Pubdate: Tue, 16 Mar 2004
Source: Rolling Stone (US)
Copyright: 2004 Straight Arrow Publishers Company, L.P.
Contact:  http://www.rollingstone.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/373
Author: Marc W. Dolech

WHITNEY CHECKS INTO REHAB

Singer Seeks Help Amid Tumultuous Time

Whitney Houston has checked into an undisclosed drug rehabilitation 
facility for treatment. A statement from the R&B singer's publicist said 
that Houston thanks fans for "their support and prayers," but no further 
information was available.

The news comes amid a tumultuous few years for Houston. In early 2000, she 
was charged with marijuana possession after a bag she left in Hawaii's 
Keahole Kona International Airport was found to have pot inside. The arrest 
was followed by other rumors of chemical dependency, as Us Weekly (a sister 
publication of Rolling Stone), ran a story later that year in which a 
source close to Houston said that family and friends had attempted an 
intervention to send the singer to rehab. Houston alluded to drug abuse 
problems in a December 2002 interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC's Primetime.

Houston has also been dealing with the incarceration of her husband of ten 
years, Bobby Brown. Brown was arrested in December for allegedly striking 
Houston during a dispute at their Atlanta home. That incident and others 
qualified as a probation violation that sent Brown to prison for sixty days 
starting late last month.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager