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Billy Miller -- a longtime soap opera star, who starred on some of the most famous shows in the genre -- has died, and it sounds like he was battling some demons ... TMZ has learned.

A rep for the actor tells us Miller passed away Friday in Austin, TX. An exact cause hasn't been revealed, but we're told he was struggling with manic depression at the time of his death. His team suggests he may have taken his own life.

It's incredibly shocking and sad news for the soap community, as BM was one of the brightest stars in the biz for a good while. The guy had incredible runs on both 'The Young and The Restless' as well as a memorable role on 'General Hospital.'

He starred in over 700 episodes for the former -- playing Billy Abbott -- and acted in nearly 600 episodes for the latter, playing different characters. In addition to these two iconic shows, he also starred in 'All My Children' in the mid-2000s, which kicked off his soap career.

Miller's work on daytime TV was recognized and praised by his peers -- he won Emmys in 2010, 2013 and 2014 for Outstanding Lead and Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his role on 'Y&R.' He was also nominated a handful of other times, including for 'GH.'

He didn't just work on soaps, either, BTW -- BM acted in a number of other TV series and movies ... such as 'CSI: NY,' 'Justified,' 'Ringer,' 'Castle,' 'Ray Donovan,' 'Suits,' 'Truth Be Told,' 'The Rookie,' 'NCIS' and others. He also starred in flicks like 'American Sniper' and more.

Miller is survived by his mother, Patricia, and his sister, Megan ... as well as other extended family and friends. He was only 43.

RIP

Two teens were heard laughing on a video as they deliberately plowed their car into a bicyclist in Nevada, killing the man -- a retired police chief.

The 17-year-old driver and his passenger were cruising down a street in Las Vegas on August 14, coming up behind Andreas Probst as he rode his cycle in the bike lane.
Filming with his cell phone, the passenger was chuckling with the driver as they plotted to run over Probst. You can hear them say, "Ready?" and "Yeah, hit his ass."

Moments later, the driver crashed into Probst, causing him to fly up onto the windshield before tumbling to the ground.

Probst was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He reportedly moved to Vegas after retiring as chief from California's Bell Police Department in 2009.
The teens fled, but the driver was soon arrested for the hit-and-run. The charges were later upgraded to include murder when the video recently surfaced online, showing the crime was intentional.

Taylor Swift may be hooking up with Travis Kelce -- at least there is smoke pointing to that -- but Saturday was girl's night out.

Taylor and her bud, Blake Lively, hit up Zero Bond in NYC ... it's the second time the 2 broke bread in a week. Last Monday, T.S. hit up Emilio's Ballato restaurant with Blake and her hubby Ryan Reynolds along with Channing Tatum, Zoë Kravitz, and Gigi Hadid.

Taylor had a busy weekend ... chowing down Friday with Selena Gomez at a restaurant near Taylor's Rhode Island estate.

Gomez and Taylor have been friends for years, and Selena underscored their friendship with words of loyalty.

Selena wrote, "Thas my best frien -she a real bad," referencing lyrics from Saweetie's track, "Best Friend."

"Dancing With The Stars" is always down to tap into the biggest rumors in H-Wood, and almost had a ménage à trois for the ages.

As you know, Mauricio Umansky will be puttin' his dancing shoes on for the upcoming season. What you DIDN'T know ... we've learned producers also reached out to his estranged wife, Kyle Richards, and her good friend, Morgan Wade.

Well, the ladies gave DWTS a 1 out of 10 for that proposal, but wouldn't it have been awesome? We're guessing all 3 would have had professional dancers as partners, but maybe they would have tried something new if the troika was fully on board.

We're told the 3 of them were all approached at the same time, but Kyle and Morgan passed. Both women are now in Paris, shooting Morgan's documentary.

Thing is ... there'd be no tension had it happened. We know Mauricio and Kyle are still getting along great, and even Mauricio and Morgan seem kosher.

Kyle and Mauricio are still living under the same roof, although their status is still "separated."

Rep. Lauren Boebert's presumed boyfriend is not only a Democrat but presumably a supporter of the LGBTQ community ... so the plot just keeps thickening.

