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I'll work on being friends with Richie. whee

Richie has checked himself into rehab. I found this online:


As Bon Jovi was getting unplugged, Richie Sambora may have become unhinged.

The shaggy-haired guitarist checked into a treatment facility Wednesday, a day after it was reported that he had trouble making it through the taping for an upcoming episode of MTV Unplugged.

"Richie Sambora has entered an undisclosed treatment facility in Los Angeles," a rep for Bon Jovi said in a statement to E! News. "He asks that you respect he and his family's privacy at this time."

In the midst of promoting its new country-rock hybrid Lost Highway, due out June 19, Bon Jovi was in the studio Tuesday shooting the concert special, which will premiere June 22 on MTV, with subsequent telecasts June 23 on VH1 and June 24 on CMT.

The stripped-down set was inspired in part by Jon Bon Jovi and Sambora's triumphant acoustic turn at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards, in which the longtime pals performed "Wanted Dead or Alive" using just two guitars and their voices.

Well, even the finest of instruments need a little fine-tuning sometimes.

Someone privy to the scene on Tuesday told perezhilton.com that Sambora looked out of it the whole time and, as the New Jersey-rooted rockers were launching into "Wanted Dead or Alive," Sambora couldn't keep up and Jon Bon Jovi had to call for another take. And then another, just to make sure.

"They had a whole bunch of musicians onstage for most of the night to cover his mistakes on the guitar and would turn his mike off so he couldn't be off-key," the source told the blogger.

Whatever the case, Sambora has now opted to get some help.

There's no word yet on whether this will affect Bon Jovi's summer travel plans, which include a handful of European tour dates, starting June 24 in London. The band mates have already announced that an official world tour to back Lost Highway, their 10th studio album, will not kick off until 2008.

While Sambora has been busy as usual on the music front, the past year has not been an easy one for the 47-year-old father of one.

He parted ways with girlfriend Denise Richards a few months ago, and then his divorce from Heather Locklear became official in April. Also that month, he lost his father to lung cancer. Although she and Sambora were no longer a couple by then, Richards attended the funeral. She told People in February that her mother was also suffering from cancer and that she and her former beau had been helping each other cope.


I want to send all my thoughts out to Richie and his family. I hope all gets better for him.

I'm pretty sure he's there for alcohol.

I was curious as to what he was going into rehab for but it makes sense. Maybe he turned to alcohol when his father passed away.

Poor guy. I just saw some pictures of him & Denise richards swimmiing together. I didn't even know it was him. He's overweight & I could barely see that it was him. He is not looking to good, the poor guy.

Hope he gets better sad

AND he's looking great!