Music

Singer Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds and his wife, Nicole Pantenburg, are calling it quits after 7 years of marriage.

In a joint statement, the two tell TMZ, "After much thought and with great sadness, we have decided to end our marriage. We continue to care and have respect for one another and share eternal love for our daughter and her well-being. We ask for personal privacy for ourselves and our daughter as we navigate these new steps as a family.“

The two got married back in 2014 and share one daughter, 12-year-old Peyton Nicole.

It's unclear what led to the split. Babyface was previously married to Tracey Edmonds from 1992 to 2005 ... and they share two sons, Brandon and Dylan.

Babyface and Nicole's 2014 wedding ceremony reportedly included guests like Oprah, the two got hitched after dating for 7 years. The singer was 55 at the time they got hitched, Nicole was 41.

Jessie J is glad Prince William spoke out against racists targeting Black players on England's soccer team after their championship loss -- she says it's a sign of great progress.

We got the English singer Tuesday leaving Crossroads Kitchen in L.A. and asked her if William's comments show the Royal Family learned from the recent racism scandal with Meghan Markle.

Jessie says Prince William calling the disgusting comments "totally unacceptable" is a big step in the right direction.

As we reported ... England's soccer officials also condemned the racial abuse directed at their players after missed opportunities during England's penalty shootout with Italy in Sunday's Euro 2020 championship match.

Cardi B scored a legal victory in her ongoing battle with a blogger -- a judge just tossed the blogger's countersuit against the rapper.

The court ruled in favor of the rapper, saying the blogger, Tasha K, couldn't prove Cardi was connected to the assault and emotional distress she claims to have suffered back in 2019.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, the judge said Latasha "failed to produce any evidence that [Cardi] herself threatened [Latasha] or made her believe that she was going to harm her."

The judge continued, "Instead, [Latasha] has only made allegations that others who may be associated with [Cardi] made these threats ... and has failed to demonstrate here that the threats ... were directed by [Cardi]" or committed by anyone working for her.

As we reported, Latasha claimed Cardi assaulted her -- even though they were never in the same room -- and she was in such fear for her life she felt compelled to reach out to the FBI.

In any event, the judge ruled there wasn't enough evidence to support Latasha's claims and dismissed them.

BTW, she got a similar reaction from the FBI, which told her to move if she was so concerned.

Here we are in 2021, but Vanilla Ice says the '90s still have a tight grip on him, because he says it was the best decade ever ... before computers ruined the world.

We got the rapper-turned-historian on the L.A. set of a music video shoot -- a '90s throwback we'll get to shortly, but first ... Ice needs to rail on the "lost generation" of pop culture.

According to Vanilla Ice ... it was the last decade where fashion and music played off each other, and people created "cool" stuff that's still trendy to this day.

He points to the invention of the iPhone as the main culprit for killing pop culture -- though he's a few years off, it actually came out in 2007 not 2004 -- and provides some proof to back up his argument.

Ice follows it up with a claim that might make you question everything, however ... he says his kids think he's cool.

Believe that or not, the guy has a lot of understandable fondness for the '90s -- especially a certain video store chain -- and is down with it all coming back.

Speaking of which ... Vanilla Ice's music vid was for a parody remix of Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back." Ya won't hear "Baby Got Buns" on the radio, though ... it's for a hot dog company Bar-S.

Britney Spears has decided who she wants as her lawyer to end the conservatorship, and the attorney has now agreed and will appear in court Wednesday -- arguing she has a right to the lawyer of her choice ... TMZ has learned.

We broke the story ... Britney signed a legal doc stating her desire to hire the mega law firm of Greenberg Traurig, LLP to represent her in her effort to boot Jamie Spears from the conservatorship -- the first step in attempting to end the conservatorship altogether.

As we reported, Britney had her sights set on hiring a partner in the firm -- former federal prosecutor Mathew Rosengart, who reps a slew of celebrity clients, including Steven Spielberg, Ben Affleck, Jimmy Butler and Sean Penn.

Multiple sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Rosengart has now agreed and will appear remotely during a court hearing Wednesday, asking the judge to appoint him.

The catch 22 is that Britney cannot sign contracts of any substance without the approval of her conservator, Jamie Spears, the man she wants out.

