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Cuba Gooding Jr. says he's turning to the Lord during this trying time for Diddy ... revealing he's praying for the fallen mogul as his federal trial creeps on.

We caught up with the actor at LAX Wednesday ... and, we asked him if he's been keeping up on the developments in Diddy's sex trafficking trial -- which he tells us are darn near impossible to avoid these days.

Cuba says he's keeping Diddy and his alleged victims -- pointing to Cassie Ventura and her family specifically -- in his prayers.

R. Kelly is scared out of his mind and desperately begging to be let out of prison, according to members of his legal team -- who say the singer broke down in tears during a recent phone call, as he fears for his life, and his health spirals behind bars ... TMZ has learned.

Nicole Blank Becker, one of Kelly’s attorneys, tells TMZ ... the 57-year-old is petrified to find himself back in prison after he was released from the hospital, and he's fretting about his health and safety. Kelly is currently locked up in the Special Housing Unit in a North Carolina prison.

"He’s emotional, and he cried intermittently on the phone call" on Monday, Becker tells us, adding, "Again, out of fear for his life."

Wendy Williams' ex-husband is taking legal action over her guardianship ... but she tells TMZ she has NOTHING to do with his lawsuit, and she feels it's a money grab.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Wendy and her ex-husband, Kevin Hunter, filed a federal lawsuit in New York to release her from the shackles of her guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, and claims the guardianship is not a shield to protect her, but a weapon used against her.

Thing is ... we talked to Wendy on the phone after the lawsuit was filed, and she told us she's not involved here in any way ... despite the docs showing Kevin trying to sue on her behalf.

Karen Read's acquittal turned the outside of the courthouse into pandemonium ... with her assembled supporters exploding into cheers -- and, Read herself even said a few words.

The Massachusetts woman -- who was just acquitted on second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of an accident causing injury or death -- walked out of the courthouse in Dedham, MA, with her lawyers and father to meet a crowd of chanting, cheering fans screaming for her.

Read started off by thanking her legal team for keeping her afloat over the last couple years during both of her trials.

The juror who got booted from the Diddy trial was NOT in awe of Diddy's celebrity or his rap empire ... we've learned the guy was indifferent about Diddy and is mostly into Spanish-language music, so there was no celeb wow factor for him.

A source close to Juror 6 tells TMZ ... the guy never wanted to be part of the high-profile trial, but he got a summons and ended up being picked for the jury.

We're told he's a quiet person who likes to get his work done without being hassled ... and he's not comfortable with all the media attention now that he's been kicked off the jury.

It's like right out of a Hitchcock movie, but not really ... the judge pulled the plug in the Diddy trial Wednesday after learning one of the jurors came down with vertigo.

We don't know the underlying condition of the juror in question, but the evidence was truly head-spinning this week, with jurors fixated on various freak-off videos.

Jurors put on their headphones Tuesday and watched around 10 minutes of the vids, featuring sex scenes between Diddy, Cassie, and male escorts. You could hear a pin drop in the courtroom, as the peanut gallery heard moans bleeding through the headphones.

R. Kelly should absolutely not be pardoned -- 'cause one of his alleged victims, Joycelyn Savage, has been missing for years and is still believed to be in his grip and under his control, her family’s attorney tells TMZ.

Gerald Griggs -- attorney for Joycelyn’s family -- tells TMZ they’re slamming Kelly’s push for a Trump pardon ... insisting the singer still has a grip on Joycelyn, who they haven’t heard from since a short phone call back in 2019.

Watch the video ... Joycelyn's family has only heard from individuals claiming to represent her -- though it's unclear in what capacity. ICYDK, Joycelyn is R. Kelly's one-time fiancée, who many say is a victim. Her family believes she’s alive, hopes she’s healthy, and says they’d love nothing more than to hear from her directly.

We've reached the home stretch in the Diddy criminal trial and on the 25th day of witness testimony, prosecutors tried to lay out for the jury how they say Diddy spent big to transport male prostitutes across the country for sex romps.

DeLeassa Penland, a special agent with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York -- the agency prosecuting the case against Diddy -- was back on the stand and she testified about a bunch of charges Diddy incurred flying sex workers across state lines.

The testimony mostly went towards the Mann Act and some of it to the RICO charge against Diddy.

3:30 PM PT -- The Family of Bryshere Gray tells TMZ ... "Bryshere and the family are still trying to understand everything from this past weekend. Bryshere appreciates all the well wishes as he resumes working on his mental health. Both Bryshere and Chosen (Dustin) are doing fine. Mr. Gray loves all his fans and supporters.

