TV

A former "Dr. Phil" producer broke into a database and stole footage all in an attempt to smear and extort money from Dr. Phil ... so says his production company in a new lawsuit.

Peteski Productions -- which produces "Dr. Phil" -- is suing Leah Rothman for stealing a video shot on board a private plane back in 2014 ... and the company says she specifically targeted a portion of the footage.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, the company argues Rothman accessed a database without authorization a year later ... and recorded a 9-second clip of Dr. Phil speaking to producers on her iPhone. The suit gives no specifics about what's in the footage.

According to the suit, Rothman "copied and recorded only 9 seconds out of thousands of hours of Dr. Phil Show footage." She stopped working for the show in April 2015.

Rothman and Dr. Phil have history -- she sued Dr. Phil in 2016 claiming he locked producers into a room in a profanity-laced meeting to figure out who was leaking stories to the media. It's unclear if this suit is related to Rothman's.

The company's suing for unspecified damages.

For Simon Cowell, the devastating London tower fire struck too close to home, and it's motivated him to to do something to help the victims.

The music mogul announced he will produce a track that "will raise some money for the many people affected by this tragedy." Cowell said he was heartbroken when the Grenfell Tower was engulfed in flames ... killing at least 30 people.

The tower is just a few miles from where Simon lives, and he says he's now working the phones to line up talent to write and record the song. He'll have no lack of potential artists to choose from with Fifth Harmony, Little Mix and Louis Tomlinson all signed to his Syco label. Not to mention all his contacts from 'Idol,' 'AGT' and "Britain's Got Talent."

Simon said of the project, "I'm not going to sit here and do nothing -- for me in my position to not do something would be appalling."

Adam West was honored in L.A. Thursday night with the iconic symbol he helped popularize on TV ... the bat signal.

The gigantic 70 ft by 20 ft emblem was projected on the side of city hall for several hours. "Batman" fans flocked to the area to watch Mayor Eric Garcetti send up the signal. Burt Ward, who played Robin in the TV series, was there to share a few words about his partner in crime.

West passed away Friday after battling leukemia.

He was 88.

"Infowars" host Alex Jones says he knew Megyn Kelly was going to screw him over ... so he's releasing his own behind-the-scenes footage from their interview before NBC airs the piece.

Jones says he suspected Kelly would misrepresent him in the TV special, and feels the promos for the controversial interview prove he was right. Turns out he recorded his convos with Kelly ... some before the interview even began ... to have his side of the story documented.

He's been asking NBC to cancel the segment -- scheduled to air Sunday -- because he thinks it's unfairly edited. He says the network refused, and that's why he's beating them to the punch.

It's unclear if Kelly knew she was being recorded by Jones. We've reached out to NBC News.

Rob Dew, a news director for Infowars, doubled down on Jones' promise to release the footage, which they say will include the full, unedited interview.

Now that Corinne Olympios appears headed for a legal showdown with producers of "Bachelor in Paradise" ... the contract she signed becomes extrememly relevant, and problematic.

The contract contestants sign, obtained by TMZ, says in part all contestants waive their right to sue producers over claims of "negligence, personal injury (including without limitation, any injuries arising out of the transmission of a sexually transmitted disease or unwelcome/unlawful contact or other interaction among participants)."

The short of it ... even if she was in a blackout state when she was engaged in sexual activity with DeMario Jackson, the producers would not be responsible. There's a catch ... courts have made it clear in situations involving similar contracts, if the producers were reckless that clause would not be enforceable. And it would seem watching someone incapable of giving consent to sexual activity and allowing it to happen ... is reckless.

And still another catch ... as we reported, people who have seen the video tell us Corinne seems lucid and engaged during the entire swimming pool episode.

The friend who was driving "America's Got Talent" contestant Dr. Brandon Rogers early Saturday ... nodded off before he veered off the road into a tree ... TMZ has learned.

According to the crash report ... the driver told Maryland State Police he was tired and fell asleep. He drifted onto the right shoulder, went off road and struck the tree. The driver told cops he'd recently finished a long shift at work.

We broke the story ... Brandon was riding in the front passenger seat. The driver and another friend, riding in the backseat, survived ... Brandon died from his injuries Sunday in a hospital.

Sources on the scene tell us the driver pulled both passengers out of the car. As we reported ... cops don't think drugs and alcohol played a role.

You didn't really think NeNe Leakes was going to let Kim Zolciak hog the spotlight -- she's finally signed on for Season 10 of 'RHOA.'

Sources connected to production tell us NeNe signed on the dotted line Wednesday, ending months of negotiations to bring her and Kim back for the show's 10th anniversary. Kim struck her deal back in April, but NeNe's been holding out.

There's a twist though ... NeNe will only be a part-time cast member. We're told she passed on a full-time gig because she has too many other balls in the air right now such as her clothing line.

Some of the other women on the show have already started shooting the next season, but NeNe's yet to appear.

As you'd expect, NeNe's being totally modest about her new deal, saying ... "All hail the queen for season 10."

Actor Corey Sligh has been indicted by a federal grand jury on 2 felony counts of child molestation ... TMZ has learned.

The grand jury handed down the indictment against the former extra on "The Young and the Restless." His arraignment will be held next month.

In docs obtained by TMZ, Corey allegedly made the victim "touch his penis with her hand and himself touch her ... with intent to arouse, satisfy the sexual desires of the accused."

We broke the story ... Corey was arrested and booked for child molestation in his home state of Georgia back in November 2016. We were told the alleged victim was a girl who was under 10 at the time.

