THE WEST WING - CHENOWETH BATTLING PAIN AFTER STAIR FALL

Former THE WEST WING star KRISTIN CHENOWETH is smiling through the pain after cracking ribs and damaging her chest wall in a parking lot fall. The actress/singer tumbled down 12 concrete stairs four weeks ago on her way to a first date with a new guy, and ended up spending the night in hospital. She recalls, "Nobody was around. I decided to try to get to the lobby and all I could do was crawl on this arm... There's people everywhere all the time (but) not this day. "I was getting ready to go out on a date and the guy took me to the hospital instead. It was a wonderful date - he saw all my lingerie... I'm so glad I matched!" Chenoweth is now treading carefully as she recovers from her fall - but she admits the drugs are helping as she films new U.S. TV series Pushing Daisies. She explains, "Percocet, by the way, is a great drug... It can addict you, but I noticed I was very good in the scenes... They (producers) just said they saw the episode the other day and I was great, I was better than ever. I was like, 'Should I just take drugs?'"