Mark Owen has to excuse his indiscretions in some way (Tiger Woods blamed the media for hounding his family to make his alleged liaisons with the likes of Jamie Jungers look less bad) so he's spoken to a tabloid to reveal all about his 'booze hell'. But with God as his witness (and Robbie Williams), he will 'overcome his drink demons'....

Owen, who apropos of nothing just decided to pour his heart out to The Sun (confessing to sleeping with up to ten women) revealed to the tabloid today:

"I told the lads a few weeks ago that I am trying to deal with a drink problem. I spoke to Rob about it, too. I have had issues for a long time. I've drunk for the last ten years and it got to a bad point.

 

"When I was up in the Lakes, living there for all those years on my own, I used to just drink every night. I never really saw the problem. I carried on drinking through my relationship with Emma and it got to the point where she asked me to stop."

Meanwhile wife Emma has now been photographed without her wedding ring...

He added:

"I've never liked drinking during the day but once the kids went to bed, I'd get the bottle open and off I went. I have been a prat. I wasn't thinking - I don't think logically when I'm drunk. I'm not the person I want to be when I'm drunk. I can be a nightmare to live with."

But he insists that he's not blaming his drinking on his flings, one which lasted five years with a 24-year-old accounts manager called Neva Hanley.

"I want to make it absolutely clear I am not using the drink as an excuse. I've been living with the guilt. Maybe the drink was my way of dealing with the guilt, I don't know. My drinking is another problem I have and it hasn't helped. But I'm not blaming everything on it."

Most of it though. But a brief stint in a rehab will have it all resolved...