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Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock have FINALLY settled their bitter divorce case, and Kelly's walking away with the lion's share of assets, although he's getting a pretty penny in support.

L.A. Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon has just signed off on the terms. Kelly will have primary custody of their 2 kids. Brandon, who lives in Montana, will have the kids one weekend a month ... at least for now.

Speaking of Montana, as we reported, Kelly will keep the Montana ranch, but Brandon is allowed to live there until June 1. He must, however, pay her rent -- $12,500 a month.

If Brandon moves from Montana to another state, the custody arrangement will be reevaluated.

As we reported, Brandon challenged their prenup, but after a trial the judge affirmed its validity -- and that was a big win for Kelly. We're told she makes around $20 mil a year, and that's all hers.

Brandon will get spousal support -- $115,000 a month -- but that ends in January 2024.

He also gets $45,600 a month in child support. Although he only gets the kids 1 weekend a month, the amount reflects the overhead he has to pay to ensure the kids can stay comfortably. Kelly's lawyer, Laura Wasser, can go back into court and ask for an adjustment if, say, Brandon moves somewhere else and the overhead expenses changes.

She's also paying him $1.3 million as part of the settlement.

It's pretty ironic ... on the heels of getting the settlement finalized, Kelly sang "I Will Always Love You" at the ACM Awards Monday night. If she was singing to anyone, it was clearly Dolly Parton and not Brandon.

The judge restored their single status back in September. The judge also removed Blackstock from Kelly's name, and she filed to go by Kelly Brianne. Brianne is her middle name, and although professionally she'll still be known as Kelly Clarkson, legally she is trying to drop Clarkson. It appears she made the change because she is not a fan of her father.

What's in the box?!? Well, it depends who's asking ... because someone stole a box of disembodied human heads -- intended for medical research -- from a company truck in Denver.

And no, we're not kidding!!! Denver Police are investigating after they received a report on March 3 about a theft from a 'Freight Company' truck. Let's put it this way ... the thieves are in for the shock of their lives.

Police say, an unknown suspect or suspects stole a blue and white box of human heads from the parked truck. It happened about a week ago, but cops are now talking about it.

It's unclear if the thief knew the box had human heads inside, but cops say it had a label that said "Exempt Human Specimen."

The case is bizarre ... and has rightly spooked nearby residents.

So far, no arrests have been made ... and, police aren't sure what the suspect(s) might use the heads for or where the heads are headed.

That said, if anyone finds a box containing human heads, they are encouraged to call the Denver Police Department at 720-913-2000 ... after, of course, they come to.

Brittney Griner's detainment in Russia is drawing a strong reaction from the family of a U.S. Marine who's also imprisoned there ... and they're not buying what the Russians are selling.

The family of Trevor Reed, a retired Marine from Texas who's been locked up in Russia since 2019, is "highly skeptical" of the allegations surrounding Brittney, because they've seen the Russians fabricate criminal cases.

That's why Reed's family rep, Jonathan Franks, tells us the family believes the claim Brittney was traveling with hashish oil could be totally bogus ... and they're accusing the Russians of manufacturing criminal charges against other Americans, including Trevor.

As we reported, Russian officials have opened up a drug trafficking investigation after customs officials at an airport near Moscow claimed to have found vape cartridges in Brittney's carry-on.

Franks says he'd bet his car Griner was NOT in possession of cannabis, and the facts surrounding Trevor's case might explain why.

For those who don't know, Trevor was convicted in July 2020 and sentenced to 9 years in a Russian prison for allegedly endangering the life and health of Russian police officers during an altercation in Moscow.

The U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, says the alleged crime never happened and has even described Trevor's case as "theater of the absurd."

The Reeds deny the allegations against Trevor, and recognize Brittney's situation as tragic. We're told they hope her circumstances, and Trevor's, will wake up folks to the danger of being an American in Russia.

We're told Trevor's loved ones are reaching out to Brittney's family ... offering to provide any support and insight from their dealings with Russia.

Sen. Lindsey Graham told us the State Dept. is working on securing Brittney's release ... and the Reeds say Trevor could use help too, because he might have been exposed to tuberculosis in prison.

Bill Cosby's breathing a deep sigh of relief -- the U.S. Supreme Court is refusing to weigh in on the Pennsylvania ruling that set him free.