We're told Rosengart will make the argument Britney has a Constitutional right to the lawyer of her choice. Defendants in criminal cases have a Constitutional right to an attorney, but a conservatorship is not a criminal case. Thing is ... it's not a civil case either. It's a hybrid ... somewhere in between.

We're told Rosengart's argument goes like this ... Britney is entitled to due process, which includes the right to a competent lawyer, and a judge would be hard-pressed to conclude Rosengart doesn't have the legal chops to rep her. What's more ... he'll argue it's absurd for Jamie Spears to have the power to disapprove Britney's choice, because the very purpose of the representation is to get him out of the conservatorship.

As we reported ... getting Jamie out is the first step in ending the conservatorship, which has been in place for more than 13 years.

The real battle will come if and when there's a motion to end the conservatorship. Britney said in court last month she wanted that done without further medical evaluation, but that's a tough sell to the judge because several dozen medical professionals have weighed in regularly over the years she has a mental illness that makes a conservatorship necessary.

Rihanna's giving folks a once in a lifetime opportunity, because you can live in her posh mansion in Beverly Hills ... if you've got a boatload of cash.

The singer and Fenty Beauty founder is renting out her 5-bedroom, 7,628-square-foot pad for a cool $80,000 per month ... and the pics might be enough to make ya splurge.

Check out the gallery ... Rihanna's Bev Hills mansion is decked out with a pool, spa, fire pit and an open-air courtyard, plus a home gym and a gourmet chef's kitchen with two islands.

The master bedroom features sweeping views of Coldwater Canyon, plus a walk-in closet, marble bath and a private terrace.

As we reported ... Rihanna recently scooped up the mansion for $13.8 million, adding to her burgeoning L.A. real estate portfolio.

Britney Spears wants to be able to pick a new attorney for herself -- an idea with which multiple disability rights organizations agree, and are now putting in writing for a judge.

Attorneys repping 27 different entities -- dabbling in things like AIDS advocacy, civil liberties, autism support, aging assistance and much more -- have filed new legal docs, telling the judge Britney should be allowed to have the ultimate say in who her lawyer(s) will be next.

According to the filing, obtained by TMZ, groups such as Choice in Aging, Disability Rights California, Autistic Self-Advocacy Network and others are pleading their case to the court -- namely, laying out reasons why Brit shouldn't be deprived of being able to make this selection on her own.

The groups say Britney has a right to due process ... which includes selecting her own attorney to help her make informed decisions and communicate effectively in the conservatorship case -- something they say she's specifically asked for in text messages to people like Jodi Montgomery.

Demi Lovato says they won't jump down your throat if you accidentally misgender them -- as it's not an easy pivot -- but they do ask folks to make a good faith effort going forward.

The pop singer -- who identifies as nonbinary -- came out with a new IG post that addresses the change so many have been trying to adopt when discussing them ... namely refraining from using she/her pronouns and referring to Demi as they/them -- which is their preference.

Demi writes ... "If you misgender - That's okay. I accidentally misgender myself sometimes! It's a huge transition to change the pronouns I've used for myself my entire life. And it's difficult to remember sometimes!"

They continue, "As long as you keep trying to respect my truth, And as long as I remember my truth, The Shift will come naturally." Demi ended on this note ... "I'm just grateful for your effort in trying to remember what means so much to my healing process."

You'll recall ... Demi came out as nonbinary earlier this year, saying their new pronouns were more in line with how they wanted to express their gender than the ones they used to go by ... allowing them to be their most authentic self.

A new tribute to DMX is finally complete -- a huge mural in his hometown of Yonkers, NY ... and TMZ has a first look at the art.

We got these images of the mural designed by NYC artist Floyd Simmons ... no relation to DMX, by the way. He painted it on a wall near the Calcagno Homes on School Street, the same public housing where DMX once lived -- and it will be unveiled to the public Tuesday morning.

Floyd, pictured above in front of the unfinished wall, tells TMZ ... residents at the housing project reached out to him because they liked another famous mural he'd done in Harlem back in the '90s.

The DMX project was supposed to last a week, tops ... but a heat wave followed by rain caused a delay and complicated matters. The project ultimately took a little over 2 weeks to complete.

