TMZ.com Home

Roe v. Wade is one of the landmark cases in American legal history and remains a lightning rod for the pro-abortion vs. pro-life debate today ... and some news about "Jane Roe" is a bombshell.

Norma McCorvey -- the famous plaintiff in the case -- makes the claim in an upcoming documentary, "AKA Jane Roe," that she never actually changed her mind in 1995 and was actually against abortion ... she said she was paid off.

According to the doc -- which premieres this Friday on FX -- McCorvey's decision to come out as pro-life in 1995 was a financial one ... because she claims she only did it after receiving money from anti-abortion groups, including Operation Rescue.

Norma was filmed in 2017 -- just months before she died -- and said of the pay-off ... "I was the big fish. I think it was a mutual thing. I took their money and they’d put me out in front of the cameras and tell me what to say." She added ... "It was all an act. I did it well too. I am a good actress."

In what she described as a deathbed confession, Norma revealed to the filmmakers she actually was still pro-choice, saying ... "If a young woman wants to have an abortion, that’s no skin off my ass. That’s why they call it choice."

Of course, McCorvey's reversal on abortion in the mid-90s was chalked up as a huge win for pro-life groups ... as it seemed Jane Roe had come over to their side.

Politicians like AOC have already weighed in. She says ... "Wow: Norma McCorvey (aka “Roe” of Roe v Wade) revealed on her deathbed that she was paid by right-wing operatives to flip her stance on reproductive rights. So, like many right-wing operations, it turns out a huge part of the anti-choice movement was a scam the entire time."

IT'S HAPPENING!!!

Tom Brady took the field for drills with his Buccaneers teammates for the first time (at least publicly) Tuesday ... and it's weird as hell seeing the guy in a bright orange uni!!

Check out a pic of the new TB QB during the workout -- which took place at Berkeley Preparatory School in Tampa, FL -- he was the only one in shoulder pads and an orange jersey.

Brady also rocked his new Bucs helmet during the sesh ... and according to the Tampa Bay Times -- the 7 AM ET workout featured around eight of the QB's new teammates.

The drills lasted for about two hours, the Times reported ... and concluded with some convos in the stands.

And, no, Brady and the Bucs didn't violate any NFL rules ... the league said in a statement to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero the workout is all good in their books.

Of course, that's a welcoming feeling for Tom -- remember, he was booted from a closed park for working out there just a few weeks ago!

Tom's been able to switch things up ... getting some runs in at his rented Tampa mansion -- but with Florida lifting stay-at-home orders recently, seems Tom's in the clear to throw with teammates now.

Joe Exotic's legal team is hours away from pulling up to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. with the goal of bending Donald Trump's ear for a pardon, and it turns out this isn't the first time Joe wanted to bend Trump's ear.

Turns out Joe was something of a Donald Trump fan back in 2016, despite the fact Joe himself was running for President. Joe attended a Trump campaign event just outside Oklahoma City and plunked down $1,000 to meet and greet DT.

Joe left the home where the shindig was going down to smoke a cig, and when he tried to go back in he says he was blocked by the Secret Service. He says they told him once anyone left they couldn't get back in, but our sources say Joe was acting "starstruck" and the agents were taken aback by him ... they say he was acting a little odd.

Joe seemed to think the reason he was not let back in was because when he showed his ID, the agents saw he had a concealed-carry permit.

So, under the heading -- if you don't succeed, try, try again -- Joe's legal team will be rolling up to The White House Tuesday to ask Trump for a pardon. As you know Joe was convicted of hiring a hitman to kill his archnemesis, Carole Baskin, along with animal-related crimes. Lots of people think Joe didn't get a fair shake at trial, and his legal team is making a full-court press to spring him from the big house.

Stay tuned ... it's gonna get interesting.

Tony Romo touchdown pass to ... LeBron James????

The King and his business partner say that damn-near happened way back in 2011 ... with Maverick Carter revealing Jerry Jones offered LBJ a contract with the Dallas Cowboys!!

Here's the deal ... LeBron said on an Uninterrupted podcast Monday he had such serious concerns about the NBA lockout in 2011, he actually began training for a pro-football career.

The Lakers superstar -- who was with the Miami Heat at the time -- says he changed up his whole workout routine in the event he would have to switch sports.

LeBron says he was dead serious about it all too ... claiming he added 40 times, more bench pressing and even sled pushing.

"The thoughts came into my mind," James said. "I had no idea how long the lockout was going to be.”

In fact, Carter chimed in and said things got so serious -- the Cowboys actually reached out with an offer!!

Fortunately for the NBA, the league got back to work, and LeBron never had the chance to switch sports ... instead, deciding to frame and hang Jerry's offer on the wall as opposed to signing it.

