Gossip / Rumors

The L.A. Lakers and Kobe Bryant go together like peanut butter and bananas ... and the Lakers wouldn't dream of dumping him to save a few million bucks -- so says Lakers guard Steve Nash.

There's a lot of talk going 'round that the Lakers might cut Kobe after he tore his Achilles last week ... because it would save them a fortune in luxury taxes on his salary -- roughly $80 million to be exact.

But Nash doesn't believe a word of it ... telling TMZ, "Kobe is synonymous with the Lakers ... He's a strong person. He'll come back stronger than ever."

Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne have split up ... at least temporarily ... and they are now living apart ... multiple sources tell TMZ.

Sources connected with the couple tell TMZ ... Sharon is currently living at the Beverly Hills Hotel, while Ozzy is living at a rented home several miles from the Bev Hills Hotel.

There were reports ... they were not living in the family home because of renovations, but that is not the case now ... they are living separately.

As far as we know ... there are no plans for divorce ... at least not now.

Sharon and Ozzy have been married for 31 years and have 3 kids.

Lindsay Lohan insists she was clean as a whistle at Coachella ... navigating around the muddy waters of drugs and booze.

LiLo is telling friends ... she didn't drink an ounce of alcohol and stayed clear of all drugs ... even though people all around her were getting high.

So why should we believe her, because frequently we don't? Here's the thing. There are NO pics that have surfaced of Lindsay partying, and whenever she does ... something gets out.

In fact ... we know Lindsay was invited to numerous parties and we checked with people who attended -- and could remember -- and no one saw her.

Lindsay is telling her friends she turned in by 10 PM both nights during the weekend.

Raising the question ... why bother going?

Frank McCourt is covering his bases for today's legal battle with ex-wife Jamie McCourt ... he dined last night with a priest.

Frank was at Toscana restaurant in Brentwood with a very hot young woman and the man of the cloth.

So the questions:

1. Since we've seen Frank with this woman before, we were wondering if he's tying the knot again -- with the help of the priest.

2. If he's not getting hitched again, was he looking for some divine intervention to torpedo Jamie's claim that Frank screwed her out of hundreds of millions of bucks by undervaluing the Dodgers.

3. How does Frank feel about what Magic Johnson said -- that he'd support and protect a member of the Dodgers who came out of the closet?

How did Halle Berry's pregnant belly go from baby bump to bustin' out in just a few days? It's simple -- popcorn! Umm ... we'll let the little guy who knows zero about birthing babies explain that one.

Katherine Jackson thinks there's something rotten in both Denmark and L.A. County Jail ... because she just filed legal docs which insinuate AEG and Dr. Conrad Murray are conspiring together in the wrongful death lawsuit.

Katherine -- who has sued AEG Live for negligently hiring and supervising Murray -- wants to subpoena the visitors' logs from the jail, to determine if AEG has sent its employers, officers or lawyers to the pokey for chit-chat with the good Doc.

Katherine has put Murray on her witness list. Interestingly, AEG Live has not. It's obvious Katherine wants to know if AEG Live is trying to coach Murray or get info from him to defend the suit.

As we previously reported ... Murray wants to stay a mile away from the courthouse -- which ironically is exactly how far Murray's jail cell is from where the trial will take place.

The woman accusing Kim Porter -- Diddy's baby mama -- of being a hard-core druggie who exposed her kids to marijuana and cocaine is a fraud who is pissed off because she got the ax ... this according to sources close to Kim.

Our sources say ... former nanny Dawn Drago is a convicted shoplifter -- something she didn't disclose on her employment application. But more to the point, we're told she's extremely bitter because she was fired for falsifying time sheets.

We're told Kim is adamant ... Drago's drug claims are completely false and the lawsuit is retaliation for getting 86'd.

A rep from the law firm representing Drago tells TMZ, the shoplifting conviction is irrelevant "because she was not working at a shop." That's the quote. We don't understand it either.

The Hova Flap is Ovah! ... so says Prez Obama's press secretary.