SCOTUS voted 4-3 Monday to leave in place the PA Supreme Court's decision from last summer ... which nullified Cosby's 2018 conviction for aggravated indecent assault of Andrea Constand.

Cosby was immediately released from the Pennsylvania prison where he'd been serving a 3 to 10-year sentence.

The PA Supreme Court ruled Cosby's right to due process had been violated, because prosecutors had ignored the deal the previous Montgomery County D.A. made to not prosecute Cosby if he sat for a deposition in Andrea's civil case.

Cosby's prosecutors asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the decision to overturn, but the high court declined ... which means Cosby is free and clear in the criminal case.

He is still facing a lawsuit filed by Judy Huth for sexual battery.

DaBaby's legal woes are ebbing and flowing ... he's out of trouble in one matter involving a gun, but still in hot water over balls and pins.

The L.A. County D.A. has rejected the gun case against DaBaby that police have been working on since January 2021 -- when he was arrested in Bev Hills for allegedly having a weapon on him during a shopping spree.

You'll recall ... DB ended up in cuffs right there on Rodeo Drive, and was booked for carrying a loaded firearm.

In the end, the D.A. chose not to prosecute because of a lack of evidence -- which is apparent from the D.A.'s report recounting the incident.

The doc states DaBaby and co. were in a Gucci store, and a security guard says he saw DaBaby lift up his shirt. The security guard claimed he saw something in his waistband resembling a gun, prompting him to call the police.

The crew left, but weren't able to escape Rodeo Drive before a run-in with officers who searched the vehicle and did, indeed, find a gun under one of the seats. When nobody claimed ownership of the gun, cops took DB in based on what the security guard had told them. But apparently, that wasn't enough to file charges.

DaBaby's attorney, Drew Findling, tells TMZ ... "We've been 100% confident in Mr. Kirk's innocence since the day of this incident and are appreciative that the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office has made a similar determination."

Great news for DaBaby, obviously -- but he's not out of the woods ... there's still a looming case over his bowling alley scuffle with DaniLeigh's brother, which was caught on video.

Our law enforcement sources say there's a much stronger chance that case could actually get some real consideration by the D.A.'s Office, considering the evidence already out there ... and we're told a felony assault with a deadly weapon charge is very much in play.

That said ... we're told the cops are somewhat skeptical on that one too due to D.A. George Gascon. It's no secret ... Gascon isn't interested in pursuing low-level crimes in and around L.A. ... something he campaigned on. In other words.

It's no secret Kanye West is down in the dumps about the end of his marriage to Kim Kardashian, but now he's put his pain into words ... and without lashing out at Pete Davidson.

Ye penned and posted "Divorce" ... a poem comparing the legal process to just about every bad experience you can imagine.

Just a sample: "Divorce feels like full blown Covid ... like your doctor don't know s**t ... like your walking on glass ... like you're running through a glass wall ... like you're being bullied in a class hall."

He pours out his heart even more, and seems to reference recent experiences with lines like, "Divorce feels like the first play of the Super Bowl and your ankle rolls ... feels like your kids were snatched from your control."

Not that Ye's kids have actually been taken from him, but we know he's complained about not getting the address for Chi's 4th birthday and about North being on TikTok.

The poem's definitely a healthier, and certainly less ominous, expression of his emotions than the music video for "Eazy" ... where claymation Ye buries claymation Pete in the ground and grows flowers from his skull.

His closing lines of "Divorce" prose are pretty puzzling, though: "Michael Jackson said it best, You're a vegetable, You're a vegetable, You're the real Cosby, Not a Huxtable."

Drake is seeking court-ordered protection from a woman he claims keeps showing up at his home and wishing death upon him.

The rapper's lawyer, Larry Stein, beelined it to court for a temporary restraining order ... to protect Drake and his family from a 29-year-old woman he claims has been harassing him for years.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Drake claims the woman was arrested at his Hidden Hills estate back in April 2017 and convicted of trespassing, but that's just the tip of the iceberg ... Drake says the woman has threatened his life as well as the lives of his family members.

It's scary ... in the docs, Drake's lawyer says the woman sent him emails last month where she says Drake should "put a bullet through your head now bitch."

