TV

While 50 Cent's steadily building a TV empire, he's still pulling in big numbers on the music front ... and his "Power Book IV: Force" lead, Joseph Sikora, is happily attesting to that!!!

We got Joseph out at LAX this week and he totally wasn't surprised 50 was one of the biggest performing rappers of 2023 ... despite not releasing much music -- just one single to promote "Power."

50 ranked in the top 10 YouTube views for rappers last year -- a feat that prompted the G-Unit rapper to tease the younger, more active generation ... but Joseph says 50 has earned his legend status in the game and his music is timeless.

Fif's monster debut album "Get Rich Or Die Tryin'" just hit a Billboard milestone with 150 weeks on the chart and turns 20 next month.

Anniversary concerts will surely follow for this RIAA Diamond certified artist, but Joseph tells us his favorite executive producer is still cooking in the studio!!!

Joseph says the "Power" honcho will randomly round up anyone who's hanging in the G-Unit offices to hear snippets of the music, which 50 says he's releasing sometime this year.

Shannon Sharpe made his return to the "Undisputed" set after missing Tuesday's episode over co-host Skip Bayless' controversial tweet about Damar Hamlin's medical emergency ... and it only took a whopping 40 seconds before an argument broke out.

Shannon kickstarted Wednesday's show by addressing Hamlin's situation in his opening monologue ... saying, "Watching that game on Monday night, what happened to Damar Hamlin struck me a little different."

Sharpe explained he's witnessed his NFL brothers suffer serious injuries throughout his career ... but added that seeing someone have to be revived on the field was a completely different experience.

Shannon then addressed Bayless' tweet head-on ... which, according to Skip, wasn't supposed to happen.

"Skip tweeted something and although I disagree with the tweet -- and hopefully, Skip will take it down."

Bayless immediately interrupted his co-host ... saying, "Time out -- I'm not going to take it down because I stand by what I tweeted."

Sharpe was clearly pissed with Skip interjecting ... replying, "I cannot even get through a monologue without you interrupting."

The Hall of Famer then explained his reason for missing Tuesday's show ... saying the discussion should be about Hamlin, not Skip's tweet.

"I didn't want yesterday to get into a situation where Damar Hamlin was the issue. We should have been talking about him, and not get into your tweet. That's what I was gonna do. But you can't even let me finish my opening monologue without you interrupting."

Skip says he was under the impression his tweet was not going to be discussed on the show ... claiming producers did not have an issue with what he said.

Sounds like TLC's Chilli will have a partner when she goes chasin' waterfalls  ... because we're told she's officially dating "Boy Meets World" star Matthew Lawrence!

A rep for Chilli tells TMZ ... she and Matthew are in an exclusive relationship, moving past the friend phase just before Thanksgiving.

We're told the 2 spent turkey day and Christmas together in ATL, where Matthew met Chilli's fam.

ICYMI, the couple went Instagram official a couple of days ago ... dancin' to "Take On Me" while wearing matching pajamas -- total relationship goals!

As we reported, the 2 were spotted on a Waikiki beach in August ... getting in the water together and sharing some intense convos, according to beachgoers.

Despite signs pointing to a love connection, we were told at the time they weren't dating -- TLC had a show on the island, and Matthew and his pals simply came to watch ... linking up later.

American TV personality and author Aviva Drescher was 42 years old when she made her debut on Bravo's reality series "The Real Housewives of New York City" back in 2012.

Joining Aviva in the dramatic series included Ramona Singer as the turtle time wrangler with 'crazy eyes,' Luann de Lesseps as the countess and former model, Sonja Morgan as the outgoing recent divorcee and Carole Radziwill who gave Aviva a run for her money when it came to writing books.

During the season 6 finale, Aviva iconically threw her prosthetic leg onto the floor at a social event.

T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach were 2 happy campers the day before he took the first legal step to end his marriage ... smiling and enjoying each other's company during their romantic escape to Miami.

Amy couldn't stop smirking while the lovebirds/'GMA3' anchors ran errands on a rainy Miami morning last Tuesday, and ya gotta imagine she knew T.J. was about to file his divorce petition.

As we reported ... T.J. filed divorce docs Wednesday after 12 years of marriage to his wife Marilee Fiebig. Meanwhile, Amy is said to be starting the process of divorcing her spouse, actor Andrew Shue.

The coworkers -- whose relationship leaked in late November while they were still married -- celebrated Christmas in Atlanta then went down to Miami to end the year with a bang ... metaphorically, we're sure.

T.J. and Amy are still off the air as ABC looks into their relationship and contracts to see if any policies were broken ... but they didn't look too stressed about it, making a grocery run before heading back to their rental pad.

