ... Cosby responded, "What? That's all?" followed up with a "Booyah!"

We're told Bill was also able to get on the phone with the 2 jurors who had sided with him, thanking both women for being on the right side of equal rights and social justice.

We're told Cosby plans on filing an appeal ... so Huth's payday is, at the very least, likely to be delayed.

Jussie Smollett still insists he did not lie about the homophobic and racist attack, because IF he did he would be a total piece of s**t -- and he claims everyone knows he's not that.

The actor dug in his heels Wednesday morning on Sway's SiriusXM show, talking about why he feels he got screwed in court. As Jussie sees it, if you buy what the jury said -- that he flat out lied -- that would mean we all found out "someone is exactly the opposite of who they claim to be."

No argument there.

However, he went on to explain that committing such a nefarious lie would mean he'd exploited the pain and fears of both Black people and the LGBTQ community -- and Jussie says, "I'm not that motherf***er."

Of course, his stunning statement flies in the face of all the evidence presented in Cook County court before he was convicted and sentenced, back in March, to 150 days.

Speaking of which, Jussie also talked about his time behind bars ... explaining why he stopped eating the whole time he was in Cook County Jail.

He says fasting is something his family always does to gain clarity, and he was uncertain about how long he'd be in jail. Remember, despite the 150-day sentence, Jussie had immediately asked the judge to let him out on bail while he filed an appeal.

Jussie says, "I have never in my life, at least in my adult life, been as clear of mind as I was for those 6-and-a-half days."

What's unclear about Jussie's clarity is how long he would have continued fasting if the judge hadn't let him out, and also ... what exactly he gained clarity about during that time.

David Dobrik should have never been behind the controls of a massive excavator used in a social media stunt gone wrong, so says a YouTuber now suing the influencer, saying he suffered serious injuries as a result of David's actions.

In the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, former Vlog Squad member Jeff Wittek says he traveled to Utah Lake in Provo, Utah in the summer of 2020 with David and a group of friends to shoot video as part of Dobrik's "social media comeback."

Wittek says the plan for one video was to use an excavator, operated by Dobrik, and plant it in the water, to swing people around with a rope while riding various objects -- including wakeboards.

However, Wittek claims Dobrik then suggested people get swung around by the machine -- that he was operating -- by only holding the rope, and without objects.

Wittek says when it was his turn -- David started to swing him around too quickly -- the docs claim Dobrik noticed he was moving the excavator too fast, and slowed down abruptly, causing Wittek to slam into the side of the excavator ... and causing him serious injury.

While he doesn't list the specifics of his injuries in the lawsuit ... Wittek has previously discussed what happened that day -- saying he almost died -- breaking his foot, hip, tearing a ligament in his leg and shattering his skull in 9 places. He also says he almost lost his eye.

Wittek says as a result of the accident, he's suffered wage loss, loss of earning capacity and racked up hospital bills. He's suing for general negligence and intentional tort. He's suing for more than $10 million in damages.

Johnny Depp's resurgence in popularity apparently knows no bounds -- even the value of his movie props are skyrocketing in the wake of his trial victory -- including his famous scissor hands.

The actual insert hand Depp wore in the 1990 hit "Edward Scissorhands" just sold at auction for an incredible $81,250 -- almost twice the price auction experts projected the item would sell for.

It was in early May when Propstore -- an auction company famous for hawking millions of dollars worth of movie collectibles -- announced a sale that would begin June 21. Among the items were Depp's sharp digits.

At the time of the sale's announcement, when Johnny and Amber Heard were locked in trial, it was projected the 'Scissorhands' would sell for somewhere between $30k-$50k.

However, our auction sources say the interest in the trial, specifically Depp's victory, helped to drive the price up -- leading to Tuesday's live auction, where they ultimately went for $81,250!!!

It's not the only hot Depp item on the market. TMZ broke the story, Johnny's motorcycle from 'Cry Baby' is also set to hit the auction block soon ... starting bid for that one comes in at $250,000.

While the 'Scissorhands' are gone, Propstore still has its auction happening through the end of this week.

Bill Cosby was just found liable in a civil suit filed by Judy Huth against the disgraced comedian, who claimed he sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion back in 1975.