Champagne Papi claims the woman's been trying to track him down by filing a $4 billion defamation case against him and seeking a restraining order of her own ... and he says he's suffering emotional distress and fearing for his and his family's safety as a result of her "harassment and obsession with me."

YFN Lucci is desperate to get out of jail as he awaits trial in his murder case ... because he thinks he might literally die behind bars if he stays locked up.

According to new legal docs, the rapper claims a fellow inmate at the Fulton County Jail stabbed him last month ... and he also says he's been told there's a bounty on his head among inmates.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, YFN Lucci claims he was stabbed from behind while on a video call with someone on the outside ... and he says the other inmate used a homemade shank to stab him.

Since the alleged stabbing back on Feb. 9, YFN Lucci claims he's been told there's a price on his head ... and he fears his life is in jeopardy if he remains in custody.

As a result, YFN Lucci is asking the judge to grant him bond so he can get the hell outta jail ... and he says he would be down with 24-hour home confinement and wear a monitoring device if he gets out.

Remember ... Lucci is in jail right now because prosecutors said he violated the previous bond conditions in his murder case by going to a strip club and a recording studio.

So, it will be interesting to see if he gets another shot.

We reached out to YFN Lucci's lawyer and the jail ... so far no word back.

Cardi B's legal victory over a blogger who defamed her isn't stopping the woman from trashing Cardi ... so now, the rapper wants a judge to gag her forever.

Cardi filed docs Thursday night in federal court, demanding a permanent injunction against Tasha K, who Cardi defeated in a defamation trial back in January. The jury awarded Cardi about $4 million ... but in the docs she says that's done nothing to stop Tasha from spreading the very lies that landed her in court.

As we've reported, Tasha's falsely claimed Cardi committed adultery, has STIs and was a prostitute.

According to the docs, Tasha bragged back in August ... "Even if they did sue, bitch I ain't got but a dollar to my name bitch, what are you going to get? And there's always bankruptcy bitch." Tasha even said, "I'm going to pull a 50 Cent on that bitch" ... referring to Fiddy's bankruptcy filing back in 2015.

Cardi also accuses Tasha of fraudulently moving assets to make it more difficult to collect the millions -- a move she's allegedly boasted about on her YouTube vlog, saying "Let me tell you how this was a blessing though. Cause can't nobody else sue me, and even if they do, I ain't got no money. We've got estate lawyers, we've got every mother f***ing thing. I ain't got s*** in my name bitch."

In fact, Tasha even testified during the trial she wouldn't stop repeating defamatory lies unless the court forces her to do so.

Aaaand that's exactly what Cardi's asking for now -- an injunction to stop Tasha from saying any defamatory statements now, and in the future, and to force her to delete all past videos or posts containing those lies.

Sherri Papini made national headlines 5 years ago when she was reportedly kidnapped ... well now there's been an arrest -- no, the kidnappers weren't busted ... Sherri was.

The California mom was arrested Thursday night for staging her own disappearance. On top of that, she was charged with fraudulently obtaining tens of thousands of dollars in victim's assistance funds.

Papini was reported missing in early November 2016 and was later found on Thanksgiving day about 150 miles away from her home. She told law enforcement that she was abducted and held at gunpoint by 2 Hispanic women. She worked with an FBI artist who came up with a sketch of the alleged kidnappers.

Well ... according to the Justice Department's criminal complaint ... the DOJ says she lied about the whole thing and was actually staying with her ex-boyfriend when she claimed she was kidnapped.

On top of that, she allegedly harmed herself to make it look authentic.

In 2020, she doubled down on her story when she was interviewed by the feds ... although she was told that there was evidence to show that her story was a big fat lie.

Papini ended up racking up $30K in victim assistance from the California Victim's Compensation Board from 2017 to 2021 ... which included payments for therapy.

If convicted, she faces a maximum of a quarter-century behind bars.

Meghan Markle didn't have the crappy childhood she wants the public to believe, according to her half sister ... who is now dragging Meghan to court, suing over that famous Oprah Winfrey interview.

Samantha Markle is suing Meghan for defamation, and she's especially pissed about some of the things she and Prince Harry told Oprah about the Markle fam. In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Samantha rips into Meghan for spinning a "rags to royalty" narrative about herself which she claims is simply false.

