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Demi Lovato isn't taking an immediate plunge back into her old lifestyle ... she's splitting her time between a halfway house and a private home in Los Angeles.

We're told Demi feels the need to spend a big chunk of her time at a sober house -- 3 days a week -- where there are counselors and people with whom she can relate and share experiences. At the same time, she wants to resume a normal life and decided to live 4 days a week in a private home.

That normal life includes regular trips to the gym and running errands.

She has a sober coach by her side 24/7 ... something that's essential given her past history, which includes a near-death OD experience. We're told she also attends regular AA meetings.

TMZ broke the story ... Lovato was spotted back in L.A. over the weekend with clothing guru Henry Levy. The pair seemed super cozy, holding hands while they ate in Bev Hills.

Lovato was hospitalized in critical condition back in July, after ingesting drugs laced with fentanyl. She was released 10 days later and just completed a 90-day rehab stint.

Demi broke her several-month long social media hiatus Tuesday to show she was voting and encouraged her fans to do the same.

Florian Munteanu -- the guy who plays Ivan Drago's son in "Creed 2" -- says training for the flick got him in the best shape of his life ... and he's got the abs to prove it.

First off, count the abs ... 8.

Ridiculous.

A few other things -- Florian talks about the movie plot without spoiling it noting there won't be a Vladimir Putin look-alike character in this movie to replace the Mikhail Gorbachev spoof in "Rocky IV."

"We didn't aim for that," Florian said while strolling through Reagan National Airport with the film's director, Steven Caple Jr.

"It's about family and loyalty, a lot of father/son relationships going on on the Creed side ... but no political issues."

28-year-old Florian -- a pro boxer who hails from Romania -- also says he hopes this movie propels him into being a Hollywood star ... but it's up to the audience to decide if he's good enough.

"The audience have to decide if they like my performance or not but I'm pretty happy with it."

Voters in Nevada just elected a dead pimp to the State Assembly, sort of ... voting in Dennis Hof only 3 weeks after the famous brothel owner died at one his whorehouses.

Dennis was still on the ballot as a Republican candidate for the Nevada state legislature, despite being found dead Oct. 16 at his famed Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada ... and he beat out Democratic opponent Lesia Romanov in a landslide.

Polling places posted signs alerting voters to Hof's death, but that didn't stop them from voting for the man who made a living running sex ranches.

During his campaign, Dennis nicknamed himself the "Trump from Pahrump," in reference to the town where he lived in Nevada ... and he got over 60 percent of the vote in the heavily Republican district he was favored to win.

Because a dead man won the election, the seat is still considered vacant and will be filled by the county commissioners, who will select a fellow Republican who resides in the district to serve Dennis' 2-year term.

What a country!

The Spice Girls will be getting P-A-I-D for their brief UK tour -- more than $3 million each -- and they can roll in even more dough if they kill it in ticket sales.

Sources tell us the 4 out of 5 Spice Girls who are hitting the road next summer across the pond are set to be making nearly $550k a head for each of their 6 shows in Britain -- totaling about $3.2 million each. Ain't too shabby for 6 days of work.

Here's the kicker ... we're told Mel B and co. could make even more cash if their shows sell well enough to spur a second leg outside the UK ... the girls could rake in up to $6.5 million each.

There's no guarantee that'll happen. Tickets go on sale this weekend, and we're told the crew is nervous they won't sell out since Victoria Beckham isn't going along for the ride. As we reported ... the Spice Girls will tour without her.

Speaking of Victoria, she may have screwed her old girl band in more ways than one. Reports surfaced earlier this year saying TSG could've made as much as $13 mil each if Posh had joined.

Ah, what's a few million between friends, right?

For what it's worth, the Girls seem to be all in on the resurgence. They appeared on Emma Bunton's radio show Wednesday morning and were all smiles about the tour. And, although Scary Spice was just teasing us about recording new music, we wouldn't count it out just yet. Imagine that payday!

Originally Published -- 12:50 AM PDT

Laura Ingraham is rubbing it in Taylor Swift's face after the candidate the singer backed for the United States Senate lost his race in Tennessee.

Laura shaded Taylor on Twitter, telling her to #shakeitoff after Rep. Marsha Blackburn beat out former Gov. Phil Bredesen to win an important Senate seat for the GOP.

As we reported ... Taylor got political for the first time, going to bat for Bredesen and saying she could not in her right conscience vote for Blackburn, who's been seen at rallies in support of President Trump.

Seems Laura was waiting to ambush Taylor on social media ... the FOX News host fired off the snarky Tweet minutes after the network called the election in Blackburn's favor.

