Minnelli Back in Rehab

Liza Minnelli is back in rehab for what her publicist called an eight-week "self-help" program.

Her publicist Warren Cowan said Minnelli went into the Caron centre in rural Pennsylvania two weeks ago but was unsure when

Four times married Minnelli, 57, has battled addictions to alcohol and painkillers for years and came near death in 2000 after a bout of viral encephalitis.

But she re-launched both her career and her personal life with her marriage to producer David Gest in March last year.

The couple announced a party at New York's Times Square for 1,200 celebrity friends to celebrate their first anniversary but called it off, citing the war with Iraq.

Minnelli and Gest are currently embroiled in a legal fight over their aborted television reality series and were sued this week by a contractor over allegedly unpaid home repair bills.