Samantha claims Meghan is trashing her, and spreading outright lies, in order to bolster the notion she's overcome leeching family members. For example, Sam points out she and Meghan share the same father in Thomas Markle ... yet Meghan told Oprah she was an "only child."

She also claims Meghan dropped another lie when she told Oprah she'd last seen Samantha "at least 18, 19 years ago and before that, 10 years before that."

Those aren't the only alleged disses ... Samantha claims Meghan got it flat out wrong when she told Oprah Samantha only changed her surname to Markle after Meghan started dating Harry.

In the suit, Samantha also claims Meghan's fabricated tales of growing up in "virtual poverty" ... because Thomas paid for her to attend "elite and expensive private schools," and dance and acting classes. She claims dad also covered Meghan's tuition and living expenses when she went to Northwestern University ... something the Duchess told Oprah and Ellen DeGeneres she worked to pay for herself.

As for Meghan's motive -- Samantha claims the alleged lies about her and their father were part of a calculated effort so "they could not interfere with or contradict the false narrative and fairytale life story concocted by" Meghan.

Samantha says Meghan's harsh words have hurt sales of her autobiography, prevented her from getting jobs and caused emotional and mental distress.

Harvey Weinstein was caught red-handed once again ... this time with a box of Milk Duds!

Law enforcement tells TMZ ... the contraband in question was discovered by L.A. County jail guards back in November -- after a meeting with attorney Shawn Burkley.

While it's unclear how the Duds made their way to him, Weinstein claimed he brought the chocolates with him when he was extradited from New York back in July. Apparently, jail officials think one of his lawyers may have slipped him the Duds.

Weinstein's rep Juda Engelmayer gave us a statement from Weinstein ... "This was an innocent misunderstanding. It will not happen again. I have been a model inmate, following the rules and regulations and I am sincerely sorry.”

HW's attorney Mark Werksman tells TMZ ... the judge took no action against Weinstein -- nor did the jail. Mark, Shawn, and his other lawyers are still visiting him ... with the same cursory checks in effect.

Weinstein is currently being held at the Correctional Treatment Center -- a medical unit within the Twin Towers jail in downtown Los Angeles ... as he currently awaits trial. He's serving a 23-year sentence in New York.

Brett Hankison -- the former Louisville cop being prosecuted in connection with Breonna Taylor's death-- was just acquitted on all the charges against him.

A jury found Hankison not guilty of all 3 counts of felony wanton endangerment in the Breonna case ... returning the verdict Thursday in a Kentucky court.

You'll recall ... Hankison was never charged for shooting and killing Breonna during a botched police raid back in 2020 ... instead, he was charged for shooting into one of her neighbor's apartments.

Hankison pled not guilty and was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department ... and he was facing 1 to 5 years in prison for each charge.

During the trial, prosecutors argued Hankison blindly fired bullets through Breonna's window and sliding glass door into a neighboring apartment with 3 people inside ... and one of the neighbors testified they would have been shot if the bullets were one or two inches in a different direction.

The man who shot and killed Jacqueline Avant -- wife of entertainment legend Clarence Avant -- will go to prison for murdering her and will, most likely, spend the rest of his life there.

Aariel Maynor pleaded guilty Thursday to murdering the 81-year-old philanthropist back in December ... according to L.A. County D.A. George Gascón. You'll recall, Maynor broke into the Avants' Beverly Hills home in the middle of the night, and opened fire with an "assault long barrel pistol" when he ran into Jacqueline. He also shot at, but missed, a security guard.

Jacqueline was taken to a hospital, but she died of her injuries

The D.A. says Maynor will be sentenced on March 30, and the judge can give him 170 years to life in prison. He will also be ineligible for parole.

Police captured Maynor about an hour after the Avant murder when he attempted to burglarize a Hollywood Hills home, and accidentally shot himself in the foot.

The brazen and brutal crime shook Hollywood to its core, as the Avants have been loved and respected in the entertainment biz for decades. They have deep ties to

Marilyn Manson is suing Evan Rachel Wood, alleging she cooked up a massive scheme to manufacture sexual abuse accusations against him ... and committed crimes in the process.

The rocker just filed a shocking lawsuit against his ex and her partner, Illma Gore, with whom ERW has reportedly been romantically involved on and off for years. In the suit, obtained by TMZ, Manson alleges both women have engaged in fraud, conspiracy and defamation in furtherance of a calculated plot to take him down and ruin his career.