"Their friendship is equivalent to brothers & this was not a payment dispute. This was an issue concerning Bryshere’s safety and health. We kindly ask for privacy as we are all working to find peace and move on from this matter."

Former "Empire" star Bryshere Gray allegedly lunged at a man and punched him at a hotel last Friday before assault charges were filed ... this according to the criminal complaint obtained by TMZ.

The alleged assault went down in Chesapeake, Virginia ... where a man named Dustin Wilkins was trying to help the actor with a payment dispute at the Homewood Suites.

Wilkins says he told Gray he can't just skip out on the bill for his stay -- reasoning he has plenty of other issues to worry about and that he was simply trying to "save" his life -- which seemingly angered Gray. It's unclear if the two men know each other.

Diddy's defense team isn't backing away from the jury seeing the alleged "freak-off" videos  ... because Diddy's lawyers are now showing jurors even more footage from them.

The viewing went down Tuesday in Day 25 of Diddy's federal trial in Manhattan ... as defense attorney Teny Geragos was cross-examining a Department of Justice special agent.

Geragos cued up a few videos ... and jurors put on headphones and watched the freak-off footage on screens not viewable by lawyers, prosecutors, or those in the gallery.

R. Kelly is doubling down on his claim that his life is in grave danger in prison ... now alleging Bureau of Prisons staff at his federal center in North Carolina purposefully gave him too much medication -- causing an overdose that left him in the hospital.

A court filing submitted by his attorney, Beau B. Brindley, Monday claims R. Kelly was left bedridden in a hospital after a solitary confinement staff member instructed him to take additional medication the night of June 12.

The next morning, the Pied Piper allegedly awakened feeling faint and dizzy, and when he attempted to get up, he fell on the floor, "crawled to the door of the cell and lost consciousness."

Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial resumed Tuesday in NYC for the 25th day ... and a federal special agent testified about travel and hotel expenses involving alleged male escorts that Diddy paid for.

DeLeassa Penland, a special agent with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York -- the agency prosecuting the case against Diddy -- testified Diddy's American Express account was charged nearly $47,000 for damages at a single hotel in New York in one instance.

Penland told the jury Diddy, Cassie Ventura and Jules Theodore -- an alleged male escort -- stayed at the London Hotel on a particular date, which was paid for on Diddy's AmEx, as well as Virgin America plane tickets for Jules.

Luigi Mangione's celebrity status isn't going to his head inside his NYC prison -- according to his former prison mate, who says he's just a regular dude with a cleaning job!

Michael Daddea -- who reportedly spent two days in MDC Brooklyn for federal firearm charges before getting out on a $250,000 bail -- claims he met Luigi as soon as he entered the clink ... and they became fast pals.

Daddea said in a since-deleted social media post first reported by the New York Post that Luigi was a shower cleaner ... though he didn't spend too much time cleaning up, and would often peruse the New York papers to see if he made the news.

The jury in Diddy's trial got a spicy break from the usual testimony Monday with prosecutors playing portions of some alleged "freak-off" videos -- but for the jurors' eyes only.

The viewing went down during the afternoon session of day 24 in the trial ... as a federal prosecutor was questioning a Department of Justice special agent on the witness stand.

The prosecutor asked the special agent to verify a list of hotels where Diddy allegedly hosted his freak-offs with Cassie and male escorts. The agent went down the list, describing the hotels and the freak-off videos pertaining to the corresponding locations.

Prosecutors are getting closer to resting their case in Diddy's criminal trial and on the 24th day of witness testimony they finally showed jurors what they've been waiting for ... videos from the alleged freak-offs with Diddy and Cassie.

After some drama with the jury -- one juror was dismissed and another was on the hot seat after seemingly blabbing about the cases -- prosecutors showed members of the jury snippets of some sexual encounters between Diddy, Cassie and a hired male escort.

The jury had seen still images earlier in the trial, but prosecutors waited until they got towards the end of their case to break out the actual video footage ... presumably for dramatic effect.

New legal trouble for Bryshere Gray ... the former "Empire" star is facing a criminal charge in Virginia.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ ... Bryshere is charged with one misdemeanor count of assault and battery.

The docs show the alleged incident that led to the criminal charge happened on Friday ... Bryshere was arrested on Sunday and he's since bonded out of jail.