Lamar Odom is adamant he didn't use illicit drugs the night he overdosed at a Nevada brothel ... claiming the owner wanted him dead and plied him with drugs ... he says just that on a Fox primetime special Monday at 9 PM where he also talks about doing Khloe Kardashian dirty.

Lamar says he doesn't know why Dennis Hof, the late owner of the Love Ranch South in Pahrump, Nevada, would want to kill him ... nor does he know how drugs wound up in his system when he OD'd and nearly died.

The way Lamar recalls his infamous trip in 2015 to the brothel ... he had one drink when he arrived and woke up 3 days later in a hospital with tubes coming out of his body, unable to speak or walk.

Lamar says in the show Khloe was the love of his life and has lots of regrets, and would like to spend some time with her again to make things right. He opens up in vivid detail about how their marriage collapsed.

Prince Harry is hoping to mend the deep rift with his family ... and now says he's pleading for harmony with them, even as he and Meghan Markle very publicly air their grievances with the royals.

Harry is opening up about the ongoing feud while promoting his upcoming memoir, "Spare" ... telling the UK's ITV he wants his father and brother back in his life, and saying he doesn't believe things had to go down the way they did.

Harry claims his family's been to blame for the big issues -- saying they continue to paint Meghan and him as the villains. He also claims King Charles and Prince William have given him zero sign they want to reconcile.

The Duke of Sussex also chatted with Anderson Cooper on "60 Minutes," saying he's tried to deal with internal issues privately -- but claims it would end up leaking regardless, making him look like the bad guy.

He's repeating his allegations Buckingham Palace fed info to media outlets behind the scenes, then played the "no comment" card publicly.

Judge Judy might not have been a fan of Justin Bieber in the past, but now she's singing his praises ... saying she couldn't be happier he's gotten his life on the right track.

We caught up with the famous judge in Bev Hills, and asked about her former neighbor JB, after she recently opened up about their tense relationship over the years ... which she chalks up to him being young and reckless.

Judy tells us, she hasn't spoken to the pop star recently but she's seen him and he looks better than ever ... and seeing him doing so well makes her really happy.

ICYMI, JJ recently put the pop star on blast for his behavior back in the day ... saying Justin was once "scared to death" of her after she called him out, following his DUI bust in 2014.

She told "Access Hollywood" ... "There was a period of time before he grew up, when he was foolish and doing foolish things."

But, now that's all water under the bridge and she seems really impressed with his maturity.

Nick Cannon has words for anyone who thinks he's had too many kids ... "My body, My choice!"

Nick appeared on CNN's NYE show and the ever-inquisitive Andy Cohen asked him if he'd consider getting a vasectomy. Nick's response was essentially ... not anyone's biz but mine.

Andy pressed the father of 12 ... "Do you want to hit 20?"

Nick was honest, even if the answer wasn't especially satisfying ... "Clearly, I don't have a plan. That should've been clear from the jump."

As we reported, Nick welcomed baby #12 last month. Another great name -- Halo, the little girl he had with Alyssa Scott.

A month before that, Nick welcomed another baby girl, Beautiful Zeppelin with Abby De La Rosa. And in September, he welcomed son Rise Messiah with Brittany Bell.

Two weeks before Rise was born, Nick welcomed daughter Onyx Ice with LaNisha Cole, a 'Price is Right' model.

And in June, he and Bre Tiesi welcomed their first child together, Legendary.

"Supernatural" star Jim Beaver apparently wants to move back in with his estranged wife, but there's a problem ... she says he wants to bring his adult daughter with him and it's a recipe for disaster.

The TV actor's estranged wife, actress and singer Sarah Spiegel, says she's been living in the couple's Studio City home during the divorce ... but in new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Sarah claims Jim recently told her he's moving back and plans to bring his 21-year-old daughter Madeline in tow ... and now Sarah wants a court to step in and stop it.

The reason ... Sarah claims Madeline's had beef with her for years ... ever since Madeline returned home from college back in 2019 to find Sarah had cleaned out her room, triggering what she says was a temper tantrum.

Sarah says Madeline seemed "totally unhinged" ... screaming and pounding her fists against the wall ... and ever since, Sarah claims she's been afraid Madeline might physically harm her.

In the docs, Sarah says Jim even rented an apartment for his daughter during the pandemic, rather than have them all live under the same roof in 2020 when Madeline's college shifted away from in-person learning.

Sarah says she eventually tried to give Madeline another chance after college graduation, but says it was a mistake to think they could all live under one roof. Sarah claims when Madeline came home after finishing school at the end of 2021, she would start screaming at her out of nowhere, slamming doors, throwing tantrums and threatening suicide.

