James Hetfield has split from his wife

The former couple have children Cali, 24, Castor, 22, and Marcella, 20, together and are said to still be in contact for the sake of their brood.

The 59-yeaar-old singer has previously credited Francesca, 52, for helping him overcome his anger and alcohol issues.

He previously said: "Fear was a big motivator in that for me. Losing my family, that was the thing that scared me so much, that was the bottom I hit, that my family is going to go away because of my behaviours that I brought home from the road.

"I got kicked out of my house by my wife, I was living on my own somewhere, I did not want that.

"She kicked my ass right out of the house and that scared the s*** 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 s*** out,' so that's what I did."

The 'Enter Sandman' hitmaker was determined to "make it work" with his wife because of his own fractured upbringing.

He said: "Maybe as part of my upbringing, my family kind of disintegrated when I was a kid," he explained. "Father left, mother passed away, had to live with my brother, and then kind of just, where did my stuff go? It just kind of floated away, and I do not want that happening. No matter what's going on, we're going to talk this stuff out, and make it work."