Rehab At Own Request...

[The Australian Report]

Whitney back in rehab

From correspondents in New York
March 25, 2005

TROUBLED pop diva Whitney Houston has checked into a rehabilitation clinic for the second time in one year, her publicist's office said today.

Houston, who has waged a lengthy and public battle with drug addiction, entered the undisclosed facility at her own request, according to a brief statement from Nancy Seltzer Associates.

The multi-Grammy winner spent five days in a rehab clinic in March last year.

The 41-year-old diva and her husband, controversial R&B singer Bobby Brown, have long been the subject of tabloid headlines linking them to drugs.

In a television interview in late 2002, Houston acknowledged hard drug use, saying she had abused cocaine, marijuana, alcohol and prescription drugs, but denied she had used highly addictive crack cocaine.

In 2000, she was charged with a drug offence after authorities at a Hawaiian airport seized her handbag and allegedly found a small quantity of marijuana. The charges were later dropped.

Houston said in the 2002 television interview she had since managed to overcome her problem through prayer and faith.

Last month Houston was admitted to hospital in Paris with suspected food poisoning, after taking ill on a flight.

Brown also has a history of drug, as well as legal, problems.

In addition to a slew of Grammy Awards, Houston has brought home 21 American Music Awards, more than any female recording artist, and 15 Billboard Music Awards.

In February 1998, "Soul Train" bestowed its prestigious Quincy Jones Career Achievement Award upon Whitney; and in March 2000, she was honoured with the "Soul Train" Music Award as Female Artist Of the Decade.

NEWSFILE: 25 MARCH 2005