Kitty Dukakis Hospitalized; Aide Says Drugs Not to Blame

Massachusetts First Lady Kitty Dukakis was hospitalized late Monday night and placed in intensive care after feeling lethargic and ill, but a spokeswoman said today there was no indication that drugs or alcohol abuse were involved.

Mrs. Dukakis, 52, who has admitted to a 27-year addiction to diet pills and a problem with alcohol, was resting comfortably with her husband, Gov. Michael Dukakis, at her bedside after undergoing a battery of tests at Brigham and Woman’s Hospital.

“Mrs. Dukakis was admitted because she wasn’t feeling well,” the governor’s press spokeswoman, Mindy Lubbers, told reporters outside the hospital. “She was feeling lethargic. She’s been down with the flu for four or five days, and as of now the tests that have been done that we have heard results from have proven nothing.”

The illness occurred on the eve of the first anniversary of her husband’s defeat in last year’s presidential election. Mrs. Dukakis has cited the defeat for sparking bouts of depression and exacerbating her alcohol problem.

Asked if Mrs. Dukakis had succumbed to drug or alcohol abuse, Lubbers said there was “no indication of that. None whatsoever.”