Metallica frontman James Hetfield has filed divorce from Francesca Hetfield, his wife of 25 years, TMZ reports.
Apparently the documents were filed earlier this year but hasn’t been reported on until now.
The pair have three children together, Cali, 20, Marcella, 16, and Castor, 18.
Castor Hetfield, Marcella Hetfield, James Hetfield and Francesca Hetfield.
James, 59, and Francesa, 52, first met in 1992 and got married five years later.
While the couple has managed to live somewhat privately, James has previously credited Francesca for “helping him to mature,” according to Daily Mail.
Hetfield has always been open about personal battles such as his early ’00s struggle with alcohol addiction (some of which was detailed in the 2004 documentary ‘Some Kind of Monster’).
In 2016, he told of how Francesca helped him get sober at the time:
“My wife did the right thing — she kicked my ass right out of the house and that scared the sh-t out of me. She said, ‘Hey, you’re not just going to the therapist now and talking about this. You’ve got to go somewhere and sort this sh-t out.’
“So that’s what I did… What worked for me was seven weeks someplace – like, basically tearing you down to bones, ripping your life apart. Anything you thought about yourself or what it was, anything you thought you had, your family, your career, anything, gone. Strip you down to just — you’re born.
“Here’s how you were when you were born — you were okay. You were a good person. Let’s get back to that again. Then they slowly rebuild you.”
A relapse in 2019 caused the band’s Australia and New Zealand tour to be postponed as he checked in to rehab once again.
Upon successfully completing the program, James made his first public appearance in February of 2020, and has since returned to playing with the band.
