*** National Enquirer ***
"EXCLUSIVE: BOOZY RIHANNA IN CRISIS"
May 21, 2012
by LYNN ALLISON
RIHANNA is in a desperate life-or-death battle with liver damage
caused by years of boozing and out-of-control partying, sources tell
The ENQUIRER exclusively.
The Grammy winner, 24, was hospitalized after an early May bender,
and her reckless behavior, coupled with her grueling work schedule,
has friends and experts warning that she’s on a fast track to becoming
the next Whitney Houston.
“Rihanna is spiraling out of control and is headed for an early
grave,” said one concerned insider. “It never seems to be one beer or
one cocktail. Once she gets started, Rihanna pounds drinks all night
long, sometimes until the sun comes up. She definitely goes on binges.
“She’s been a hard drinker since her teens and her friends and family
are desperately urging her to get into rehab.”
Medical experts say the sexy singer’s drinking habits could be deadly.
“Rihanna could be dead tomorrow from liver failure,” Orlando-based,
board-certified physician Dr. Gabe Mirkin told The ENQUIRER.
Although he has not treated the hard-drinking entertainer, Dr. Mirkin
noted: “Anybody who drinks alcohol for more than two hours a day, even
if it is binge drinking once a week, is looking at premature death.
“Once the liver is permanently damaged, it’s over.”
Dr. Robert Waldman, consultant to the Cliffside Malibu treatment
center and a 25-year veteran of addiction medicine, agreed that
Rihanna is a disaster waiting to happen. “The earlier you start to
drink, the more the body becomes dependent on alcohol,” he told The
ENQUIRER.
“It can cause deadly cirrhosis of the liver and alcohol poisoning –
even at her age.”
Rihanna’s world came crashing down earlier this month. She missed a
“Saturday Night Live” final dress rehearsal and needed a shot of
penicillin to make it through her May 5 performance.
And on May 8, she tweeted a picture of her arm hooked up to an intrave
nous drip, claiming she was suffering from a nasty bout of the flu, a
day after attending the Costume Institute Gala in New York. She was
reportedly hospitalized for exhaustion and dehydration.
Ratcheting up her stress, she’s coming off a grueling tour last year,
and she’s been flying all over the world to promote her film
“Battleship.” Rihanna recovered from her frightening hospitalization
to make it to the May 10 L.A. premiere, but then she alarmed onlookers
by skipping dinner, opting to chew gum and drink a lime cocktail
instead.
Two days later, she was seen partying until 4 a.m. in a New York
nightclub.
Sadly, the entertainer, whose father is a former crack addict, appears
to be continuing her nonstop pace – blazing a round-the-world party
trail since she started the year knocking back beers and smoking pot
during a Hawaiian vacation.
“I think Rihanna is destroying her liver,” warned the insider. “She’ll
wind up dead like Whitney Houston if she doesn’t get help fast!”
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/celebrity/exclusive-boozy-rihanna-crisis