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Blake Shelton Suing Tabloid For False Accusations: ‘I Have Never Been To Rehab’

By Lindsay McCane
Published on: 12:41 PST, Mar 17, 2016

Blake Shelton is taking action against a tabloid that published false rumors about him.

According to Entertainment Tonight, the 39-year-old country singer and The Voice coach filed a lawsuit in October, 2015, over an article published in InTouch Weekly last year. The magazine claimed Shelton entered rehab after filing for divorce from his wife of four years, fellow country music singer Miranda Lambert. Now, Blake is saying that isn’t true at all, and he is suing the publication for $2 million, citing defamation and false invasion of privacy.

Blake Shelton said he was “furious” when he heard about the article that suggested he had a drinking problem and was “a man who cannot function, cannot do his job, and is on the brink of death without treatment.”

“Not only was I not in rehab or headed to rehab when it was published, but I also do not have a drinking problem,” he said in the lawsuit against InTouch Weekly’s parent company, Bauer Media. “All of this was false and went so far beyond prior stories about me that I had previously denied with humor.”

Blake Shelton has been the subject of rumors for years, and he admits he generally laughs them off. However, the article suggested that his drinking problem caused him to be unprofessional and was jeopardizing his career. According to Wonderwall, InTouch wrote that “His [Shelton’s] friends are terrified that he could end up dead at this rate,” and then added that they had staged an intervention to help him with his excessive drinking.

“I do not drink excessively, binge drink, or have a drinking problem. I do not, as the Rehab Story alleges, drink vodka before 11:00 a.m. I am never drunk, intoxicated, or unable to perform my job on The Voice or elsewhere,” Shelton said.

“I do not slur my words or stumble when I drink,” he continued. “I have never urinated on a mailbox in public, or otherwise. I did not start drinking at 14. I did not start drinking as a teenager. I did not start drinking to cope with my brother’s death.”

The InTouch Weekly article also took jabs at Blake Shelton over his divorce from Lambert. The tabloid claimed the pair divorced because Shelton was unfaithful and was sleeping around with other women. However, Blake Shelton insists that isn’t true.

“My ex-wife Miranda Lambert did not catch me with a bunch of naked women in our Tennessee home one night,” Blake said, before adding, “Ms. Lambert did not tape me while drinking and then show me a video of myself the following day. During our marriage, Ms. Lambert never begged, demanded, or asked me to go to rehab…I did not handle my first divorce by drinking, nor has my drinking increased or escalated since my divorce from Ms. Lambert.”

Despite Shelton’s claims of innocence, in February, Bauer Media said they stand by their statements, and they believe Blake does have a drinking problem based on the information he posts on his social media accounts.

“Shelton ignores that he has staked his reputation on heavy drinking: he tweets more than 15 million Twitter followers almost daily with messages crowing about how much he drinks and is famous for his signature Twitter tagline, ‘Drunk,'” the company’s attorney wrote in the motion to strike Blake’s lawsuit.

Since Shelton and Lambert’s divorce, both have moved on to other relationships. Blake is currently dating his fellow The Voice coach Gwen Stefani, while Miranda has moved on with singer-songwriter Anderson East.

[Photo by Rich Polk/Stringer/Getty Images]

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