Neither Drita D'Avanzo nor Nicole "Hoopz" Alexander will get to be in the ring with Farrah Abraham for a celebrity boxing match ... but that didn't stop the duo from laying a serious smackdown on the ex-"Teen Mom" star.

We spoke to Drita ... who says Farrah backed out of a charity boxing match at the last minute because she was straight-up scared. As you know ... Farrah quit claiming she got screwed out of her deal.

Alas, that won't be the case ... and the ex-"Mob Wives" star thinks it was less about her (remember, there's no love lost between them) and more about Hoopz' skills in the ring.

Hoopz is also trashing Farrah after she threw in the towel ... saying this is typical Farrah crying wolf. Hoopz even has a word to describe her behavior ... making it crystal clear how she feels about Farrah.

Backpack Kid can now shine a little more when he busts out the floss ... shine a LOT more, actually.

BK -- government name, Russell Horning -- commissioned the guys over at The Icebox in Atlanta to make him some sick, new bling. The Icebox more than delivered with this stunning gold and diamond backpack (how fitting) pendant. It features 673 round, brilliant-cut diamonds ... which weighs almost 10 freakin' carats!!!

The pendant also features 40 grams of 14 karat yellow gold. It also has a hinge at the bottom, so it opens and closes to reveal Backpack Kid's name engraved on the inside.

And, to further prove how phenomenally successful the kid's become since his dance went viral ... BK dropped around $25k for the new bling and a Miami Cuban link chain.

Not sure what's been more awesome for Backpack Kid ... the pendant, this, this or this.

Nicky Jam is on the West Coast to audition for a very specific movie -- and it might or might not (but definitely does) have something to do with Will Smith.

We got the reggaeton superstar Tuesday on Rodeo Drive, and while he copped to being in town for a casting call, he was tight-lipped about the project. Check out our photog's killer detective skills in deciphering what it MIGHT be. We landed on "Bad Boys 3," but see if you agree.

Nicky played the Hollywood game perfectly when we asked him to confirm -- but NJ and Will collab'd this year for the FIFA World Cup anthem, "Live It Up" ... so we know they're tight.

Still, we'll have to wait and see if Nicky makes the cut to get screen time with Will and Martin Lawrence.

The duo recently announced the third installment was officially a go. Finally!

And, just because we know you're itching to say it -- if ya haven't been saying it already -- here's the line. #BadBoysForLife

With the first overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft ... the Cleveland Cavaliers select -- LaMelo Ball?!?!

Don't laugh ... Ball's new high school coach tells TMZ Sports that could EASILY happen now that Melo's announced he'll play at Spire Prep Academy this season.

"In my opinion, LaMelo Ball can be the No. 1 pick in a year or two going to the Cleveland Cavaliers," Jermaine Jackson says.

"Ain't no question about it."

Jermaine would know ... dude played several years in the Association from 1999 to 2006 and has been around the game in some capacity ever since -- and he says Melo is just THAT talented.

"He's known as that all over the world" J.J. says ... "He has a talent that, some of it just can't be taught."

Of course ... getting LaMelo to that point means Jermaine will have to navigate around LaVar Ball -- who's been known to meddle in Melo's teams.

But, Jermaine tells us he's off to a great start with the Big Baller ... and says he foresees no issues with the BBB founder.

"If LaVar's meddling in our team, we'll have conversations and we'll talk. And, I'm about what's right. It's not about who's right. It's about what's right."

Jermaine says Melo arrives in Ohio to join the team Friday and could see some run in the team's game in Philadelphia on Saturday.

Swizz Beatz is doing an awesome thing to raise money for the next generation ... auctioning off one of his original paintings to help raise funds for children in need.

The legendary producer has become a major player in the art world -- Jay-Z and Beyonce own a few pieces of Swizz's work -- and he's auctioning off the painting he created alongside our Raquel Harper from tonight's episode of "Raq Rants" on BET ... with all of the proceeds going to charity.

Swizz's painting is a must-have for any hip-hop or art collectors ... and all proceeds will go to Children's Rights, a national watchdog organization fighting for abused and neglected children in the U.S.

You can bid on Swizz's painting here and support a good cause.

The auction winner also receives Raquel's original signed portrait of Swizz and DMX -- yes, that's what she was going for.

YG's ride slammed into someone's front yard outside L.A. Tuesday afternoon, and from the looks of the scene ... he's damn lucky to have avoided a major injury.

