Mysterious injury may leave Whitney Houston scarred

People

The singer and actress Whitney Houston suffered a deep two-inch cut to her face while on a sailing holiday with her husband, the singer Bobby Brown off the Mediterranean island of Capri.

The star of the hit film The Bodyguard, in which she appeared opposite Kevin Costner, may be scarred for life by her injuries, a leading plastic surgeon warned last night.

Houston was said to be in tears when she was taken to the island's Capilupi hospital on Monday from a yacht in which she is touring the Mediterranean with Mr Brown and a group of friends. The wound was stitched.

There were conflicting accounts of what led to the injury. Houston, 32, is reported to have claimed to the police that she had been injured by hitting a rock while swimming, while a member of the crew insisted the cut had taken place on board the boat.

The showbusiness couple have had a tempestuous relationship with tales of rapper Mr Brown's violence, womanising and drinking. While in Honolulu last year witnesses stated he had "slapped her around". But Houston refused on that occasion to co-operate with a police inquiry.

Brown, 29, and two companions were charged in April l995 with beating up a man in a nightclub brawl in Orlando, Florida. He and several bodyguards were also charged with assault at another nightclub, in Atlanta, Georgia, in l992. On both occasions the victims later declined to press charges. Brown has recently been treated for alcohol and cocaine addiction at the Betty Ford Clinic. Last September he caused pounds 15,000 worth of damage to a hired Bentley by dancing on its roof while on a visit to London.

A police spokesman in Capri said last night: "Considering the different versions we were given, and the stories we have heard about the husband, we are looking into the incident. "

Peter Davenport, a consultant plastic surgeon in Manchester said: "There is likely to be a permanent scar if it is on her cheek. She has coloured skin so it could be quite a dark scar. The final result depends on how good her initial treatment was, and how well she heals."

Keith Foster of Planet Model Management added: "For most models a scar certainly would not help, but in this case the individual is bigger than the damage.

"Depending on how the incident is treated it might in fact her popularity, because people would be sympathetic."