Terrence Howard, ex-wife: Strained & restrained

OCCASIONAL Philadelphian Terrence Howard is in hot water again after being slapped with a restraining order sought by his ex-wife, Michelle Ghent.

TMZ.com reported that Michelle claims that Terrence beat her up in Costa Rica last week, and she showed up in court with a black eye to "prove" it.

Terrence is now forbidden from coming within 100 yards of Michelle until the couple is back in court for another hearing later this month. And he shouldn't think about calling, emailing, Facebooking, IMing or tweeting her, either.

Although Michelle's shiner was not brought up in court, what was discussed were the IMs Michelle sent Terrence in May, in which she threatened to kill him and his family. Her lawyer argued that those messages were misleading and incomplete. TMZ also said that Michelle threatened Terrence again in Costa Rica, according to a police report.

Terrence also sought a restraining order against Michelle, but his request was not granted. We guess that if he's not allowed within 100 yards of her, she's sort of, by definition, not allowed within 100 yards him.

Tattle has no idea what type of odd family vacations the Howards go on, but Michelle (who divorced Terrence in May) seems to have been on holiday with him and his family when a big-time argument escalated to blows.

Terrence says that Michelle maced him and other family members, including an adult daughter and son-in-law. He insists that he never touched Michelle.

Usher's 5-year-old son, Usher Raymond V, was in the ICU at an Atlanta hospital yesterday after he nearly drowned Monday, TMZ.com reported. Usher was not home at the time.

The boy was reportedly playing in the pool with his aunt when he dove to get a stuck toy and got his arm stuck in a drain. The aunt couldn't pull him out, a maid dove in and couldn't pull him out, but fortunately there was an audio-visual contractor in the house at the time and he was able to dive in and free the boy.

CPR was administered on site and he was rushed to the hospital. Doctors expect him to be okay.

* Acclaimed crime novelist Elmore Leonard is recovering from a stroke suffered last week.

Leonard's longtime researcher, Gregg Sutter, said yesterday that his family was guardedly optimistic about the 87-year-old author's condition.

You can never tell, however, with strokes, as Tattle knows all too well.

Many of Leonard's books - notably "Out of Sight," "Get Shorty" and "Be Cool" - have become films. "Life of Crime," based on Leonard's "The Switch," is to be screened at the Toronto Film Festival next month.

* Al Roker overslept for the first time in 39 years yesterday and missed his 6 a.m. show on the Weather Channel.

Usually, viewers sleep through the show.

The good news? There was still weather yesterday.

* Denzel Washington will narrate a PBS documentary about the 1963 March on Washington for civil rights.

PBS told the Television Critics Association on Monday that Denzel had just completed taping his narration for "The March," airing Aug. 27, a day after the 50th anniversary of the march that featured Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

* According to a tweet from Sylvester Stallone, reported by USA Today, which must read Sly's tweets, Harrison Ford will sub for Bruce Willis in "Expendables 3."

As if the median age of the series could get any older.

* "Kick-Ass 2" director Jeff Wadlow is defending his film after star Jim Carrey chose not to promote it because of its violence.

Carrey, who plays vigilante Colonel Stars and Stripes in the sequel to the 2010 hit, has distanced himself from the film, saying that the shooting massacre at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary school changed his perspective.

Wadlow says that Carrey is as unpredictable in real life as he is as an actor, and "you never know what he is going to do or say." He says he hopes that people will see the movie and judge for themselves.

He adds that in many ways the movie is less violent than its predecessor, with more hand-to-hand combat and fewer guns.

* Fame has opened a door for a former Gaza wedding singer that remains closed for others in the blockaded territory: Mohammed Assaf, winner of the popular TV talent contest "Arab Idol" is getting to move to the travel-restricted West Bank.

Cases of Gazans being permitted to move to the West Bank are extremely rare.

Guy Inbar, an Israeli military spokesman, confirmed yesterday that Israel has granted West Bank residency to Assaf, his sister, brother-in-law and the couple's three children. Inbar said that Israel responded to a request by the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank-based self-rule government of President Mahmoud Abbas.

When Assaf won "Arab Idol" in Beirut in June, he became a symbol of Palestinian pride, and Abbas embraced him as a national hero.

In contrast, the Islamic militant Hamas rulers of Gaza gave Assaf a cool reception when he briefly visited Gaza after his win. Hamas views contests such as "Arab Idol" as frivolous and opposes them on religious grounds.

Imagine what they would think of "The Bachelorette."

- Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

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