R. Kelly keeps up his outgoing lifestyle despite legal problems, publicist says

Gulp!

Food for thought.

Singer R. Kelly, who is carrying a load of sexual assault charges, is still finding time to shoot hoops and take care of his stomach.

“He’s not hiding and he’s eating out,” said his publicist, Darrell Johnson.

Sneed hears the embattled R&B superstar, whose lawyers asked a Cook County judge Thursday to throw out a civil sexual abuse case filed against Kelly because the statute of limitations had expired, was spotted recently at top Rush Street eateries — including Tavern on Rush and Gibsons, where he was greeted by gladhanders eager for pictures with the singer.

A top Sneed source who dined with Kelly at Gibsons last week — but who asked to remain anonymous — stated:

“What is really surprising ... is when he [Kelly] dines out, he gets no negativity from anybody.

• Translation: No spitter Twitter.

Kelly is not getting the kind of treatment President Donald Trump’s son Eric received at a Chicago eatery last week when a waitress spat at him.

“In fact, patrons ask for pictures with him, not of him! Not everybody asks for autographs these days. They want an instant hit. Photos. It makes it easy on everybody.

“He [Kelly] is also being advised not to go places frequented by the ‘millennials.’ Those places he avoids. He knows he’s got security issues,” the source added.

“But he isn’t laying low! He frequently smokes his favorite cigars outside Trump Tower where he lives! And was doing so at Tavern on Rush last week.”

It’s no secret Kelly, precluded by the court from leaving the state, has been killing time shooting hoops.

“But now it’s at least three days a week with his neighborhood buddies at an indoor court on the South Side, losing weight and doing cardio five days a week,” said Johnson.

“Last Tuesday, we had a great time dining on Rush Street — along with his attorney Steve Greenberg — where people were coming up to his table in droves,” said Johnson.

“Look, at the end of the day, it is what it is and he [Kelly] is looking forward to his day in court,” Johnson added.

“Right now he is looking forward to the release of his first recording [since the latest indictments] hopefully in the next few months — and being able to tour and working with artists on more spiritual songs.”

Be still my tongue.

Postcards from the heart...

It’s been four funerals and no weddings on my calendar this month.

So forgive me Kimbeth Judge, widow of my former Chicago Tribune city editor Bernard Judge, for not being able to attend the funeral of your beloved husband, whom I certainly knew longer than most people quoted in his obit.

Bernie, who was four years older than I when we worked together during an era we called the golden age of newspaper journalism in the 1970s and early ‘80s, was an editor who began with a typewriter.

Brilliantly driven by street sense, Bernie had little use for journalistic dandies sporting fancy degrees who thought they knew it all.

They may have known how to spell, but Bernie knew to smell ... a story.

And wowee was the night Bernie clocked a cocky, well-known author/Pulitzer Prize-winning Tribune reporter outside the legendary, long-gone Riccardo’s watering hole one night.

When it was over, it was good juju. They drank together.

But I think Bernie would agree the greatest accomplishment of his wonderfully magic life was his wife, Kimbeth — the headline of his very storied career — and his beloved children.

Kim was right when she said she said she married “a storm.”

How lucky Bernie was to choose such brilliant shelter.

Love to you, Kimbeth. Forgive my negligence in his final days. My heart breaks.

I spy...

Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood spotted Saturday night at Gibsons posing for pictures ad infinitum. . . . Former TV personality Star “The View” Jones spotted last Friday night at a cocktail party at Ocean Prime for U.S. Congresswoman Robin Kelly. . . . Water wizard/Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps also spotted at Ocean Prime, natch.

Sneedlings...

Top spots: Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Dem presidential hopeful and former Obama veep Joe Biden, lunching Friday at the home of R4 Services CEO Trish Rooney with friends Dia Weil, Carole Browne and Rebekah Shalit. . . . Saturday’s birthdays: Kawhi Leonard, 28; Suzette Quintanilla, 52; and Charlamagne tha God, 41. . . . Sunday’s birthdays: Michael Phelps, 34; Mike Tyson, 53; and Cole Swindell, 36. . . . And a special belated birthday to Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, ageless and incomparable.