Courtney's Court-Ordered Rehab

Nine months of public meltdowns, court dates, arrest warrants, canceled shows and hospital stays have come to this: Courtney Love has been sent to rehab.

The troubled rock star's tortured odyssey took her to a Los Angeles courtroom Tuesday, where she was finally sentenced on an under-the-influence charge. After showing up 15 minutes late, Love was ordered to spend 18 months in drug rehab. She also must refrain from drinking booze, avoid places that sell alcohol and can't take any non-prescription drugs.

Love pleaded guilty in May to a misdemeanor count stemming from a cocaine-fueled rampage last fall outside an ex-boyfriend's house. In exchange, a second misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct was dropped.

The singer had been due for sentencing on July 16, but she was still in an unnamed New York-area facility, described by one of her lawyers as an "institution." Judge Patricia Schnegg gave Love 24 hours after being discharged to be in court. Love arrived back on the West Coast on Friday and was told to report for sentencing today.

While Schnegg gave Love until Oct. 29 to enroll in rehab, the rocker told reporters Tuesday that she has been in treatment since returning to the West Coast Friday, when she turned herself in to authorities on a warrant stemming from another case.

The widow of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain will be allowed to travel, but she is required to attend weekly counseling sessions for six months. If she behaves herself, Schnegg could dismiss the case in 18 months.

Although she escaped any jail time Tuesday, Love's not out of her legal hole yet.

On Thursday she is due in a Beverly Hills court to face two felony counts of illegal drug possession. She has pleaded innocent to the charges, which carry a maximum sentence of three years and eight months in jail.

Then on Aug. 20 she will be arraigned on a felony assault charge stemming from an alleged April attack on another woman.

Love had originally been scheduled to be arraigned back on July 9, her 40th birthday, but decided not to fly in from New York. That prompted the judge to order a warrant for her arrest and increase her bail. Hours later, she was rushed to a New York City hospital for what Rosenstein called "an emergency gynecological condition."

The final date on her near-term docket is Sept. 7, when she's expected in Manhattan Criminal Court for a hearing into charges of assault and reckless endangerment that stemmed from a March incident in an East Village nightclub, when she reportedly clocked a fan with her microphone stand. She has pleaded innocent to the charge.

Love, who has been public in the past about her addictions, has been adamant during recent months that she is clean.

Her criminal lawyer, Michael Rosenstein, said, "Let there be no mistake--she's in treatment currently and she's sober currently and will continue to be."

On Tuesday, Love seemed pretty glib about the sentence. "Well, let's see, America. Can I stop taking pills? I have to stop drinking. That's funny. I think I can do it," the chain-smoking Love told reporters outside court, adding "Do you guys think that maybe these court dates are a little much?"

Still, her legal woes have cost her custody of her daughter, Frances Bean, and forced her to cancel a planned summer tour in support of her dismally performing solo album, America's Sweetheart.