If convicted, the offense carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Colton Haynes had some folks confused about his virginity story ... but he cleared it up for us once and for all.

We got the "Teen Wolf" and "Arrow" star with his fiance, Jeff Leatham, at LAX -- and immediately asked for some clarity on the coming-of-age tale that he shared with Andy Cohen on his radio show Monday.

Colton described punching his V-card at 13 ... to both a guy and a girl. Naturally, Andy and most people thought threesome -- but that's not so ... according to Colton.

He shed some more light on the encounter(s). Read between the lines here, and it will all make sense.

Don Lemon is torn over Megyn Kelly's controversial interview with radio host Alex Jones -- but ultimately seems to think he's not worth the airtime.

We got the CNN anchor at LAX and asked what he thought about the backlash against Megyn for interviewing the Infowars host ... who's theorized the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax.

Some parents of victims are blasting Megyn, and lobbying NBC to yank the interview. Don, at first, had Megyn's back ... saying sometimes journalists have to go to "dark places."

On a personal level though ... Don dismisses Jones as a total phony who doesn't deserve a platform.

Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost are NOT a one-off -- she and the 'SNL'er had another night out on the town.

They reportedly hit Manhattan's Upper East Side Saturday night for dinner and drinks at East Pole. They were seen holding hands through the meal ... according to the NY Post.

Colin and Scarlett were first seen together last month after she made a guest appearance on 'SNL's' season finale. They were reportedly hanging all over each other and making out at the cast after-party that night.

By all accounts the dinner was much more chill, but had the look of a more serious date.

Scarlett's in the middle of divorcing Romain Dauriac.

Props to Colin -- no better time to put a rebound on your stat line.

Corinne Olympios was so wasted several hours after she and DeMario Jackson hooked up, she could hardly stand.

Witnesses at the Mexican resort tell us 2 hours after her sexual encounter with DeMario ... she was stumbling drunk, eyes closed, slurring badly and wearing her clothes inside out. As one source put it, "she was on a whole other level."

TMZ broke the story, a week ago Sunday Corinne and DeMario were naked in the pool, "rubbing, touching and fingering" and engaging in oral sex.

As we reported, Corinne insists she was so wasted she was incapable of giving consent, and blames producers for not calling a halt to the escapade. She says she has no recollection of events in the pool.

People who have seen footage of the encounter tell TMZ it's apparent she was lucid the entire time.

We know DeMario says when they went to the pool, Corinne was drunk but still lucid.

Connecting the dots ... it's possible Corinne was drunk but still with it at the pool, but as she continued drinking entered a blackout stage and forgot most of what happened from the time she began drinking.

Ronda Rousey busted her ass this weekend -- pounding the sand at the dunes in Malibu in a crazy workout session.

Question is ... is this comeback training or is she just staying in shape?

Ronda is currently taping "Battle of the Network Stars" (she's one of the team leaders) and part of her job is navigating the obstacle course. We saw her run the course last week -- she looked pretty good.

But now, with the UFC legend running the insanely challenging dunes at Malibu ... ya gotta wonder if there's even the slightest chance she's trying to get back into fighting shape.

"Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles" star Madison Hildebrand had an interesting showing at his own house this week ... a guy walking around naked showing his junk, and it was caught on surveillance video.

The guy made his way into Madison's Weho home, stripped ... then grabbed some Q-tips to clean his ears. He also helped himself to a shower.

The naked dude tripped the security system on the way in, and after getting an alert there was "motion" in his house Madison called police. The guy gave cops a run for their money by hiding in the attic.

The L.A. County DA has charged the naked man with burglary ... he pled not guilty.

We caught Hildebrand out in Hollywood Friday and he said he has a solution ... a gun.

Adam West -- star of TV's "Batman" -- has died after a short battle with leukemia.

The actor played Batman/Bruce Wayne in the campy 1960's television series and years later landed a recurring role on "Family Guy" as the voice of the mayor of Quahog.

The TV version of "Batman" ran on ABC from 1966 - 68 and was an enormous, campy hit and remains an iconic version of the famed Caped Crusader.

Wayne was always on the receiving end of hilarious lines delivered by co-star Burt Ward, aka Robin ... "Holy atomic pile," "Holy barracuda," "Holy Benedict Arnold," "Holy popcorn," and "Holy shrinkage!"

West died Friday night at his home in Los Angeles. The family released a statement, saying ... "Our dad always saw himself as The Bright Knight, and aspired to make a positive impact on his fans’ lives. He was and always will be our hero.”

Fellow Batman actor, Ben Affleck, echoed the sentiment in a tweet ... "Adam West exemplified heroism. Kind, funny and an all around great guy. Thank you for showing us all how it's done."

He was 88.

RIP

Kevin Dillon has settled his divorce case, and no one even knew he was getting divorced.

Jane Stuart filed a divorce petition last July ... asking a judge to end her 10-year marriage to Kevin, but the docs got buried in the system.

Turns out they had a big issue ... she claimed they separated May 29, 2016, but the "Entourage" star fired back the date of separation was October 2008. It's hugely significant, because once they separated all future "Entourage" money was his, and his alone.

She also said Kevin kept her in the dark on finances from day 1 of the marriage, and she also claimed he under-reported his earnings to the court to keep his support payments low. She believed he made more than $16 million for "Entourage."

As with most of these cases ... it settled before going to trial. Last month Kevin agreed to pay Jane $3,174 a month in child support for their 11-year-old daughter, and she gets $7,214 in monthly spousal support.