Whitney Houston admits drug use

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Whitney Houston has publicly confirmed long-running rumors that she has abused drugs, but the Grammy-winning singer insisted that her drug problem is behind her.

In an interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer, Houston said she had abused a variety of both legal and illegal drugs.

"Is it alcohol? Is it marijuana? Is it cocaine? Is it pills?" Sawyer asked.

"It has been at times," said Houston.

"All?" said Sawyer.

"At times. Uh-hm," said Houston.

The interview is scheduled to air Wednesday on the ABC News program "Primetime." It is part of a promotional blitz Houston is conducting on behalf of her new CD, "Just Whitney," which arrives in stores next Tuesday.

The promotional campaign also includes a scheduled live performance at the outdoor plaza of the Lincoln Center in New York this Sunday, which will be taped for airing on ABC's "Good Morning America" next Tuesday.

In the interview with Sawyer -- conducted at the Atlanta home Houston shares with her husband, singer Bobby Brown -- Houston said she was her own worst enemy when it came to drug abuse.

"It's my deciding ... it's my heart," she said. "Nobody makes me do anything I don't want to do. It's my decision. So the bigger devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy. And that's how I have to deal with it."

Houston said her drug use was largely a reaction to having lived a very straight life before achieving career success.

"My business is sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll," she said. "But as you get older and you get wiser ... you stop a lot of the kid stuff ... I had no time to grow up, I had no time to party. I didn't even ... date in my 20s. It was rough. I think I kind of reverted back as I got older and said, 'Well, I'm just gonna party,'" Houston said.

Houston said she is "addicted to a few things," including "making love," but she said she is not a drug addict.

"I don't like to think of myself addicted," she said. "I like to think ... I had a bad habit ... which can be broken."

The six-time Grammy-winning singer said she has spoken with people who have been in drug rehab programs, and decided that she needed to fight her drug problem on her own.

"I looked in my soul to see what was missing," Houston said. "And it was the spirit man that was missing. That they were trying to suck dry out of me. My spiritual being. And once I refueled that ... I put gasoline in that ... I'm good to go. ... If I hold on to that ... I can be strong enough to fight the battle."

Responding to questions about her physical appearance -- including observations that she has appeared extraordinarily thin in recent public appearances -- Houston said she is not sick, anorexic or bulimic.

"I've always been a thin girl," said Houston. "I am not going to be fat, ever. Let's get that straight. Whitney is not going to be fat, ever. OK?"

Brown also talked about his drug use with Sawyer.

"Me and drugs," said Brown, "we're not friends. We're not friends at all ... used to smoke a lot of marijuana ... a lot."

"But marijuana's still in your life," said Sawyer.

"I'm a very high-strung person ... I'm bipolar," said Brown. "It seems to help me ... from going up and down ... I'm diagnosed bipolar. And it helps me to keep ... a level in my life, you know?"

Brown said he smokes a joint "every now and then ... it's not an every day thing."

Houston stopped short of assuring Sawyer that she can live without drugs entirely, but she said drugs don't excite her now the way they did when the experience was new.

"I partied, and, it's done," she said.