According to the docs, filed by attorney Howard King and obtained by TMZ, Manson's legal team lays out a series of alleged events between 2019 and 2021 that suggest Wood and Gore planned an elaborate ruse to smear him and profit from it -- even conceding, by and large, they succeeded in the court of public opinion ... despite the fact he says it's all lies.

Manson claims Gore teamed up with Wood to create a nonprofit called the Phoenix Act that purported to help abused women, but in reality ... was allegedly just a cover for a money-making ploy they were about to embark on against Marilyn.

To that end, he claims Gore sent out a bulk email to a number of Manson's former romantic partners, asking them to share experiences they might've had in common with Wood ... obviously in reference to MM.

Once they got some people in their orbit, Manson and co. claim Wood and Gore then started to persuade these women that they had, in fact, been abused by Manson during their time with him ... by insisting their trauma was buried under repressed memories.

Manson then claims Wood and Gore started systematically coordinating the women's allegations ... with checklists and even scripts Manson alleges were being produced, distributed and hammered home by Wood and Gore, all in an effort to make the allegations more believable.

Perhaps the most shocking part ... Manson alleges Wood and Gore literally concocted a fake letter from the FBI in which they posed as a real agent, and alluded to a criminal investigation of Manson, while also making it seem Wood and/or any of his alleged victims and their families might be in danger.

Manson says Wood and Gore forged this agent's signature -- whom Manson says later confirmed she never wrote it -- and then distributed it among alleged victims, as well as media members ... again, all to make this story about Manson seem credible and serious.

Of course, Manson has since fallen in the crosshairs of the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. -- which carried out a very real raid of his home last year -- but as far as any FBI probe ... Manson and co. say that's total BS, and that Wood/Gore were trying to drum up hysteria.

There's more ... Manson claims that Gore actually created fake email accounts to pose as him, and then fabricated correspondence full of compromising content -- including pornographic material, threats, admissions, etc. -- that Manson says were explicitly being exchanged (as if it was him) to further make it seem like he was a monster ... and to plant "evidence" that he'd left a damning paper trail. Manson says none of that stuff is real.

Other crimes Manson claims Gore committed ... alleged hacking of personal computer files and social media accounts he runs, as well as the unauthorized use of his SSN.

On top of that ... Manson also claims Gore swatted him last February, calling in an "emergency" while posing as a concerned friend of his. Not just that, but he says the fact that paparazzi captured all this fuss -- in the midst of Wood going public with her accusations against him -- is no coincidence ... and was also likely coordinated by Wood/Gore.

Finally, Manson alleges that Gore -- working in unison with Wood -- slandered him by making up a story that he'd featured a minor in a short film from the '90s, and that the flick included child pornography. He flatly denies the claim, insisting the woman was 22 at the time -- a fact he says Gore was well aware of when pushing the tale about alleged child abuse.

Manson wants damages and a court order preventing Wood and Gore from continuing on with their conduct.

The big issue remaining in the Kim and Kanye divorce is child custody, and his new lawyer hedged in court Tuesday on how it will shake out ... but we're told it's highly likely it'll end up so that Kim will be home base and Kanye can see his 4 kids pretty much whenever he chooses.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... based on Kanye's schedule, which involves significant global travel, the typical custody arrangement spells out in detail who gets the kids and when is simply impractical.

For instance, they've attended birthday parties and other functions together as a family, without any kind of formal structure. It's possible they'd create a structure for XMAS, Thanksgiving and other holidays, but Kanye is a global traveler because of his various businesses, so planning ahead may be unrealistic.

Our sources say as crazy as the divorce has been, the custody issues for the most part have been handled peacefully. Whenever Kanye's in L.A. and wants to see the kids, Kim has facilitated it. For example, the other day Kanye wanted to take one of the kids to a basketball game, and Kim gladly obliged. In other words, there's an open-door policy when it comes to custody.

Kanye also typically gets the kids every Sunday for his Sunday Service.

It's been a bitter pill for Kim to swallow at times. You may recall, when Kanye took Saint and North to the Super Bowl a few weeks ago -- in full mask -- there were some boos, which isn't great for the kids. Nevertheless, it never became an issue for either Kim or Kanye.