LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles judge has admonished actor Terrence Howard for taking photos of reporters during a hearing on his divorce settlement. Howard snapped a photo of the audience, which included journalists covering the hearing on Tuesday in which the Oscar-nominated actor is trying to overturn a settlement agreement with his ex-wife. No photography is allowed in Los Angeles courthouses without a court order. Howard told reporters before a break that they were always prying in his business but didn't want scrutiny themselves. After the break, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Thomas Trent Lewis admonished Howard and briefly confiscated his cellphone so a deputy could verify the photos had been deleted. “Terrence Howard agreed to a 2012 divorce settlement with his ex-wife after she threatened to leak details about his sex life,” his attorney said Tuesday at a hearing on the actor's efforts to overturn the agreement. Attorney Brian Kramer later played audio of a 2011 telephone conversation between Howard and his ex-wife Michelle Ghent in which she said she would sell information if he didn't pay her. She said she had video of Howard singing naked in the bathroom and could sell the footage for $2 million. She also referred to alleged affairs by the actor and said she had called the Internal Revenue Service to report improper deductions. Howard contends the statements by Ghent amounted to extortion and that the divorce settlement should be overturned. — AP
