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8:15 AM PT -- Police arrested the suspect ... a 45-year-old man named David Merck, and booked him for felony battery. ET got Pauley's sketch of Merck, and a photo one of her friends later took of him.

She could have a future in forensic art.

Pauley Perrette, who plays scientist Abby Sciuto on "NCIS," says a "psychotic homeless man" punched her in the face Thursday night and vowed he would kill her.

Perrette says she was walking from her Hollywood home to a guest house she owned when the guy appeared, repeatedly threatening to end her life.

It's a bizarre story. Perrette says she told the guy, who called himself William, that he had a "beautiful name" but he just unloaded and punched her again.

She says, "I went into shock ... collapsed on the sidewalk." She says cops came, she drew a "police sketch" of the guy, who was "headed towards Hollywood Blvd with murder in his eyes." Perrette says cops arrested him.

Now it gets really weird. Perrette tweeted, "I am shaken and traumatized. My house, my beloved Hollywood. My beloved homeless people that I spend my life protecting ... My life changed tonight."

She ends by writing, "We need to not walk alone. I need to heal. I almost died tonight."

ABC has put the kibosh on 2 dudes dancing hip to hip on "Dancing with the Stars."

Sources connected with the show tell TMZ, the issue came up over an upcoming performance by an openly gay artist who goes by the name, Who Is Fancy. The performance is set for November 23, where he will debut his new song, "Boys Like You," featuring Ariana Grande and Meghan Trainor, who will also appear on the show.

The song is about a man falling in love with another man. We've learned Who Is Fancy's choreographer sent an email to a 'DWTS' producer, saying, it would "be an awesome look to have 2 males dancing with each other."

Our sources say the 'DWTS' honchos discussed it and a producer fired back an email, saying, "Apologies all but this is a definitive no from the network."

We're told ABC agreed to allow "near dancing" during the performance, like a recent appearance by two men -- Alek and Carlos -- who shared the stage this week. Check out the video ... it's more like a Cirque performance than romantic ballroom dancing.

Jason Priestley was hospitalized after being thrown off of a horse on the set of his show, "The Code."

We're told he fell hard Monday and then beelined it for the ER. He stayed in the hospital overnight because he says he has a history of concussions and a neurologist needed to noodle over the impact of the fall. Turns out he did indeed suffer another concussion.

Jason's had his share of mishaps. He fractured his spine and suffered a concussion back in 2002 during a race car crash in Kentucky.

The models walking in the "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show" already have food on the brain ... and got a look at what they'll feast on when it ends.

Our photog caught up with some of the models backstage Tuesday in NYC before the big show ... and it's just as glorious as you'd think, complete with Behati Prinsloo dancing around in lingerie.

We asked the models about their cravings. Shanina Shaik and another model go for the usual suspects ... chocolate, ice cream and pizza. But it's worth noting, the food table right next to them was untouched.

You gotta watch for Magdalena Frackowiak, though. Chick was NOT down with food questions ... we're guessing she was just hangry.

Tamar Braxton made a miracle recovery -- after rushing to the ER to treat her pneumonia ... she made it to the "Dancing with the Stars" set just in time to perform live.

TMZ broke the story ... Tamar went to the hospital on Monday night, just hours before the show, after fighting off illness for 2 weeks. It was touch and go whether she'd make it back to studio for the show.

Well, she ended up making it -- complete with full dramatic entrance, and heroic performance. Actually, the "Hey Jude" dance was kinda cool. As ballroom dancing goes.

Tamar Braxton is in the ER right now, and it's doubtful she'll make the live show for "Dancing with the Stars," which means she could be disqualified.

We're told Braxton has pneumonia -- something she's been battling for two weeks, and while rehearsing her dances for Monday night's show she became extremely sick.

Sources tell us that Braxton's husband rushed her to the hospital. The show is set to film within the hour, and if Braxton doesn't make the taping she could be Kim Zolciak-ed.

We caught Tamar just before 7pm rushing to make it back for the live taping of 'DWTS'.

Iron Chef Cat Cora's marriage to wife Jennifer Cora has disintegrated and all signs point to a bitter custody struggle over their 4 kids.

TMZ has obtained the dueling divorce docs ... both women filed on the same day, with Jennifer requesting full physical custody of their kids. Cat is asking for joint physical custody.

The two have been married since 2013 and have four sons together -- 3 of whom Jennifer gave birth to and 1 who was carried by Cat.

Cat's been the breadwinner, which is probably why Jennifer's asking for spousal support.

Cat's had her share of problems, most notably getting busted for DUI in June 2012.

