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Harvey Weinstein's health is failing ... with the disgraced movie producer rapidly gaining weight and suffering from severe tongue inflammation in New York City's notorious Rikers Island prison.

Juda Engelmayer -- a rep for Weinstein -- tells TMZ ... Harvey's health is "rapidly deteriorating in custody," exacerbated by the terrible conditions at Rikers.

We're told Weinstein has gained more than 25 pounds since being transferred back from Bellevue Hospital several months ago ... 19 of those pounds in the last month alone.

Things are getting weird and intense in the Wendy Williams guardianship war ... multiple sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ, during a hearing this week, the judge told Wendy, she has no hope of restarting her career.

It's pretty outrageous ... Wendy showed up in court Thursday and appeared before Judge Lisa Sokoloff. Our sources tell TMZ, the judge railed on Wendy's niece, Alex Finnie, accusing her of leaking information to the media and threatening her with sanctions for future conduct.

The judge wasn't finished. We're told she attacked Wendy's family, essentially saying they were no good.

Cooper Koch, who played Erik Menendez in a Netflix series about the infamous Menendez murders, is showing support for the Menendez Brothers ... because he's in the house for a court hearing for their resentencing petition.

The "Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story" star was spotted Friday on his way into a courthouse in Van Nuys, in L.A. ... walking in arm-in-arm with his boyfriend.

At one point, Cooper -- wearing shades and a gray sweater -- stopped to talk to Erik's wife, Tammi Menendez, and Erik's adopted daughter, Talia Menendez.

Wendy Williams is being forced to choose her friends very carefully ... at least if she wants to be allowed to leave her assisted living facility.

Wendy was all smiles Thursday night in NYC, as she was granted permission to go out to dinner with her niece Alex Finnie, Don Lemon, and his husband Tim Malone. The foursome hit up Italian eatery Il Cantinori in Greenwich village, and it's no wonder Wendy looked so happy -- because just 24 hours earlier, the guardianship refused to let her leave the facility.

TMZ broke the story ... Wendy was less than an hour from a Wednesday night dinner reservation when her guardian blocked her from leaving. While Wendy wasn't told why she couldn't go, it's looking clearer now.

On Wednesday, she was going out to eat with her niece ... and also powerhouse attorney Joe Tacopina -- he's now Wendy's personal lawyer, and intends to push hard to end the guardianship.

Soulja Boy will have to break open a few of his penny banks ... a jury just found him liable in the sexual assault lawsuit filed by his ex-personal assistant!!!

A judge read the verdict on Thursday in a Los Angeles courtroom, and spelled out that the "Crank Dat" rapper would be responsible for coughing up the dough for millions of dollars in damages ... and the jury is still considering punitive damages.

The rap star was found liable for assault, sexual battery, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The tables have turned -- years after "Black-ish" creator Kenya Barris filed a restraining order against his own sister ... she has filed her own against him.

Colette Barris filed new legal docs through her attorney, Ariel Mitchell, in Los Angeles on Tuesday ... asking a judge to block Kenya from directly or indirectly contacting their 83-year-old mother, Ernestine Barris, about the ongoing legal issue between the siblings.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Colette claims Kenya is attempting to influence Ernestine to testify falsely against her in court, and is "manipulating and intimidating" her over her "refusal to provide false testimony" and desire to remain neutral in the dispute between her son and daughter.

8:19 AM PT -- Andrew Tate's attorney Joseph McBride tells TMZ ... "NEVER HAPPENED. These allegations are great content for a scene in Gangs of London, but are otherwise pure fiction when applied to real life."

The legalities keep stacking up against Andrew Tate -- four women in the UK are suing him now, and one claims he pointed a gun right at her face.

The women claim in legal docs Tate assaulted, raped, and controlled them between 2013 and 2015 in the British towns of Luton and Hitchin -- according to multiple reports from the BBC, The Independent, and The Telegraph.

Two of the women allege they dated Tate in 2013 and 2014, and the other two say they worked for his webcam biz -- with 3 of them reportedly going to cops years ago before officials apparently dropped the case in 2019, per The Independent.

Mario Edgardo Garcia Aquino -- the man who the L.A. County D.A. alleges killed 13-year-old Oscar Omar Hernandez -- deserves the death penalty, one U.S congressman says ... and, he blames California Governor Gavin Newsom for making that impossible.

We spoke with U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) Wednesday about this case ... and, he tells us the moratorium on the death penalty instituted by Gov. Newsom in 2019 has had disastrous consequences.

Among them, Kiley says, the people of California voted to keep the death penalty legal ... and, the governor stepped in to override the rule, making criminals less afraid of committing major crimes. California Proposition 62 -- which would've repealed the death penalty -- failed back in 2016.

So much for Wendy Williams' guardian insisting Wendy is allowed to leave the confines of her assisted living facility to visit with family, because the guardian just torpedoed a night out with Wendy's niece ... according to sources with direct knowledge.

Wendy planned a night out with her niece, Alex Finnie and her new personal lawyer, famed attorney Joe Tacopina. They were going to have dinner at a New York City restaurant ... that is, until Wendy's guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, put the kibosh on Wendy leaving the 5th floor of the facility, which Wendy calls "a luxury prison."

Interesting ... since the lawyer for Morrissey recently sent TMZ a letter, insisting Wendy was not being kept from her family and she could see them whenever she wanted. Well, it seems clear that's not the case.