TMZ broke the story ... Jim filed for divorce August 25, listing August 14 as the date of separation. Sarah says Jim left the home August 11 and she's been living there alone ever since.

Sarah claims Jim recently told her he and Madeline would be moving back in ... so she beelined it to court this month and filed for a temporary restraining order against Jim's daughter, asking the judge to block Madeline from moving back in.

In the docs, Sarah says she's afraid of what Madeline might do if she moves back in ... and she wants the court to step in and protect her from what she thinks will be "unwarranted abusive behavior" by Madeline.

Henry Winkler tells TMZ Sports he and Patrick Mahomes do, indeed, have a genuine bromance going on ... and he said it's blossomed so much in the past few weeks -- they're actually going to do dinner soon!!!

The Fonz broke down the improbable friendship for us out at Il Pastaio recently ... explaining the whole thing actually started when he praised the Chiefs star during an interview on "The Rich Eisen Show" some six months ago.

Winkler called Mahomes one of his "heroes" ... and gushed over the QB's talent. A few months later, the 27-year-old signal-caller heard the kind words -- and invited him out to the Chiefs vs. Chargers game in LA.

Winkler ended up coming -- and the two shared an amazing moment in the pregame at SoFi Stadium. And, the 77-year-old acting legend tells us they've remained tight ever since.

In fact, Winkler not only said he's planning on hosting Mahomes for a chicken-stuffed-with-ricotta dinner night -- he told us he actually got a gift for the quarterback's newborn baby boy too!!

As for when the dinner date will go down ... Winkler said it'll have to be at least sometime next month -- because, "I'm going to let him play in the Super Bowl and win first."

90 Day Fiancé star Biniyam Shibre hopes Dana White is listening ... the TV star and amateur fighter tells TMZ Sports he wants to turn pro -- and the UFC is his dream!

"It's not about money. It's not about my dream. It's my goal. I love this sport. I wanna do it," Biniyam said when we asked if he wanted to fight professionally.

For the time being, 32-year-old Biniyam -- who with his partner Ariela Weinberg, starred on the reality show -- is an amateur fighter with a 4-0 record. None of Shibre's fights have gotten out of the 2nd round.

In fact, he ended his last fight with Jorge Masvidal-type quickness ... knocking out his opponent with a perfectly placed kick just 6 seconds into the scrap.

Shibre says the ultimate goal is Dana White's promotion, telling us ... "UFC is very interesting to me. I'm not a UFC fighter, but every time I wear a UFC T-shirt, because it'd be a dream come true."

Bini says people ask him if he's a UFC fighter ... to which he responds, "I'm not, but I'm trying. It's my dream."

We also talked to the 90 Day Fiancé star about exposing the sport to his home country of Ethiopia ... where Bini believes there's a bunch of undiscovered talent.

Of course, some of the best fighters in the world -- like Francis Ngannou, Israel Adesanya and Kamaru Usman -- come from Africa.

Catherine Hicks is shutting down any notion of a "7th Heaven" reunion, reboot or remake ... saying far too much has changed, and it just wouldn't be the same. Unless ...

We'll get to her one caveat, but when we caught up with Catherine in Bev Hills, we raised the issue of a possible second coming for her hit family drama.

She pretty quickly shot down any hope of it happening ... pointing to the fact the kids from the show have all grown up. She also made it clear she doesn't act anymore. Instead, she's focusing on being a mom in real life, not just one on screen.

As for her on-screen hubby, Stephen Collins, he'd definitely be out because he's "gone" ... as Catherine very gently put it.

Remember, TMZ got audio back in 2014 of Collins confessing to his then-wife Faye Grant he molested and/or exposed himself to 3 girls between the ages of 11 and 13. He ended up not being prosecuted due to the statute of limitations ... but his marriage went up in flames, and he fled Hollywood.

The last time we talked to Catherine, she talked about forgiveness and being open to the idea of a reunion with the disgraced actor -- but, now it sounds like all those ships have sailed for her.

Ryan Seacrest will be sober as a bat when the clock strikes midnight later this evening -- a rule he's imposing on himself amid CNN's widely-reported alcohol ban for their NYE hosts.

We ran into the 'AI' alum Saturday on the streets of NYC -- this as he was getting ready to go through the marathon that is his annual gig with ABC ... namely, emceeing "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" and helping Disney ring in 2023, which he's done for a while now.

Of course ... we had to ask the guy about his drinking regimen for the night, especially after he publicly sided with CNN brass this week about limiting the network's on-air boozing.

In light of that, Ryan tells us he won't be imbibing heavily while working. In fact, he says he's gonna save the good stuff 'til well after 12:00 AM, presumably when he's off camera. It's interesting he says that ... it would seem Ryan firmly believes in keeping things professional.