As if that wasn't enough ... Floyd says he broke his pinky in the middle of the job when he got it jammed between the cherry picker lift and the wall.

But, when it was all said and done, the mural -- 35 feet by 22 feet -- featured a stoic DMX front and center and a verse from his "Look Thru My Eyes" track ... which pays homage to the very same neighborhood.

That Girl Lay Lay -- a 14-year-old rapper who just landed her own Nickelodeon series -- is calling out Kim Kardashian for allegedly demanding she take down a music video ... but sources close to Kim and Kanye are questioning the motives behind the project from the beginning.

Here's the backstory ... TGLL shared a music vid that shows Kim's then 6-year-old daughter, North West, hanging out inside Kim and Kanye's home during a playdate while the young rapper lays down one of her tracks.

Shortly afterward, Lay Lay claimed Kim texted her demanding she take down the vid, and she had no idea why. However, it was Tracy Romulus, Kim's friend and the CMO of KKW Brands who was the one who actually sent the text ... and it wasn't to Lay Lay, it was sent to her dad.

A rep for the rapper tells TMZ ... Lay Lay feels hurt, and wants Kim to let her repost the vid because she doesn't think there's any good reason to take it down.

However, a source close to Kim and Kanye say they never gave permission for their 6-year-old to be featured in the music video, and believe Lay Lay's team used the old footage of North for publicity.

The source continues, "Lay Lay’s dad refuses to release the music video without footage of North because he is clearly trying to use her image as a source of publicity which is why North’s parents have an issue to begin with. It’s a matter of principle at this point and the answer is still no. He cannot use footage that was filmed of North taken inside her home during what should have been an innocent child’s play date for commercial purposes.”

We're told Lay Lay's father asked Kim and Kanye months ago for permission to use the footage of North, but hadn't heard back by July ... so he decided to post it, thinking it would be no biggie because they had approved another video in the past. Our Kim and Kanye source claims they never received any sort of communication asking for permission.

For context, the video was shot in March 2020 ... when Kim was taking some heat for not crediting another young artist, ZaZa, when North performed one of her songs at Paris Fashion Week. We're told Lay Lay now believes Kim only set up that first meeting, and subsequent TikTok as damage control for what happened with ZaZa.

Our Kim and Kanye source says that couldn't be further from the truth, and say they set up a playdate with Lay Lay after her dad reached out because North was a fan.

Blueface's jeweler wants to make it crystal clear, the rapper doesn't owe him any money -- contrary to the online digs from Tekashi 6ix9ine ... and Tekashi can go shove it, according to the jeweler.

We got Gavriel D., the founder and CEO of NYC Luxury, Monday in NYC ... and he stopped to give us the 411 on Blueface tatting the name of Gavriel's company on the side of his head.

You'll recall the "Bleed It" rapper raised eyebrows last week with the tat on his dome, and drew Tekashi out of his troll hole to comment. He insinuated Blueface is broke and can't afford to pay for his bling, so he turned to human billboarding.

Gavriel says that's total BS ... and says there's only one logical explanation for the tat -- Blueface loves the brand!!! It's true. Blueface is known for giving his favorite brands serious real estate space on his dome. He's done it with Corvette and Yves Saint Laurent.

The celeb jeweler also told us a while back he joked with Blueface about his Corvette tattoo and that he should get an NYC Luxury one too. We're told Blueface one day, out of the blue, FaceTimed him and voilà ... there he was on the table getting the tattoo done.

Hawaiian hottie Tia Carrere was only 25 years old when she rocked her role as the sexy singing girlfriend Cassandra Wong -- who fronts the band Crucial Taunt and is pursued by the slick and sleazy big-wig Benjamin -- in the classic 1992 comedy "Wayne's World" and the 1993 sequel "Wayne's World 2."

TC shared the big screen with some big-named actors including Rob Lowe as the smarmy suit, Benjamin Kane ... and of course Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as the show-hosting best friends Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar.

Before her role in the rock movies Tia could be spotted in over thirty episodes of the TV soap "General Hospital" as Jade Soong in the late '80s.

Drake Bell won't be doing any time behind bars in his child endangerment case -- a judge just announced his fate, and the actor ended up getting probation instead.

