Actor David Duchovny, best known for his role as Fox Mulder on the FOX TV series The X-Files and its related movies, checked himself into a rehab facility for sex addiction, according to news reports and a statement released by his lawyer yesterday.
Duchovny, 48, is married to actress Tea Leoni; they have two children. He is currently starring in the Showtime series Californication. In it, he plays a curmudgeonly writer named Hank Moody with self-destructive tendencies—among them a lecherous lifestyle.
In 2000, ScientificAmerican.com's own Ivan Oransky wrote a story about sex addiction—which is still not officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association—for Rx.magazine. In the piece, John Sealy, a Torrance, Calf.-based psychiatrist calls the condition that has been said to plague 8 percent of men and 3 percent of women as "a pathological relationship with a mood-altering experience with associated denial of escalating adverse consequences and/or loss of control." (Well, that clears it up.)
So-called sex addicts often also suffer from depression and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder and may be hooked on alcohol, crystal meth or cocaine. According to the article, the best treatment for sex addiction is a 12-step program similar to Alcoholics Anonymous combined with individual psychotherapy sessions.
The news may finally provide an answer to singer/songwriter Bree Sharp's 1999 cult-hit "David Duchovny," in which she asked the actor, "David Duchovny, why won't you love me?" (See poor-quality YouTube video below.)