Cat's been a food force for a long time ... she's one of the original American Iron Chefs, and she operates 4 restaurants.

Cat was most recently a guest judge on "Cutthroat Kitchen."

Vivica A. Fox fired the first shot at 50 Cent, and now he's launching missiles back at her -- after Vivica hinted he has issues with "gay stuff."

Vivica, who's guest starring on "Empire," was on "Watch What Happens: Live" ... and Andy Cohen brought up Fiddy's infamous Instagram re-post ... which claimed "Empire's" ratings decline was due to "gay stuff."

Check out her dramatic pause before blurting out ... "The pot calling the kettle black, is all I'm gonna say."

She tried to backpedal a little, recalling good times when she dated 50 -- but then did even more damage by questioning his magazine cover shot with Soulja Boy.

50's fired back the way you'd expect, writing on IG ... "Now she thinks I'm gay because I let her lick my Ass. LMAO."

BOMBSHELL REVELATION TIME ...

Pro wrestling legend Bill Goldberg is lifting the shroud off one of the WWE's most famous gimmicks ... saying "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was more spit then swallow when it came to beers in the ring.

We got Goldberg out in L.A. -- promoting his new movie "Check Point" -- when we talked to him about rumors of a comeback match between him and Austin. So, we had to ask about Steve's infamous beer bash celebrations and if the dude really pounded brews.

That's when Goldberg broke the bad news and the UNFORGIVABLE news ... saying that not only is no match between him and the rattlesnake imminent ... but that Austin NEVER REALLY DRANK THE BEERS.

Watch and see for yourself ... R.I.P. to your childhood.

Finally, a voice of reason for meat lovers -- Dr. Oz is NOT pushing the panic button when it comes to bacon and red meat, despite the recent WHO report connecting them to cancer.

Oz says the World Health Org. is actually late to the party because meats have long been considered carcinogens. More importantly, he explained why there's no need to slash processed meats like bacon completely out of your diet.

He does have a warning for BBQ fans though, and some recipe tips for Harvey. Sorry, doc ... our boss doesn't touch the stuff.

They call him the G.O.A.T. ... they should call him the H.O.R.S.E. ... 'cause according to Jerry Rice, he's hung just like one.

Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton finally stopped hiding from fans and cameras, and they picked country music's biggest night for their coming out.

The pic we got of their fingers interlocked -- while sipping drinks at a CMA after-party -- kinda tells the story!

Jon Voight still has a vicious set of chompers ... 21 years after his infamous "Seinfeld" bite, he flexed his powerful jaws again.

Our photog caught up with Jon at LAX Thursday and talked about the 1994 episode where George compares teeth marks on a pencil to the bite mark Jon left on Kramer's arm.

You gotta see the clip -- Jon was happy to recreate the awesome Seinfeld scene. And yeah ... the pencil's definitely going in our TMZ hall of fame.

As soon as we get one.

Conan O'Brien's no Fat Jewish -- he insists he and his staff came up with the jokes they're accused of stealing from a blogger ... who's not all that original anyway, according to Conan's new legal docs.

Robert Kaseberg sued Conan for copyright infringement, claiming several of his monologue jokes were lifted from Kaseberg's online blog -- but Conan responded to the suit this week, saying his material is 100% "independently created."

Truth is, some of the jokes are very similar -- but Conan says Kaseberg's comedy was so general and based on current events, it can't be copyrighted. For instance, they wrote almost identical shrinkage quips about an announcement the Washington Monument is 10 inches shorter than previously thought.

Conan's kinda calling Kaseberg's jokes lame. Yes, that also comes off like a shot at his own monologue writers, but Conan's bigger point is you can't steal something so unoriginal.

Bill Goldberg says he lost all respect for Donald Trump back in 2010 -- saying he's still pissed about the way he was fired from "The Celebrity Apprentice."

The firing was especially nasty ... but at the time, most people just chalked it up to reality show editing. Turns out, the anger was REAL.

"I respected him a lot before he fired me," Goldberg told TMZ Sports.

There's more ... Bill says Trump is basically the same person as WWE honcho Vince McMahon -- "They're both kind of off their rocker."

FYI -- Bill doesn't like Vince either.

George Barris, the creator of the amazing 1966 Batmobile and many other legendary whips ... has died.

Barris' most famous car was surely the one Adam West drove during the "Batman" TV show. But he has a rich automotive history ... he designed the 'Munsters' Koach, the truck for "The Beverly Hillbillies" and the modified Dodge Charger for "Thunder Alley."

The Batmobile sold at auction in 2013 for $4.62 million.

Barris died early Thursday. We're told he'd been battling a brain tumor. He was just shy of 90.

RIP