Liza Minnelli in Midwest Clinic to Reinforce Sobriety

NEW YORK — Liza Minnelli, who spent seven weeks in the Betty Ford Center last summer to overcome alcohol and tranquilizer dependence, has checked into a Midwestern clinic to bolster her cure, her spokesman said today.

“She is not there because she’s fallen off the wagon; she’s there for reinforcement,” Allen Eichhorn said.

Minnelli, 38, entered the center, which Eichhorn did not name, last weekend and may remain another week or two, he added. Eichhorn said the center is more than a drug abuse and alcoholism treatment facility, adding that “one of her goals also is to slim down. I believe she chose to go there because the Betty Ford Clinic is so close to the Hollywood community. She wanted to get away from that to concentrate on reinforcing the success that she had.”