Winehouse father reveals fears for Amy's health
The father of singer Amy Winehouse told today of his ongoing fears for her health and claimed she did not touch hard drugs until she married Blake Fielder-Civil.
Mitch Winehouse told ITV1's 'This Morning': "It's apparent in her music that she's smoked dope for quite a while, probably from the age of 16 or 17, perhaps even earlier.
"She was a complete opponent of hard drugs - in fact, she got up and said she couldn't understand why people in the music industry took hard drugs and that changed about six months ago when she got married to Blake.
"And I'm not saying it's Blake's fault, what I'm saying is Amy's responsible for her own actions.
"However, it's a fact that the hard drugs coincided with their marriage."
Mr Winehouse said his daughter has cut down on her drinking in the past year but is still battling bulimia and drug addiction.
"She's not drinking as heavily as she was then actually, but there are other problems. The other problem is the bulimia which is still apparent, although she's put on about a stone in weight, but it's still affecting her health. And there are problems with substance abuse as well. But it's not as bad as has been reported."
"We do think, where is it going to end up? And we don't know. But as I've said before, at the moment she decides that enough is enough, all the help that she needs will be in place.
"Her family are there, the doctors are there, the facilities are there should she wish to make use of them. We're not completely helpless, things are in position."
In August, Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were pictured in the street looking bloodied and bruised after an argument.
Mr Winehouse, a cab driver, said the images were "very difficult to cope with" and admitted a friend checks the newspapers on his behalf every day because he can't bring himself to read the stories about her.
But he went on: "The newspapers don't say what a lovely person she is, what a caring girl she is, what a wonderful grandchild and child she has been to her parents. All they will tell you is that she's a drug addict, that she's out of control.
"Of course that is partially true, but it's not the full truth. She's not really out of control, there are controls."
Winehouse was arrested in Norway earlier this month for possession of marijuana.
She and Fielder-Civil, along with friend Alexander Foden, spent the night in a police cell and were released after paying a fine.
But Mr Winehouse said the drugs did not belong to his daughter, who now faces the prospect of being refused a US visa.
He explained: "It didn't belong to her, it belonged to someone else on the tour. They arrested Blake, Amy and the person who was responsible.
"They only released them after they signed a form, which they were told was a release form. It was in Norwegian. It was actually a confession, so this is being dealt with now by the Norwegian authorities and the British Consulate because the ramifications of that are that she now can't get into the States and she was meant to go next week."
