Whitney's lawyer hits back

WHITNEY Houston's lawyer attacked a newspaper report that the singer was treated at a Miami Beach hospital last week after popping too many prescription diet pills.

''She has never taken a diet pill in her life,'' lawyer Sheldon Platt said. ''She's outraged. She's hurt. It is a total fabrication. There is absolutely no basis in fact.'' According to the New York Post, the 29-year-old went to hospital last Thursday after complaining to her husband, Bobby Brown, of nausea and lightheadedness. The newspaper said Houston had acute heart arrhythmia.

''We've checked extensively, and we have no record of her being here,'' a Mount Sinai Hospital spokesman said.