Bryan Kohberger's autism diagnosis may come up at his murder trial, but the state won't argue it elevated his alleged crimes to an even more severe level ... because a judge just ruled they can't.

Kohberger appeared in court Wednesday, and the conversation turned to his recent diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder ... which the judge made clear should not be used by the state of Idaho during the sentencing phase -- if he's found guilty -- as an "aggravating factor." BK's attorney argued the diagnosis should keep him from being sentenced to death.

An "aggravating factor" is a factor in the case which makes the crime even more heinous ... such as premeditation, committing the act in front of a child, or showing a lack of remorse, for example. So the judge is basically granting the defense's request.

11:15 AM PT -- Marieangela King tells TMZ ... "We had a beautiful 13-year journey, filled with memories I’ll always cherish. I know we’ll remain friends, and Elijah will always hold a special place in my heart. As we turn the page to this next chapter, we kindly ask for privacy and truly appreciate your understanding."

Elijah Blue Allman's wife has filed for divorce again ... a little more than a year after claiming Allman's mother, Cher, once orchestrated a kidnapping of him.

Marieangela King Allman filed for divorce Tuesday, citing the boilerplate irreconcilable differences.

She lists the date of separation as March 31 ... a little more than 12 years after the two married in December 2013.

Liam Payne's friend Roger Nores -- who was with the One Direction singer in his final chaotic days in Buenos Aires -- is taking legal steps to drop a lawsuit he filed against Liam's dad.

Roger beelined it to court Wednesday and filed new legal docs to dismiss his defamation lawsuit against Geoff Payne.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Roger says he wants to dismiss the suit without prejudice ... meaning it could be refiled in the future.

8:55 AM PT -- A spokesperson for The New York Times tells TMZ ... "Our comprehensive investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment and abuse against Mr. Weinstein was rigorously reported over many months and based on on-the-record interviews, legal settlements paid to accusers and other documents. None of the facts in our coverage are in dispute. Mr. Weinstein acknowledged his misconduct in a statement that was published in full in The Times. He's since been criminally convicted of rape and sexual assault."

Harvey Weinstein is inserting himself into the Justin Baldoni-Blake Lively legal battle ... and blasting the New York Times for allegedly doing the same thing to him that the paper of record did to Baldoni.

The jailed Hollywood producer issued a scathing statement to TMZ about the NYT's role in the bitter legal fight between Justin and Blake over their 2024 movie, "It Ends with Us."

As you know, Blake and Justin starred in the film and Justin directed it, but it ended with both filing lawsuits against each other -- Blake accused Justin of sexual harassment and smearing her name ... Justin accused Blake and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of waging their own smear campaign to destroy his reputation.

Sada Baby is going into the mug shot hall of fame ... after striking this epic expression while being booked in jail on a felony drug charge.

The Detroit rapper posed for his mug shot during his booking process this week at the Macomb County Jail in Michigan, where he's being held on a drug charge stemming from a traffic stop ... according to FOX2 Detroit.

Sada Baby was pulled over in January for allegedly driving with tinted windows and an outstanding warrant. Cops say they searched his car and found "possible illegal contraband."

Hip Hop music industry legend Kevin Liles is preparing to try and dismiss a sexual assault lawsuit against him.

Kevin filed new legal docs Tuesday asking for permission to file a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed earlier this year by a woman who claimed he raped her way back in 2002 while he was an executive at Def Jam Recordings.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Kevin claims he will argue to dismiss the case on the grounds that the woman waited too long to file her claims and the statute of limitations on her claims has run.

4:38 PM PT -- Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman tells TMZ ... "In denying parole for Sirhan Sirhan ... Governor Newsom took into account his young age at the time of the crime (24), his lack of any prior arrests or convictions, his difficult upbringing in the war-torn Middle East, his success in getting college degrees and engaging in rehabilitation in prison, his risk score which was the lowest on the scale, his age (77 years old), his diminished health, and the amount of time in prison (54 years).

He continues ... "Notwithstanding those factors, Governor Newsom stated that his lack of full insight into actions and taking complete responsibility for them overweighed the other facts to show that he remained an unreasonable risk of danger to society. Sirhan Sirhan never made up a self-defense defense, never suborned or attempted to suborn perjury, and never lied repeatedly at trial under oath."

He concludes ... "In contrast, while the Menendez brothers have many of the same positive characteristics of Sirhan Sirhan in favor of parole or resentencing, they have never accepted responsibility for lying about their self-defense defense and suborning and attempting to suborn perjury concerning their fabrications of stories of their father violently raping Lyle's girlfriend, their mother trying to poison the family, and their friend supposedly giving them a handgun the day before the murders. As a result, if Sirhan remains an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety, then so too do the Menendez brothers -- who have never come fully clean of their lies in over 30 years -- constitute an unreasonable risk of danger to the community."

Sirhan Sirhan's lawyer is calling out Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman ... saying the new D.A. is getting some bad information about RFK's alleged assassin.

Hochman's been trying to use the Sirhan case to keep the Menendez Brothers behind bars in their bid for freedom ... but Sirhan's attorney tells us Hochman is confused about some basic facts.

Angela Berry, who represents Sirhan, tells TMZ ... Hochman is pushing a common misperception about Sirhan when he says Sirhan admitted to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy and then later claimed his innocence, and she says Hochman is making an unfair comparison to Erik and Lyle.