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.