But, LeBron admits football is an itch he's sad he never scratched ... revealing he straight-up still dreams about the sport!

"It’s crazy because I actually never run on the field in my dreams," James said. "It always gets to the point where I’m either in the locker room or getting dressed or talking about or seeing the fans and as soon as I’m about to run on the field, something else happens in my dream. It’s like something that it always happens like that."

The NBA is still hoping to return to play this season amid the coronavirus pandemic, but, in the meantime, the Cowboys COULD still use another tight end ...

There's little more intense than watching a high-wire act, but when you add in a daring rescue all bets are off -- thankfully, monkeys are pretty good at this stuff.

This high drama played out in northern India when somehow a little primate found itself in a precarious situation ... stranded on some power lines too far from a rooftop to jump back to safety.

As the baby monkey struggled to hold on and cried for help, its mother got busy working on a rescue plan, and mustering up the courage to risk her own life.

After a couple tense minutes, and another anxious monkey from the pack coming over to watch, the mama finally made the leap -- but she had to abort the plan and reassess.

Her second attempt went much better, though ... and she quickly scooped the babe up in her arms and jumped back to the roof safely. Whew!!

No biz like show biz, but monkey business is pretty damn entertaining.

This is heartbreaking -- Shad Gaspard was hanging at the beach with his son and shared how blessed he felt about life ... just days before the former WWE star went missing during a swim with his kid.

Gaspard posted a few photos of his 10-year-old boy -- along with a clip of them walking together by the ocean -- on May 6, and wrote ... "Love the life I built for my self and my family."

It's pretty clear ... Shad and his son enjoy spending some quality time together at the beach.

Sadly, as TMZ Sports first reported ... Gaspard went missing Sunday afternoon after he and his boy were among a group of swimmers who got caught in a strong rip current at Venice Beach in L.A.

Lifeguards were able to rescue the boy after Shad directed them to his son first, but the 39-year-old ex-pro wrestler reportedly submerged after a wave crashed on him ... and hasn't been seen since.

Officials are still scouring the area looking for Gaspard, and shared a photo of him taken earlier in the day in hopes he will be found.

Jason Derulo's heading back to the dentist, 'cause he's gone and chipped his teeth again -- for real this time, it seems -- with a crazy stunt involving corn ... and a power drill.

The singer was attempting to nosh on some kernels, straight off the cob, by employing what he called a "life hack" -- apparently, people have been stabbing corncobs onto drill bits and pulling the trigger to rotate it and eat it faster. All for the love of TikTok. Really.

Welp, it turned out to be more of a tooth hack than anything else for JD -- who quickly screamed out in pain as he was revving it up, only to pull back and reveal his 2 front teeth got snagged clean off by the spinning cob.

It looks SUPER painful.

We should note ... Jason had another major missing-tooth incident just earlier this month -- a fake one, apparently -- when he did a handstand by his pool. When he fell in he emerged to show he'd "broken" one of his front teeth.

A word of advice for Jason, who seems to be getting a little too much of a kick outta these gross-out teeth vids ... CHILL, BRO! That, or invest in sturdier chompers. 😬

Tragic news ... MLB superstar Starling Marte says his wife died from a heart attack Monday.

"Today I go through the great pain of making public the unfortunate death of my wife Noelia," Marte wrote on social media. "It is a moment of indescribable pain."

Noelia was at a hospital awaiting surgery for a broken ankle when she suffered the heart attack, this according to MLB Network's Jon Heyman.

Other details surrounding the death were not released.

31-year-old Starling and Noelia had been married for several years ... and the couple had three children together, including two sons and a daughter.

"On behalf of my family," the Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder wrote, "I am grateful for the expressions of esteem and solidarity in this difficult time."

Marte's former team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, shared their condolences on Twitter ... writing, "The entire Pirates family extend our deepest condolences to Starling Marte and family during this terrible time. Our hearts are truly saddened by this news."

The D-Backs added, "We are deeply saddened to learn of the tragic passing of Noelia Marte. Starling and his family are part of the D-backs’ family and we will do all we can to support him and their children during this incredibly difficult time."

Marte was traded from Pittsburgh to Arizona this offseason ... and was expected to compete for MVP votes in his first year with the Diamondbacks before the coronavirus pandemic suspended play.

Video of Ahmaud Arbery getting frisked and patted down by cops in 2017 might say a lot about Glynn County PD's attitude toward black people ... keeping in mind Gregory McMichael was once a member of that force.

The video shows 2 officers questioning Ahmaud after finding him alone in his car, in a Brunswick, GA park in November 2017. The officers asked to search his car, and the scene got intense when he said no and stepped toward his car. The officers immediately told him to stop and get his hands out of his pockets.

