By Mitchell Fink

Call it the great escape. Last weekend, Whitney Houston and her bad-boy husband, Bobby Brown, celebrated his release from the Broward County jail in Fort Lauderdale by checking into a secret Florida hotel to get reacquainted before returning to their home in New Jersey on Sunday.

But not without a chase. I'm told that when they left, their limo was followed by dozens of cars filled with media and onlookers. They managed to ditch the tail with the help of a police escort. The reunion was a happy note shortly after a week when the singer found herself beset by allegations of drug use plus accusations that she'd messed up on stage during a recent three-day engagement at Caesars Palace in Atlantic City.

One published report said she had launched into a rendition of the Don McLean classic "American Pie" after bailing out of "I Will Always Love You" just six words into the megahit.

The 36-year-old diva did nothing of the sort, says her camp, who adds that "Whitney doesn't even know the lyrics of 'American Pie.'"And the same report claimed that she launched into a version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" after an attempt at "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" went south.

Not true, says Rick Gallagher, director of entertainment at the Atlantic City gaming mecca. "I was surprised and disturbed.... These statements were false and fabricated," he says. "We were pleased with the extremely high level of professionalism exhibited by Whitney Houston throughout her stay with us."

For the record, Houston finished every song she started at Caesars, including "How Will I Know," "My Love Is Your Love" and "Heartbreak Hotel."