Quinn Gallagher, the man who was grabbing Bobert's breast as she was grabbing his crotch as they watched a musical, has a bar in Aspen -- the Hooch Craft Cocktail Bar -- which hosts drag shows.

As you probably know, the Republican firebrand has railed on drag shows, worrying that children might somehow be influenced to do something, although she's never been specific.

It's the latest twist in a nutty tale. As we reported, Boebert was ejected from the "Beetlejuice" performance in Denver, after vaping (something she denied but is as clear as day in the surveillance video), signing, disrupting and talking trash to other audience members.

In another video, you see Gallagher pawing Boebert's breast and Boebert groping his crotch.

And, as we told you, on their way out of the theatre, she flipped off an usher.

Chrissy Teigen and John Legend are married again!!! They went back to the scene of the OG nuptials and recommitted.

Chrissy and John dressed to the 9's Saturday and renewed their vows in Lake Como .... where they tied the knot 10 years ago.

This time around, they brought a gaggle of kids ... Luna, Miles, Esti and Wren, who's only 3 months.

Even the kids sported their finest duds, including Miles, who wore a mini version of dad's tux.

They've been together way longer than their marriage. John and Chrissy hooked up in 2006 -- 17 years ago -- meeting on the set of one of John's music videos.

Rosie O’Donnell excoriated Drew Barrymore Saturday for bringing her talk show back during the Writer's strike.

It was almost like talking to a child ... Rosie wrote, “Stop taping the show. Stop asking audiences to cross the picket line, Then ask someone to help you craft three declarative sentences. They should follow along these lines: I made an error. I apologize to the WGA for disrespecting the work of professional writers. I apologize to all union members who are withstanding real hardship as I live a life of luxury.”

Alyssa Milano co-signed later, writing, "Not complicated at all."

Drew's moves have been bizarre. At first she announced she was bringing back her show without writers, and then a day later she shot a video tearfully apologizing but still going forward with the show. We're hearing Drew didn't think she'd get the kind of backlash she did, which is, well, surprising.

The Pennsylvania prison where inmate Danelo Cavalcante scaled a wall to make his great escape is making some changes to prevent a similar escape from happening again.

Honchos in Chester County tell TMZ ... prison officials made short-term upgrades to beef up security at the facility, including a new barrier blocking access to the prison roof.

Danelo crab-walked up a brick wall, dove through barbed wire and booked it across the roof to make his escape .. and we're told the new barrier prohibiting roof access is behind the razor wire.

Prison guards were in the watchtower when Danelo escaped during exercise time in the yard, and we're told guards will now be taking up new positions when inmates are in the yard.

We're also told Chester County Prison is assigning a guard to the prison roof ... and they're reviewing surveillance procedures because Danelo's escape happened in plain view of cameras.

After his escape, Danelo lived on watermelon and creek water ... burying his poop to evade authorities for two weeks ... until he was ultimately captured about 18 miles from the prison.

We're told Chester County Commissioners also approved a contract to build a permanent enclosure over the prison's exercise yards ... that's the long-term effect of Danelo's escape.

Lamar Odom is likely to see his car insurance bill go way up ... he crashed his Mercedes into two parked cars in an early morning accident.

A rep for Lamar tells TMZ ... Lamar was behind the wheel when he got into a car crash around 3 AM Monday in a residential area near his home.

We're told Lamar was driving home from a friend's place in Northridge when he dropped his phone inside his Mercedes, reached down to retrieve it, lost control and smashed into a pair of cars parked on the street.

Lamar's rep says his white Mercedes hit another white car, which bumped into another car parked in front of it.

Lamar's airbags deployed, and he wasn't injured and didn't need medical assistance ... though he was a little shaken up and his Mercedes is now mangled.

Cops were called but LAPD did not take a police report after responding to the scene. We're told officers spoke with Lamar, asking him if he had been drinking, to which Lamar said no and told cops about being sober and owning rehab facilities.

Cops did not perform a field sobriety test.

Lamar, we're told, then explained to LAPD how the accident happened ... and the owners of the impacted cars came out of their homes and Lamar gave them his insurance information.