Jay Carney told White House reporters ... the only reason Jay-Z implicated Obama in his new song is because it's hard to find something that rhymes with treasury.

As you know, in Hova's song, "Open Letter," he raps, "Obama said chill, 'You gonna get me impeached.' We don't need this s*** anyway. Chill with me on the beach."

But Carney claims POTUS had zero contact with Jay-Z about the Cuba trip, and it was all handled by the Treasury Dept.

NFL star Kerry Rhodes -- who's been in the league since 2005 -- tells TMZ he's not gay ... despite reports suggesting otherwise.

Photos surfaced Thursday on MediaTakeOut.com showing 30-year-old Rhodes with his arm around a male friend. The site didn't say outright Rhodes was gay, but there was a strong insinuation ... not that there's anything wrong with it.

But Rhodes says he's as straight as an arrow -- telling TMZ, "Photos have been circulating of my former assistant and I that have caused some rumors regarding my sexuality, and I wanted to address the situation."

Rhodes then says flatly, "I am not gay."

Rhodes explains: "The shots were taken during a past vacation in a casual environment with my entire business team."

Rhodes says when it comes to being supportive of gay professional athletes coming out, he's on Magic Johnson's team: "I know a lot of people are recently talking about athletes struggling to come out to their fans right now, and I support them, as well as wish those individuals comfort."

Rhodes -- who played for the Cardinals last year -- is now a free agent.

Michael Keaton's alter ego ain't Batman anymore ... it's Hollywood D-bag -- this according to movie producers who claim Keaton's diva antics torpedoed their Christmastime flick.

Keaton is being sued by Merry Gentleman, LLC -- a production company that claims it sunk more than $4 million to make "The Merry Gentleman" ... which Keaton both directed and starred in.

In the suit, filed in federal court in Illinois, M.G. claims Keaton was a total pain in the ass from the moment production began in 2007.

First example -- M.G. claims they put time, energy and money into building an editing facility for Keaton in California ... and once it was set up, Keaton decided to go on a fly-fishing trip to Montana. M.G claims Keaton forced the production company to build another editing facility in MT, so he could work and play at the same time.

Second example -- M.G. claims Keaton slacked on the directing duties at first ... and he knew it ... because he personally told producers his first cut was a piece of crap.

According to the suit, producers decided to cut their own version of the movie ... and when Keaton found out, he flipped -- threatening to use his connections to have the movie pulled from the 2008 Sundance Film Festival unless they agreed to run one of Keaton's versions instead.

Producers conceded ... but M.G. claims Keaton's diva antics continued ... because when it came time to promote the film on "GMA," Keaton was less than enthusiastic about the movie.

The flick eventually bombed in theaters -- raking in less than $350k ... and producers are pointing the finger solely at Keaton.

M.G. is suing for unspecified damages -- likely in the millions. Calls to Keaton's camp have not been returned.

BUSTED!!! Justin Bieber's freeloading friend is NOT hooking up with Selena Gomez, even though he went to Herculean lengths to make it seem that way ... and we have video proof.

King Kevi -- who became famous-adjacent recently by living in Justin's house and throwing ragers with lots of girls, bongs and beer -- caused a stir when these pics (below) surfaced, showing the fake royalty appearing to leave Selena's San Fernando Valley estate Saturday night.

Various media reported Kevi -- the up-and-coming nobody -- was inside her house and "hung out." But we got our hands on surveillance footage taken the night in question ... showing Kevi posing in front of Selena's house while camera flashes went off ... but never making it past the gate.

Selena wasn't even home at the time the photos were taken.

In other words ... it was all a setup by the guy who is mooching off the Biebs.

He's no Kato Kaelin.

2:45 PM PT -- King Kevi tells TMZ the whole thing is a simple misunderstanding -- saying, "I was there to drop off something to a friend at the party. I walked multiple times to the front gate to try to call my friend and every time I had to chase off the photog."

