Pop diva Whitney Houston back in rehab

Pop diva Whitney Houston has checked back into a drug rehabilitation programme, a year after first entering a programme for substance abuse, her publicist said today.

It was not immediately clear where Houston was seeking treatment or when the Grammy-winning singer and actress had first entered the facility.

"Whitney Houston has re-entered a facility for rehabilitation," publicist Nancy Seltzer said in a brief statement.

Houston, 41, first checked into a drug rehab centre in March 2004 after a string of cancelled appearances and erratic behaviour.

Last month she was taken to a hospital in Paris after becoming ill from food poisoning on a flight bound for France. In January, she was cited by police after rear-ending a city bus with her sports car near her Atlanta-area home.

In a 2002 interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer, Houston admitted to using alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and prescription drugs, but said then a spiritual advisor had helped her stop taking drugs.

Her husband, Bobby Brown, has a history of run-ins with the law, including battery charges after a domestic dispute with Houston in December 2003 and a probation violation for drunken driving in February 2004.

Houston was just 21 when her first album became the biggest-selling debut by a female recording artist at that time.

In 1992, she starred in her first feature film The Bodyguard opposite Kevin Costner, and sang the theme song I Will Always Love You, which went on to become the biggest-selling single in music history at that time.

- REUTERS