Courtney Love treated for 'drug overdose'

Courtney Love the rock star and widow of Kurt Cobain, was being treated for an alleged drug overdose in Los Angeles yesterday.

Ms Love, 38, who has emerged in recent years as an actress and a campaigner for the rights of music artists, was reportedly found by police and paramedics in a house in the Beverly Hills neighbourhood. She was admitted to a nearby hospital.

The incident, early on Thursday, came less than an hour after Ms Love was briefly arrested by police for allegedly smashing four windows at a friend's home in the same area of Los Angeles. She was charged and released after $2,500 (£1,500) bail was posted.

Forty minutes after her arrest, police got a call to go to the other home where a women was said to be suffering from the effects of an overdose. Officers confirmed the identity of the woman to the Los Angeles Times.

Ms Love, who founded her rock band, Hole, in 1989, has had drug troubles before. She was arrested in 1994 in a Los Angeles hotel by police who were responding to reports that one of the guests had possibly overdosed. After that incident, she checked into a rehabilitation centre. She left the centre when she learnt of the suicide of her husband, who was lead singer in the rock band Nirvana.

Ms Love was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the film The People vs Larry Flynt in 1996. More recently, she sued Vivendi Universal Music Group for allegedly depriving her and other artists of their music rights. She and the label settled the case last year.

Her reputation for rabble-rousing was reinforced earlier this year when she was arrested after allegedly making a disturbance on a Virgin Atlantic flight between London and Los Angeles.

There was no comment on the latest incident or about her condition from her lawyer.