He adds, "After the last attempt, I went to my car to leave and that's when my friend called me to come inside. When I backed in, I gave him another call to open the gate and he didn't pick up so I left because I saw the photog come back around."

President Barack Obama told Jay-Z he was worried the rapper's controversial trip to Cuba would cost him the White House ... this according to Jay-Z.

Hova just released a new rap, in which he addresses all of the drama surrounding his trip to Cuba last week with his wife Beyonce.

In the song, titled "Open Letter," Jay says ..."Politicians never did s**t for me ... except lie to me, distort history.”

He continues, "Obama said chill ‘You gonna get me impeached' ... We don’t need this s**t anyway chill with me on the beach.'"

The implication based on the lyric -- that Obama did something shady in helping Jay-Z and Beyonce get into Cuba and he could be in political hot water as a result.

There's more -- "I can turn Havana to Atlanta ... ballin’ too much they try to jam you."

“I’m in Cuba, I love Cubans.This Communist talk is so confusing.”

Diddy's twin daughters were surrounded by drugs and even covered in a mysterious white powder ... this according to a new lawsuit filed against the baby mama.

Nanny Dawn Drago says she worked for Diddy's ex, Kim Porter, from 2011 to 2012. Drago claims in the lawsuit -- obtained by TMZ -- Porter chain-smoked pot in the house while the young girls were home.

But Drago claims marijuana was not Kim's only drug of choice. She alleges she found cocaine as well, and on one occasion she says she was driving the kids to school and noticed they were covered "in a white powdery substance."

Drago claims the kids had gotten into "a bag containing the powder, along with clear capsules, filled with another powdery substance in a bag in the back seat."

Drago says she confronted Porter, who said the bag contained "medicine."

And there's more. Drago also claims Porter verbally and violently abused her before eventually firing her last year.

As for why she was fired ... Drago says the marijuana smell was choking and she dared to complain she couldn't take it.

The case -- filed by Patrick Reider -- seeks unspecified damages.

Sad news from the Diddy camp ... the rap mogul says he's 100%, positively NOT having sexual relations with model Kate Upton ... despite the fact it would be totally awesome if true.

Reports surfaced this morning that Diddy and Double-Diddy were spotted making out at a NY restaurant last week ... and the Internet instantly exploded with jealousy.

But Diddy says it just ain't true ... tweeting, "Attn all Media. I don't even know Kate Upton personally! I'm not dating her! What's being reported is not true. END of story!"

Sad ...

A rep for Kate also tells TMZ ... Kate and Diddy "barely know each other" and they are definitely not dating.

Halle Berry did NOT make any deal with soon-to-be baby daddy Olivier Martinez over who gets custody and who pays for diapers ... so says her lawyer.

Celeb lawyer Steve Kolodny tells TMZ a report in Us Weekly is bogus ... a report claiming Halle and fiance Olivier have hashed out a prenatal agreement in which he agreed to pay her child support if they break up. Kolodny says not only is there no deal, there hasn't been a discussion or even a whisper about one.

TMZ broke the story ... Halle is a little more than 3 months pregnant with her second child -- predestined to be a very good looking boy.

Kim Kardashian just filed her divorce witness list ... and it's now clear as can be -- Kim's lawyer is calling a bunch of witnesses who were involved in the prenup to show Kris knew EXACTLY what he was getting into before saying "I do."

As you know, Kris is claiming he was defrauded into marrying Kim ... left in the dark about her true intentions. But now we know 6 witnesses will testify that Kris was actively involved in every detail surrounding the prenup.

In fact, sources connected with the couple tell us ... Kim and Kris were constantly bickering over details in the prenup and that he was as interested in the business of marriage as she was.

Among the witnesses ... 2 managers who were heavily involved in the prenup, at least one lawyer involved in the document and a court reporter who was present when the prenup was signed.

There are other witnesses who will testify about the prenup, including Kim and Kris Jenner.

Short story -- the mission of Kim's lawyer is clear -- Kris went into this eyes wide open.