It's a bit ambiguous whether that's a shot at Anderson Cooper/Andy Cohen and the rest of the CNN team -- who have a rep for downing shots during their broadcast -- but when we asked RS if there was any shade ... he suggested it was all love for everyone in his position.

While Ryan will be steering clear of booze through most of tonight, all eyes will be on CNN to see if they follow the orders they've been given ... or if they cut loose like years past.

Barbara Walters -- one of the biggest and most recognizable news anchors in the world -- has died.

We're told she died at her home, surrounded by loved ones. Barbara had been in declining health for several years.

The legendary ABC broadcaster passed away Friday in New York City. Barbara had receded from public view the past several years, opting to live a private life. She hadn't been seen out and about since at least 2016.

Barbara's 60-plus-year career was in part catapulted by her coverage of President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963. She came on-air to report on the story alongside anchor Hugh Downs, giving a man-on-the-street perspective from New York City.

Of course, she went on to become one of the longest-serving journalists in the game -- first working for NBC's "Today" show as a writer and researcher, and working her way up in the network through the '60s and early '70s, eventually becoming their first female cohost.

In 1976, Barbara jumped over to ABC ... landing a job on their "Evening News" program. She was the first woman to anchor a network news show, but her cohost was not having it and it made success almost impossible. Not long after, she became a fixture and regular contributor and the eventual host of the network's "20/20" newsmagazine program and appeared on the show for decades.

Some of her biggest interviews were featured on "20/20," as well as other shows, which included notable face-to-face convos with folks like Katharine Hepburn, Fidel Castro, Monica Lewinsky, Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayze, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Oprah, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, China's ex-secretary of the Communist Party, Jiang Zemin, Vladimir Putin, John Wayne, Mike Tyson, Barbra Streisand, Lucille Ball, Muhammad Ali, Fred Astaire, Henry Kissinger, Ringo Starr, Walter Cronkite, Willie Nelson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christopher Reeve, Hugo Chavez, Tom Cruise, Anna Wintour, Justin Bieber, Syrian Prez Bashar al-Assad and every single American President. The list goes on and on and on.

If you can think of a famous person, Barbara probably interviewed them, plain and simple.

Her achievements go well beyond just that though -- Walters also co-created and cohosted ABC's popular daytime talk show, "The View," which became one of her main focuses professionally after semi-retiring from hosting "20/20" in 2004. She stayed on "The View" through mid-May 2014, and continued to make guest appearances after her official send-off.

Barbara's final on-air interview was with Donald Trump for ABC News in 2015. Her last public appearance was reportedly in 2016 -- she hadn't been seen much since then. The last time we got her on camera was in 2014 when she graciously signed autographs.

She'd been married four times and had dated some very high-profile people, including notorious McCarthy-era attorney Roy Cohn, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, U.S. Senator John Warner, Senator Edward Brooke, Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Neil Butler.

She had one daughter with Lee Guber, Jacqueline Dena Guber.

Barbara was a staple in pop culture too -- often portrayed on 'SNL' by several different cast members over the years. She also once spoofed herself by appearing on 'Weekend Update.'

She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1989 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in '07. Barbara has won countless Daytime and Primetime Emmy Awards over the course of her career, as well as many other lifetime achievement accolades.

Barbara's publicist, Cindi Berger, tells TMZ ... "She lived her life with no regrets. She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists but for all women."

Barbara Walters was 93.

Leslie Jordan fans are eager to get their hands on the place he was just about to call home ... hoping to buy the new condo he purchased right before he died.

The condo was listed a few weeks ago, and fans have been flocking to the property ... so says Eric Ronjoy, the listing agent. He says some fans are even reaching out just to tour!

We're told some folks inquiring about the pad are self-proclaimed Leslie Jordan fans ... who feel a connection to the property since he bought it right before he passed and would have been the first property he ever owned.

Eric tells us ... out of 30 groups who have recently toured, half are lookie-loos who just wanted to see where Leslie was planning to live. Others are people interested in purchasing. One potential buyer even toyed with the idea of turning the condo into a Leslie Jordan memorial.

Some of you might remember the heartwarming video he posted back in August ... and he was over the moon about his new home.

TMZ broke the story ... Leslie died in October after suffering a medical emergency ... crashing his BMW into the side of a building.

In addition to the Leslie Jordan hook, the 2-bedroom pad has a lot of cool amenities ... including a rooftop pool, tennis court, gym and a balcony.

Before he died, Ronjoy says LJ ordered around $500K worth of new furniture. Fortunately, the purchases were canceled after he passed.

So far, no one has made an offer ... but with all the interest, it should only be a matter of time.