Her natural beauty combined with her glorious voice once made her one of the most successful singers of her generation.

And posing for photographers in a striking floor-length black gown with diamonds dripping from her ears, she once again looks every inch the global superstar.

The image is a far cry from many of the recent pictures of Whitney Houston, looking tired and ravaged by drug and alcohol use.

But at the 17th Carousel of Hope Ball on Saturday, Whitney defiantly turned on the glamour in a bid to forget her estranged husband Bobby Brown.

She blew kisses for photographers in the figure-hugging dress at the benefit event for the Barbara Davis Centre For Childhood diabetes at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

Her skin looked luminous and hair perfectly styled as she stepped out at the charity ball.

The event was one of Whitney's first public appearances since she filed divorce papers on her husband of

Her former looks

The 43-year-old singer, who has sold more than 100 million albums, marked an end to the tumultuous marriage when she filed divorce papers earlier this month, seeking custody of the couple's 13-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina.

Whitney has entered rehab twice during the marriage, on one occasion her family claimed she was 'incapable of looking after herself'.

She has been pictured hollow-eyed and drawn, with no sign of the striking young singer whose first film The Bodyguard made ￡89million in 1992.

Her 37-year-old husband has been arrested for having drugs. Their marriage was plagued by reports of violence and infidelity.

In March an American newspaper printed pictures of Whitney's bathroom apparently covered in drugs paraphernalia.

Her sister-in-law Tina Brown alleged that the singer was an drug addict who was unable to look after herself and suffered delusions.