The former Nickelodeon star was sentenced Monday in an Ohio court ... receiving 2 years of probation -- to be supervised in California, where he lives -- plus 200 hours of community service. If he doesn't keep his nose clean, he could face up to one year in prison on the felony charge of attempted endangering children -- to which he's pled guilty.

DB took the punishment in stride, saying he accepted it ... while also apologizing, explaining that it wasn't his intention to do harm, but that he's sorry to the girl and anyone else he hurt over this matter.

The woman, however, said he'd done irreparable harm -- issuing a victim impact statement via Zoom, and detailing what exactly this is all about. She claims they began exchanging messages online in 2017 (when she was 15), which she says eventually turned sexual in nature and included photos. She says this all happened over IG and Snap.

She went on to allege that she attended a concert of his back then, and that afterward ... he took her backstage to be alone -- where she claims she performed oral sex on him. Drake was seen shaking his head a few times during her remarks.

You'll recall, Drake was officially charged over this just earlier this year -- even though she filed a police report back in 2018. Up until now, it wasn't quite clear what sort of messages Drake was alleged to have sent to the minor -- but she shed a bit more light on it in her appearance.

Britney Spears is apparently doubling down on her desire to have kids with her longtime boyfriend, Sam Asghari, because she's touting his daddy looks.

The singer posted photos this weekend of her and Sam on a hike in the great outdoors, where they're both leaning up against a tree along a path ... posing and looking cute together.

She captioned it ... "@SamAsghari looks like such a dad in these pics 😂😂😂." Sam does seem to have a furrowed brow here, and is in what we suppose you might consider a "dad" stance (maybe).

In our minds though, this is just Britney further telegraphing her wishes -- especially because she dug out old pics to make her point. Sam posted these back in February.

Remember, Britney told a judge a few weeks ago that her conservatorship is blocking her from marrying Sam, and from having more children -- something she says she wants.

She claimed the conservatorship won't let her remove an IUD ... not without a ton of red tape, anyway. That's just one of the many reasons Britney listed for wanting completely out ... without a medical evaluation.

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky appear to be mixing business with pleasure -- and they're not being low-key about it ... rocking some seriously eye-catching outfits.

RiRi and Rocky appeared to be filming a music video together Sunday in the Bronx. You can see they're dressed to the nines with bright-colored furs and hats. Rihanna's colorful taste also showed up on her gemstone-filled grill.

It seems the entire neighborhood was invited to the project ... you can see a parade on the streets as cameras were rolling. There was also a wardrobe change later in the evening ... with Riri rocking the hell out of a red dress and heels.

A$AP recently revealed he's around 90% done with his fourth studio album, "All Smiles" -- so, we're guessing this is a shoot for one of his tracks. Rihanna hasn't dropped a new album since "Anti" in 2016, and fans are thirsting hard for new music ... but this probably isn't it.

It makes sense they're working together, musically. As you know, they've been inseparable for weeks now. He literally swept her off her feet recently ... and called her "the love of my life."

Ben Affleck was on dad (and possibly stepdad) duty this weekend -- with not just his kids in tow, but with one of the children of his beloved, Jennifer Lopez, too ... the first time we've actually seen that happen.

The actor was out Sunday with his son, Samuel, his daughter, Seraphina ... plus, J Lo's 13-year-old daughter, Emme -- who was out there rockin' the blue-green hair. Seraphina is right around Emme's age ... and Sam's a bit younger at 9. Still though, they all seemed chummy.

Ben, meanwhile, had his hands full ... with a ton of Wetzel Pretzel snacks and some drinks for good measure. They were out at the Universal City Walk, with some adult companions (possibly nannies/security guards) tagging along as well. No sign of Jen or her boy, Max, here.

No matter ... because this itself is a HUGE step toward blending their family units -- much like Jennifer was doing with A-Rod when they were engaged not too long ago. Their kids were constantly hanging out with one another -- and now, it seems Bennifer's doing the same.

There's even more evidence that Jen and Ben are seriously intertwining their personal lives -- just a couple days ago, J Lo was spotted out with Max ... touring a school in L.A. We'd already seen her doing some of that on her own a little while ago -- but this time, she brought the kid to check things out too.