David Duchovny Angry Over Link to Sex Addiction ‘Myth’ Article

(The New York Post) - David Duchovny is unhappy about being named and pictured in a story about sex addiction being a "myth" and an excuse "for men who are in trouble with their wives."

The "X-Files" star, who famously went into treatment for sex addiction in 2008 when he and wife Tea Leoni briefly separated, won a Golden Globe for his role as a womanizing novelist on Showtime series "Californication."

But he was not amused and called in his lawyers when the New York Post ran a story on Sunday by clinical psychologist David J. Ley.

Ley, author of "The Myth of Sex Addiction," stated that while stars including Duchovny, Tiger Woods and Michael Douglas have been treated for the condition, "Sex addiction is nothing more than a pop-psychology phenomenon."

Ley wrote in the article, "Sex has no tolerance or withdrawal effects. No one has ever died from being unable to have sex, nor has anyone ever overdosed from sex."

He continued, "The majority of men who enter sex- addiction treatment do so because they're in trouble with their wives for infidelity or merely for wanting more sex than she does."

He concludes that treatment "has never been scientifically shown to have any effect, for a disorder that does not exist."

Duchovny's lawyer, Stanton L. Stein, fired off a letter to Ley, "We understand that your book characterizes sex addiction as a 'fictitious disease' used as an excuse for irresponsible behavior. Mr. Duchovny objects to being associated with your book in any way."

He demanded Ley makes no further use of Duchovny's name or likeness to promote it.

Duchovny is currently living in New York, after he reportedly again separated from Leoni earlier this year.

Stein said, "I am not complaining about whether sexual addiction is or is not an actual medical condition ... I am objecting to him using my client's picture in order to sell his book. The purpose of my letter was to tell him I don't want him using illegal pictures of my client in his book."

Read more: The New York Post

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