Despite the fact Ahmaud immediately obeyed their orders -- and had his hands in the air -- one officer pulled his taser and fired it. Now, the weapon malfunctioned, but Ahmaud was already getting down on the ground anyway.

About two minutes earlier, the officers had asked for ID, and Ahmaud complied and explained he'd been rapping in his car on his day off. When the officer came back with his license, Ahmaud said, "I ain't got s**t on me. What the f**k you f**king with me for?"

The officer told him the area was known for drug activity and then proceeded to frisk Ahmaud for weapons. He had nothing on him, and there was nothing illegal about him parking in the area.

Still, the officer wanted to search his car ... and that's when the attempted-tasing went down ... despite the fact, they already knew he had no weapon on him.

He was not arrested or cited for anything.

The question now ... is the video, first obtained by the Guardian, relevant to Ahmaud's murder? You could argue it shows the Glynn County PD harassing a young black man who was guilty of nothing more than sitting in his car.

Of course, one of his accused murderers, Gregory McMichael, is a retired detective with GCPD, who we know now told police to have at least one resident contact him directly if there was any sign of an intruder.

On the other hand, this police stop -- harassment or not -- is a completely different situation from what Ahmaud faced on February 23 ... when 2 armed white men, Gregory and his son, Travis McMichael, ambushed him in the middle of a road.

Mike Johnson -- one of the few black men who tried to woo Hannah Brown on "The Bachelorette" -- says her use of the n-word was outta line, and he'd love to teach her a lesson.

Mike tells TMZ ... "What Hannah did was unacceptable. Issues like this bring light to the bridge of pop culture and racism within our country." He goes on to explain, "I'm inviting her and everyone to a conversation, in hopes to educate everyone that this type of behavior needs to be changed and is unacceptable. My aim is that in this moment we don't divide, we come together, learn from this and create change for the better."

He also tells us that on Sunday -- when he first addressed the scandal on social media -- he had not seen the video of Hannah dropping the word while reciting DaBaby's "Rockstar" lyrics.

Welp, he has now and he's got strong feelings. His response is a balanced mix between what Rachel Lindsay had to say, and what another one of Hannah's exes, Tyler Cameron, said as well.

Some people called Mike out initially for not backing up Rachel -- who's also African-American -- but he put that matter to bed ASAP.

ICYMI, Rachel -- the first black 'Bachelorette' -- didn't seem satisfied with Hannah's apology, and she went in on her and anyone who isn't black using the n-word, even if it's in song. Tyler was more forgiving, saying we outta use this as a teachable moment.

It appears Mike is splitting the difference, but it's obvious he thinks re-education is needed on Hannah's part. That's huge, considering Mike was a fan fave and reportedly in the running to be the series' first black 'Bachelor.' He still might be, in fact.

BTW, Mike says he never experienced any type of racist behavior or language from Hannah during his time on her season.

The punishment doesn't fit the crime. That's what Sean Reed's family's saying about the cop who got suspended for his "closed casket" joke ... saying he deserved to be fired.

You'll recall the Indianapolis detective got suspended and reassigned after he was heard saying, "I think it's going to be a closed casket, homie" moments after Reed was fatally shot during an incident Reed streamed live on Facebook.

Well, the Reed family's furious over what they essentially say is a slap on the wrist. Sean's uncle, Tyrell Reed, tells TMZ ... he doesn't think the cop received a harsh enough punishment. In fact, Tyrell tells us, "I feel like [the detective] shouldn't be on the force or allowed to be a police officer."

What's more ... Tyrell says the detective's true colors came out with his distasteful joke, because he had no clue Reed's camera was still streaming live. Tyrell adds, "He thought he was doing things in the dark. Now, those words leave a mark on our family forever. I probably don't think his fellow officers appreciated the comment either."

Tyrell says the Reeds have been shaken to their core with the crack made by the detective, whose identity has not been disclosed because of safety concerns. For what it's worth ... Tyrell says things have slowly gotten better over the last few days, thanks to the overwhelming support the family's been receiving from friends and others in the community.

As we first reported ... Tyrell told us it's a terrible enough situation to have one of your family members shot and killed with a camera filming it ... even worse when a cop makes a quip that will be seared into their memories forever.

Before this straight-faced kid grew into a respected actor with roles on long-lasting television shows, she was just another girl showing her serious side growing up in New Jersey.

Although this cute girl was born in 1980 as disco was dying ... she's most recognized for her '70s style looks including high-waisted bell-bottoms, rockin' KISS shirts and Farrah Fawcett inspired follicles.

This little ginger kid has always stayed true to her roots with beautiful red locks ... but can be spotted around Hollywood from time to time showing a bit of her dark side, with some more muted hair colors.