Whitney Houston Is ‘Great,’ Has Allergies

As she was about to take to stage in Paris, as part of her current international tour, Whitney Houston canceled her appearance and pushed back a few more, this time in the UK, as her health took a turn for the worse. Her rep said it was a respiratory infection that prevented her from doing the dates, the rumor mill claimed it was a relapse into drug use.

Concerned fans can now breathe a sigh of relief as Whitney herself is telling People magazine her hospitalization was nothing out of the ordinary. Each spring, she gets a bad case of the allergies, and this year was no exception. Though she’s in a “great” shape and in excellent health, the allergies did make it impossible for her to perform live for her fans as she would have liked and they deserved, so it was considered that canceling the Paris show was the best alternative.

“It was allergies, not a relapse, says Whitney Houston, who’s now out of the hospital and eager to return to the stage. ‘I’m feeling great,’ she tells People exclusively. ‘I’m just ready to move on and continue my world tour.’ Hospitalized earlier this week for an upper respiratory infection, Houston postponed the first four shows of her European tour, fueling tabloid speculation that she’s in a downward drug spiral,” the aforementioned magazine writes.

“Houston calls such reports ‘ridiculous’ and says, ‘At this point, I just don’t respond. I don’t even read it.’ Checking into a hospital in Paris was doctor’s orders. ‘My health is terrific,’ says the singer, 46. ‘But this is a time when I get a lot of allergies’,” People further informs, citing Houston herself. On April 13, the singer will be on stage in Birmingham, singing for the fans and, as she puts it, “doing what [she] love[s] to do.”

Ever since she embarked on the international tour, her first in many years, Whitney Houston has faced some harsh criticism, both from fans and industry people. Some of them say the tour does nothing more than confirm that she should retire for good – on the bright side, millions of others beg to differ, saying the singer is still in top shape.