Sideshow: Howard divorce is going mega-ugly

The months-long Terrence Howard-Michelle Ghent conflict raging in L.A. County Superior Court, which gossipers have dubbed the ugliest divorce of the year, has gone nuclear.

Michelle filed for divorce in February, barely a year after their January 2010 wedding. Things have gone south since then. Two weeks ago, Michelle was granted a restraining order after claiming Terrence beat her. (He has denied her allegations.)

According to court records obtained by TMZ, Terrence has filed his own restraining order, claiming Michelle has threatened to kill him.

Terrence, 42, who maintains a manse in Lafayette Hill, claims Michelle transformed during their marriage from "a loving, gentle" woman to a racist monster. Noting that he is black while Michelle is not, Terrence says his wife often insulted him using racist epithets.

He asserts that she threatened to have him "clipped" by hitmen if he exposed her attempt to extort him. (Terrence says Michelle threatened to release a video that reportedly shows him doing something embarrassing in a state of undress.)

"I have a lot of Russian friends," he claims Michelle said, "who would [kill you] as a favor."

Michelle's lawyer has yet to return TMZ's calls for comment. Terrence's request for a restraining order will be reviewed at a Jan. 17 court date.

Breakout child artist Rebecca Black owns 2011 - on YouTube. The 14-year-old Anaheim, Calif., native's vanity release "Friday" (Mom paid $4,000 to get the song and vid released) was the top-viewed vid on YouTube with 180 mil hits, the company announced on Tuesday. The song has been played so many times, it annoys some people. Not us. Nope.

The runner-up, "Ultimate Dog Tease," is a true amateur vid. It features Some Random Dude taunting (sadistically?) his Pooch with food and mocks the animal's verbal responses. Third is all pro: A Saturday Night Live skit featuring Michael Bolton as a crazed Pirates of the Caribbean fan.

Like it or not, Jon Bon Jovi is not dead. A fake Internet report said the Jersey arena rocker was found comatose in the Empress Hotel in Asbury Park and later pronounced dead. Chances are, one of your Facebook friends shared it in the rush to be the first to spread the non-news. To prove he is undead, Bon Jovi has released a photo of his living self.

- Dan DeLuca

Will & Grace star Debra Messing, 43, and hub actor-producer Daniel Zelman, 44, have split up, says Us Weekly. They wed in 2000 and have a 7-year-old son, Roman.

Deep Throat star Linda Lovelace's contribution to American culture was incalculable, according to Tinseltown, which is making not one, but two biopics about her! Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story, will star Malin Akerman as Linda, Matt Dillon as her husband, and Sasha Grey and Paz de la Huerta as her porn pals.

Lovelace, by Howl co-helmers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, will feature Amanda Seyfried and Peter Sarsgaard as the Lovelaces and Hank Azaria as Linda's porn director.

HBO gave out some bad holiday news Tuesday to three of its series. Hung (just nominated for a Golden Globe), Bored to Death, and How to Make It in America are all axed.

Laura Dern's Enlightened, which snagged two Golden Globe noms, was picked up for a second season. Of the four comedies, Hung got the best ratings, notes Deadline.com.

Daniel Craig, 43, says he had a ball playing Mikael Blomkvist in David Fincher's English-language film adaptation of Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Craig, who has to look like a man of steel to play James Bond, says that for his new role, he let his hair down, and his gut out. "I just stopped working out and ate what I wanted to eat," he said. Blomkvist's life "is in shambles and he's not been drinking or sleeping and if I looked kind of in great shape it wouldn't have worked."