The SUV -- a Chevy Suburban -- is sitting smack in the middle of someone's front yard, and it's a total mystery as to what happened. We got photos and video from the scene ... where YG is standing near the wreckage and, understandably, looking confused by the whole scene. The accident went down in the San Fernando Valley.

The rapper was a passenger, riding in the back of the Uber-driven ride, according to sources close to him. There were no other vehicles involved in the accident.

It's still unclear what happened to the driver ... or why he went off the road. It's a good bet, though, someone is NOT getting 5 stars.

7:45 PM PT -- Despite Beyonce's last-minute endorsement, Sen. Ted Cruz fended off a strong push from Beto O'Rourke to win re-election and help the GOP maintain control of the Senate.

Beyonce's a little late to the Beto O'Rourke party, but she just gave him a huge plug on Election Day ... rocking his signature hat and encouraging America to vote.

Queen Bey just posted a photo montage on IG that shows herself wearing a "Beto for Senate" hat -- the same one LeBron wore just a couple weeks ago. She captioned her photo with a long description of why it's important to vote, saying that complaining is useless if you don't do the most basic thing you can to fix problems -- namely, voting.

She goes on to wish everyone positive energy as the cast their ballots, adding that every vote counts and that every race matters. Clearly, she's also throwing her support behind Beto to replace Republican incumbent Ted Cruz. BTW ... Beyonce's from Houston.

She's the latest celeb to endorse Beto in a tight Senate race, that a lot of pollsters say is an uphill battle for the Democrat. Travis Scott's been out on the campaign trail for Beto recently, as has Arian Foster. He's also been raking in tons of cash from celebs who've donated to his campaign.

LL Cool J and Ice Cube are joining forces -- but it ain't about music, it's about sports TV domination.

TMZ Sports has learned LL is now a part of a powerful group looking to bid on 22 regional sports channels -- including the YES Network -- that Disney is being forced to sell off by the Justice Dept.

Long story short ... Disney got the 22 stations as part of its $71 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox. But, officials believe that since Disney is already the majority owner of ESPN, controlling the 22 sports stations would give them too much power in the sports TV landscape.

The 22 stations involved in the deal include everything from Fox Sports San Diego to Fox Sports Arizona, Fox Sports Detroit, Fox Sports Southwest and more.

But, the crown jewel is the YES Network -- based in New York -- they have the rights to broadcast Yankees games. Disney thinks YES alone is worth between $5 and $6 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The deal for all 22 stations is expected to be anywhere from $15 to $25 billion.

Some of the potential bidders that have emerged are real heavy hitters -- from private equity titans like Apollo Global Management and Blackstone Group to the Sinclair Broadcast Group.

But, Ice Cube and LL ain't exactly lightweights either -- and they've got a powerful partner ... billionaire Alex and Ani jewelry founder Carolyn Rafaelian.

Sources tell us the group is also in talks with other sports and cultural icons who are interested in participating in the bid.

Initial bids are due Nov. 8.

Demi Lovato has finally popped up on social media again in the wake of her near-fatal overdose earlier this year, and she made a splash with her message ... I'M VOTING!!!

The "Sober" singer posted a photo on Instagram Tuesday showing herself at a voting booth, looking fabulous and grinning at the camera. She added a caption that read ... "I am so grateful to be home in time to vote! One vote can make a difference, so make sure your voice is heard!" Demi also encouraged her fans to get out and vote themselves.

This is the first time Demi has posted anything on social media since she overdosed in July, but it's definitely not the first time she's been seen out in public.

We broke the story ... she's currently out of rehab after completing a 90-day program, and has been hanging with clothing line guru Henry Levy quite a bit since then. They were enjoying each other's company a lot this past weekend on back-to-back outings.

We're told Henry's been in and out of rehab since he was a teen, and actually met Demi while they were both in rehab. He recently brought her to an AA meeting as well.

Russell Crowe is pulling a Christian Bale ... fully immersing himself in his role as late Fox News chief Roger Ailes, and doing such a great job at it, you'd never recognize him on the street.

Crowe was seen shooting Tuesday in NYC for the upcoming limited TV series, "The Loudest Voice in the Room." As you can see, Crowe's makeup team is on point ... perfectly transforming him into the controversial media mogul, who died in 2017 after taking a serious fall.

The change reminds us of what Bale did to play former Veep Dick Cheney.

Ailes is a hot commodity in Hollywood. There's also a feature film about him in production which stars Charlize Theron as Ailes' nemesis, Megyn Kelly.

John Lithgow is playing Ailes in that movie, but we haven't seen him in full makeup yet.