Terrence Howard Ordered to Pay Ex-Wife $1.3 Mil in Spousal Support

Terrence Howard's success heading into the final season "Empire" just bit him in the ass -- or should we say the wallet -- because a judge is ordering him to give his ex-wife a huge chunk of his TV earnings.

Michelle Ghent scored a 7-figure W Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court when the judge said enough is enough, and ruled Terrence must pay her $1.3 million. About $263k of that is reportedly back spousal support -- and another $1.05 million is based on the fact he's pulling in big money.

Terrence is reportedly now making north of $250k per episode of "Empire." Michelle and Terrence's money battles have been dragging on since 2013 -- and, by comparison, he was only hauling in somewhere around $120k per episode in 2015, when the show debuted.

TMZ broke the story, Michelle filed docs last year requesting her ex pay her more than $900k in back spousal support, so today's ruling -- first reported by the NY Daily News -- is a massive legal victory for her.

There's more bad news on the horizon for Terrence -- Michelle's attorneys fees.

On Friday, the judge said the fees looked "reasonable" and set a hearing for next week to determine exactly how much he'll have to pay -- but Michelle says the tab is expected to be more than $1 million.