Fortunately, we're told no one was inside the parked cars at the time of the crash ... though Lamar's Mercedes was towed and his security drove him home.

The best QB of the 2020 NFL Draft class might not end being Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Jalen Hurts OR Tua Tagovailoa ... at least, that's according to LeRoy Butler -- who tells TMZ Sports it could actually be Jordan Love!!

The Packers legend made the eyebrow-raising claim following Green Bay's win in Week 1 ... explaining he thinks that after sitting behind Aaron Rodgers the past three years, Love could now be best set up for success out of all the '20 signal-callers.

"I think he may be better than those guys," the Packers legend said, "because he's going to have that opportunity because he had to sit and wait."

Sunday's victory over the Bears marked just the second time ever that Love has started an NFL game ... but Butler was clearly impressed.

The Hall of Fame defensive back loved the way the 24-year-old -- who the Packers took with the 26th overall selection in 2020 behind Burrow, Herbert and Tagovailoa -- played within himself ... and he liked it so much, he now believes there's a chance Love finishes his career as 2020's best pick.

Butler actually compared the situation to his own career ... saying that while 47 guys were drafted ahead of him -- and played way more than him as a rookie -- he's now got a bust in Canton.

"There's a lot of guys who went before me," the 1990 second-round pick said. "But I'm in the Hall of Fame -- and they're not."

Craig Conover's looks over the years are sooo charming!

Here is a 24-year-old version of the "Southern Charm" star, polished and proper during a season 1 promo shoot for the hit Bravo show back in 2013 (left). This was just a few years before he took his embroidery talents to create his company "Sewing Down South."

And, a decade later Craig's still looking "sew" good ... and more hospitable than ever in this pic for season 9 of "Southern Charm" (right).

He's still schnazzy with the slicked-back hair and darling dimples, but the question is ...

The saying, "keep your eye on the prize" comes to mind when ya hear the 911 audio from 50 Cent's hurled mic incident -- although a radio DJ suffered a head injury, the dispatcher wanted to know who was performing.

The drama unfolded on August 30 at L.A.'s Crypto.com Arena, and on the emergency call obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, a dispatcher is quite surprised to hear someone had suffered blunt forced trauma ... from a microphone of all things

As we reported, the mic smashed Power 106's Bryhana Monegain square in the forehead, and left her bleeding profusely ... prompting the call to 911. It's unclear why it would be relevant to the injury, but, for some reason, the dispatcher inquired ... "Who's performing tonight?"

Despite the lighthearted query, the dispatcher was sure to send medical assistance to the scene right away. To be fair, he did also ask if Bryhana was awake.

As it turns out, Bryhana suffered multiple lacerations to the head and face after being decked with the mic.

The device apparently had been malfunctioning, and 50 chucked the thing in anger ... but he might end up seriously regretting that.

Law enforcement sources tell us police have completed their investigation, and the case is now at the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office being reviewed for possible felony charges.

Hidden behind this rearranged face is an on-screen actor who journeyed to America when he was just 19 years old and soon after appeared in a Netflix film. Use the discreet clues in order to stay out of deep water!

He's vocal when speaking about his idols ... Heath Ledger being a big one! And, standing at 6 feet 5 inches, it's hard not to miss this guy when he's out and about!

Hasan Minhaj has been caught stretching the truth in a handful of stories he's told in his stand-up comedy -- and his response to this revelation is ... eh, it's not a big deal, guys.

The comic -- famous from 'The Daily Show' -- got called out in a New Yorker piece ... which got him to admit that he'd fabricated much of the details to several bits he'd done on stage over the years ... almost all of which played up racism and bigotry over his Muslim heritage.

One such anecdote that was embellished is about his daughter ... and how he had to rush her to the hospital after an envelope with white powder was sent to his house. As it turns out, all the daughter stuff was made up -- as he revealed when pressed by the New Yorker.

Other stories he exaggerated or flat-out lied about included one of him getting turned down for a school dance due to his race -- the woman in question says this wasn't the case in the slightest -- and another about how an FBI informant infiltrated his community mosque. In both instances, there appears to be little truth to the substance of the stories.

