HUSH-HUSH RUSH

October 13, 2003 - Rush Limbaugh's battle with prescription drugs was
so private that even his wife may not have known, it was reported yesterday.

Marta Fitzgerald may have been just as shocked as his 15 million fans
to hear her hubby's on-air admission that he was hooked on painkillers
and had entered rehab twice, Newsweek magazine said.

"What's interesting is that [Limbaugh] apparently hid the pills from
his wife," an unidentified friend of the radio talk-show host told the
magazine.

"What did he tell his wife when he checked into the treatment center,
unless these were 24- to 48- hour clinics to clean out your system?
There's an awful lot of mystery about it," the friend said.

There were reports those were just the clinics he chose. Both times,
he reportedly checked into a 24-hour detox program in New York to kick
his hydrocodone (Vicadin), Lorcet and OxyContin habits.

Limbaugh's chemical dependency was so secretive that every friend the
magazine interviewed had no inkling the former ESPN commentator was an
addict.

"He's a very private man," said his friend, ex-federal drug czar Bill
Bennett. "[Limbaugh] takes his problems into himself."

Limbaugh's former housekeeper, Wilma Cline, blew the whistle on her
boss to the Palm Beach, Fla., state attorney's office last year. She
reportedly provided documentation that she sold Limbaugh more than
30,000 prescription pills between July 2001 and June 2002.

Limbaugh's cravings became so intense that he was allegedly popping up
to 30 OxyContin - the highly addictive, dangerous opiate derivative
known popularly as "hillbilly heroin" - pills a day, Cline said.

And this might have caused his sudden deafness a couple of years
ago.

Studies have shown large doses of hydrocodone or Lorcet, which
contains hydrocodone, can cause hearing loss, said Newsweek.

An electronic implant has helped Limbaugh regain most of his
hearing.

During his on-air confession last week, Limbaugh said he would seek a
30-day treatment at a rehab center for his addiction to prescription
drugs.

Sources have told The Post that Limbaugh may have checked himself into
the upscale Sierra Tucson facility in Tucson, Ariz.