David Duchovny cheated on his wife for years before finally entering a rehab clinic for sex addiction according to a US magazine.

The X Files star allegedly agreed to seek treatment after heartbroken Tea Leoni discovered his indiscretions and threatened to divorce him.

‘He said Tea gave him an ultimatum: Get treatment or our marriage is over,’ a source is quoted as telling the National Enquirer.

Ultimatum: David Duchovny's wife Tea reportedly threatened to divorce him unless he got treatment for sex addiction

‘She felt it was ruining their marriage and affecting their kids.’

The actor has been married to the Deep Impact actress for 11 years, and the couple have a daughter, Madelaine West, nine, and a six-year-old son, Kyd.

According to the source, Duchovny has admitted that he is compulsively driven to be unfaithful and finds it impossible to turn down the legions of women who offer themselves to him.

Leoni is said to have grown suspicious of her husband’s behaviour in recent months and after questioning him on a number of occasions, the 48-year-old finally admitted that he had been cheating on her.

Duchovny checked into The Meadows facility in Arizona last week and is currently completing a 35 day course. His wife has been to visit him at the centre several times.

Duchovny with his co-star Gillian Anderson at The X-Files movie premiere earlier this year

‘Tea drove to The Meadows every day during the four days she was in town,’ the source is quoting as saying.

Although they are still very much in love, the pair's marriage is though to be hanging by a thread.

In a statement, before his admittance the actor said: 'I have voluntarily entered a facility for the treatment of sex addiction

'I ask for respect and privacy for my wife and children as we deal with this situation as a family.'

At the height of Duchovny's stardom in the mid 1990s, it was widely reported he had suffered from sex addiction after cheating on a string of girlfriends.

However, the actor fiercely denied the claims, saying the idea was 'hurtful'.

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Gone to rehab: Actor David Duchovny, who has been playing an oversexed writer on his new show Californication, has been admitted to rehab for sex addiction

Although Duchovny has insisted he has never been unfaithful to Miss Leoni, he recently admitted he had often questioned whether fidelity was possible.

At the beginning of his career, Duchovny starred in the erotic TV series, Red Shoe Diaries, but it was his role as Special Agent Fox Mulder in The X-Files that made him a household name.

The show, which became one of the most popular series of the Nineties, ran for eight years before drawing to a close in 2001.

The film, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, was released in cinemas in July but was panned by critics and delivered poor box office figures.

Ironically the actor plays a sex- obsessed womaniser in raunchy TV series Californication.