Minhaj said this to the New Yorker, "My comedy Arnold Palmer is seventy per cent emotional truth -- this happened -- and then thirty per cent hyperbole, exaggeration, fiction." After being pressed further by other media, he released a lengthier statement, which is interesting.

He says ... "All my standup stories are based on events that happened to me. Yes, I was rejected from going to prom because of my race. Yes, a letter with powder was sent to my apartment that almost harmed my daughter. Yes, I had an interaction with law enforcement during the war on terror. Yes, I had varicocele repair surgery, so we could get pregnant. Yes, I roasted Jared Kushner to his face. I use the tools of standup comedy -- hyperbole, changing names and locations, and compressing timelines to tell entertaining stories."

Rolling Stone's founder just lost decision-making power in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame -- all because he called Black and female artists inarticulate ... TMZ has learned.

A rep for the Hall tells us Jann Wenner has been booted from the famed HOF's Board of Directors for their Foundation -- this after a vote was taken among the current members.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us the only dissenting vote was from Jon Landau.

Jann Wenner -- who helped launch RS Magazine way back in 1967 -- did an interview with the NYT this week in which he talks about who he interviewed for his forthcoming offering, "The Masters," which contains wide-ranging sit-downs with 7 rock and roll gods.

That includes Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Jerry Garcia and Pete Townsend ... all of whom, as the NYT journo noted, are white and male.

The Q: "There are seven subjects in the new book; seven white guys. In the introduction, you acknowledge that performers of color and women performers are just not in your zeitgeist. Which to my mind is not plausible for Jann Wenner. Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, the list keeps going ... What do you think is the deeper explanation for why you interviewed the subjects you interviewed and not other subjects?

Wenner's answer is telling. He says, "When I was referring to the zeitgeist, I was referring to Black performers, not to the female performers, OK? Just to get that accurate. The selection was not a deliberate selection. It was kind of intuitive over the years; it just fell together that way. The people had to meet a couple criteria, but it was just kind of my personal interest and love of them."

He adds, "Insofar as the women, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level." The reporter pushes back, incredulously asking if he really doesn't think Joni Mitchell was articulate enough to talk music on an intellectual level.

Wenner responded, "It’s not that they’re not creative geniuses. It’s not that they’re inarticulate, although, go have a deep conversation with Grace Slick or Janis Joplin. Please, be my guest. You know, Joni was not a philosopher of rock ’n’ roll. She didn’t, in my mind, meet that test. Not by her work, not by other interviews she did. The people I interviewed were the kind of philosophers of rock."

Drake's new single with SZA is all the rage among his fans, but one person isn't happy about it -- and that would be Halle Berry ... whose image he used to promote the song.

The actress took to IG with a somewhat cryptic post about being the bigger person in certain situations -- this shortly after Drizzy released his new track, "Slime You Out," which just dropped Friday. In the comments of that same post, though, Halle bashes him head-on.

Somebody asked what she thought of Drake using the photo of her from the 2012 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards -- where she famously got slimed while sitting in her seat. There's a close-up shot of Halle with all the green ooze on her, and Drake is using that on social media as a cover image. On the official audio upload, there's alternative art.

Anyway, HB isn't pleased. She responded, writing, "didn't get my permission. That's not cool I thought better of him!" She adds in response to another fan, "hence my post today. When people you admire disappoint you you have to be the bigger person and move on!"

There are other comments she made in response to people on her post, including one where she says it's about the principle of the matter -- which might allude to the fact she likely doesn't even own the rights to the picture in question.

And, of course ... there's also the graphic nature of the song itself, which alludes to sex acts -- and which some have taken offense to on behalf of Halle. She, too, questions this ... writing to one fan who commented on what slime refers to, "exactly! What does that mean?"

It's unclear if Drake got this picture of Halle cleared or not, but it's interesting that she's calling him out on it. He was recently caught up in yet another cover art scandal -- with Vogue, no less -- and that one reportedly cost him a bit of cash after they sued.