14 DAY TRIAL // As per his own admission, Blake Shelton is a man who likes an occasional drink, but that doesn’t mean that he has an alcohol-related problem - let alone that he’s “hit rock bottom” and is in dire need to go to rehab, as InTouch claimed in its September 28 issue.
The country crooner and television personality is taking legal action against the weekly for the story, which, among other things, also alleged that his downward spiral was due to his divorce from Miranda Lambert.
The “rehab” story
As you can see in the photo attached, InTouch made it sound as if Blake’s life was seconds from going off the rails in the aftermath of his divorce from Miranda.
The two explained in a statement that they decided to go their separate ways because it was the best for both, but the rumor mill attributed the split to anything from cheating to too much boozing.
InTouch took that and ran with that last story freely: citing the usual “unnamed insiders,” it claimed that the country crooner had “finally hit rock bottom” and was in such a bad shape that his friends feared he would end up dead if they didn’t stage an intervention for him STAT.
The report also alleged that his drinking problem wasn’t new, even though it had become a raging one after the divorce: Blake’s boozing and womanizing had “torpedoed” his marriage, but it only imploded after Miranda caught him “with a bunch of naked women” in their home.
Blake doesn’t have a drinking problem or plans to check into rehab
As it turns out, none of that was true and Blake is done amusing himself on social media with the stuff the tabloids write about him. While he found reports that he was sleeping with his Voice co-star Gwen Stefani hilarious (and even joked that they should totally hook up since the media already believes that they are), he draws the line at the topic of addiction.
“In his lawsuit, filed in LA County Superior Court by Shelton's attorney Larry Stein, Shelton says he's NOT in rehab and has no plans to go to rehab - and he wants to set the record straight by suing In Touch's parent company, Bauer Media,” TMZ reports.
He’s not just setting the record straight, he’s also determined on taking a stand because he’s seeking “at least”$2 million (€1.7 million) in damages from the publication.
As of the time of writing, InTouch is yet to address the pending lawsuit.