LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Hollywood film legend Elizabeth Taylor was recovering in a Los Angeles hospital after being admitted for symptoms of congestive heart failure, her spokeswoman said.
The 78-year-old actress "was hospitalized earlier this week when she was taken to Cedars Sinai (medical center) suffering from symptoms caused by congestive heart failure, an ongoing condition," said publicist Sally Morrison.
"This issue is being addressed. She is currently being kept in the hospital for monitoring," she added, giving no further details about the Oscar-winning star's condition.
Taylor's health has been the subject of intense speculation in recent years. In 1997, she underwent surgery to have a brain tumor removed and in 2006 she appeared on US television to deny rumors she had Alzheimer's disease.
In July 2008, she was hospitalized in Los Angeles but her spokesman denied reports that she was close to death and had been placed on life support.
In 2009, she underwent heart surgery to repair a "leaky valve," tweeting afterwards: "It's like having a brand new ticker... Thank you for your prayers and good wishes. I know they all helped. Love you, Elizabeth."
Her spokeswoman said Friday that Taylor's "family and close friends are appreciative of the warm support and interest of her loyal fans."
But they "have asked that people respect her privacy and allow her medical team the time and space to focus on restoring her back to health," she added in a statement.
Taylor, who uses a wheelchair, has rarely appeared in public in recent years, although she did attend the funeral of pop icon and long time friend Michael Jackson in 2009.
In her prime, she embodied the Hollywood movie queen, a violet-eyed beauty better known for her stormy romance with actor Richard Burton and eight marriages than for her Oscar-winning performances.
Her life has packed as much drama as her nearly 50 movie roles over nearly half a century, which garnered Taylor two Oscars -- for "Butterfield 8" (1960) and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966), considered her finest performance.
Taylor married Burton twice, in 1964 and then again in 1975, but they were divorced in 1976 and the tempestuous relationship left her an alcoholic, and her career in decline.
In and out of California's Betty Ford rehab clinic in the 1980s, she overcame her alcoholism and a dependence on painkillers and emerged as a champion in the cause of AIDS victims.
In 1991, she stunned the world by marrying husband No. 8: Larry Fortensky, a 40-year-old construction worker she met at the Betty Ford Clinic. They parted amicably three years later.
source: Manila Bulletin
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