The Santa Monica jury awarded Huth $500,000.

Huth was 16 years old when she and a 17-year-old friend met Cosby on a film set in a park. She claimed Cosby invited them to accompany him to the Playboy Mansion a few days later.

Huth testified Cosby was alone with her in a bedroom at the mansion, where he attempted to put his hand down her pants. She says she lied to Cosby about being on her period to get him to stop, but claimed Cosby exposed himself and forced her hand on his erect penis and used it to masturbate until climax.

Cosby did not attend the trial ... the jury was, however, shown Cosby's 2015 video deposition, during which he denied Huth's allegations and said he didn't even remember meeting. Huth's lawyer, however, showed the jury a photo of Cosby and Huth at the Playboy Mansion.

Cosby's defense team insisted the allegations were nothing more than Huth attempting to cash in.

As for why Huth waited until December 2014 to file the lawsuit, she claimed the alleged assault resulted in anxiety attacks and flashbacks, beginning in 2014 ... lasting through 2018 when Cosby was sent to prison after being convicted in a separate criminal sexual assault case involving Andrea Constand.

Hailey Bieber and her new skincare line are being dragged to court already ... they're getting sued for trademark infringement by a fashion line of the same name.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ, clothing company Rhode NYC claims Hailey and her business, Rhode, taken from her middle name, could easily wash away all the hard work they've put into their brand.

They say Hailey and co. previously tried to acquire the "RHODE" trademark but owners Purna Khatau and Phoebe Vickers refused to give it up. Rhode NYC, founded in 2013, claims the "Rhode" logo looks very similar to the one they have.

They believe Hailey's celebrity status is the reason her company is already taking off ... not to mention her famous husband Justin Bieber has also promoted the company to his 243 million Instagram followers.

The owners say they've already faced issues online ... people have been tagging Hailey's company by mistake instead of theirs, which they think shows there is clearly consumer confusion.

Elon Musk's ex-wife is squarely in the corner of their daughter, saying she's proud of the 18-year-old ... amid her now very public rift with her father.

Justine Wilson, a novelist who was married to Elon from 2000 to 2008, weighed in on Vivian's legal filing to have her gender identity changed to female, and to change her full name ... including dropping her dad's famous last name.

She tweeted a convo she recently had with one of her children, and while Vivian has a twin brother, Griffin, the timing makes it pretty clear this was a chat with Vivian.

Justine says her 18-year-old said, "I can't believe I'm as normal-seeming as I am," after having what she calls a "weird childhood." Justine replied, "I'm very proud of you," to which Vivian said, "I'm proud of myself!"

The proud mother's tweet dropped right after the story broke about Vivian's desire to change her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson. What's interesting about Justine's very public support is that Vivian's made it clear she's got beef with Elon.

In the docs she says, "I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form."

Neither Elon nor Vivian previously said anything publicly about their relationship or her transition ... but back in December 2020, Elon tweeted he supports the transgender community, but added ... "All these pronouns are an esthetic nightmare."

The attorney representing the two dozen women accusing Deshaun Watson of sexual misconduct says all but four of the lawsuits against the NFL star have now been settled.

The accusers' lawyer, Tony Buzbee, just made the announcement ... saying in a statement, "Today I announce that all cases against Deshaun Watson, with the exception of four, have settled."

"We are working through the paperwork related to those settlements. Once we have done so, those particular cases will be dismissed."

Buzbee added, "The terms and amounts of the settlements are confidential. We won’t comment further on the settlements or those cases."

As we previously reported, 24 different female massage therapists -- all represented by Buzbee -- had accused Watson of wrongdoing in 24 separate lawsuits filed over the past 15 months in Harris County, Texas.

The women, according to the suits, alleged Watson was inappropriate with them during what was supposed to be professional massage sessions.

Watson -- who was not arrested and not criminally charged over the allegations -- had denied all wrongdoing repeatedly ... reiterating just last week he "never assaulted any woman."

Watson has yet to comment on Buzbee's announcement.

Buzbee said Ashley Solis' lawsuit is one of the four against Watson that still remains unsettled. Solis was the first massage therapist to step forward in 2021 and accuse Watson of misconduct.