Amy Winehouse_ The Biography - Chas Newkey-Burden [53]
As for Amy’s and Blake’s parents, they were understandably terrified by what they were hearing about their loved ones’ antics. Blake’s stepfather Giles Civil said, ‘You couldn’t tell Sid Vicious what to do, could you? But I’d like Blake and Amy to think about those two. It might shake them up. I doubt it, but maybe. I think they both need to get medical help, before one of them, if not both of them, eventually die. We’re concerned that if one of them dies, the other will die. They are a very close couple, and if one dies through substance abuse, the other may commit suicide.
‘They’re living in a world where access to drugs is easy. They have plenty of money available and what they need, what they want, they can have without question. They’re going through abject denial at the moment. They don’t see themselves as having a problem and are quite aggressive in defence of themselves. They believe they’re recreational users of drugs but it seems to us this is not the case and clearly they are addicts.’
He then proposed a novel step to help shake some sense back into them. ‘We urge Amy’s fans to send a message to her that her addiction is not acceptable. I would not want any harm to come to Amy and Blake but perhaps it’s time to stop buying her records. We should not be condoning her addiction by awarding her either record sales or industry awards.’
Mitch added that he had spoken to Amy and she ‘sounded fine. We’re not talking about people who are in imminent danger of death. Physically, she’s not fantastic, but while she was away I think the eating disorder was worked on, and she put on a stone. In the space of eight days, that’s pretty good. It’s no good blaming anyone and saying in the last four months, Blake’s got worse because of Amy and she’s got worse because of Blake. In the last four months, they have got worse. They are a married couple, they love each other, although there are issues if they feel they’ve got to cut themselves to show it. If it means they get cured together, I hope they get cured together.
‘If it means that they get cured by being separated, then so be it. But nobody can physically separate them. Blake’s parents can’t take him back to Nottingham if he doesn’t want to go and I can’t force Amy to do anything. I’ve tried. It doesn’t work. The doctors said, “You’ve tried the screaming and shouting, it doesn’t work. We’ve got to try gentle persuasion, let them feel they’re making the decisions.” Guess what: that hasn’t worked either.’
As for Amy, she was insistent that she had no intention whatsoever of breaking up with Blake. Indeed, she argued that, far from being the source of her problems, he was the greatest hope she had of overcoming them. ‘I can’t beat drugs without him. He’s my rock and as a married couple we need to go through everything together. Blake says he isn’t going back to rehab – but I can if I want. But I’m not going without him. I know I need help, but Blake’s the only one who can help me. I don’t want to lose him. I won’t lose him. I want to make him happy – like what he does to me. I feel disgusting and Blake’s the only one who stops me feeling like this. I can’t believe he even wants to be with me. I don’t understand why. All I know is I’m the luckiest girl alive to have someone as caring as Blake,’ she added.
However, some of this was falling on deaf ears, as was shown in December 2007 when her mother Janis wrote Amy an open letter via the pages of the News of the World. This is what she said:
Blake, your husband, might not be my favourite person – you know that, Amy – but he’s your choice and I would never say anything about him to hurt you. When I was quoted recently as saying ‘Thank God Blake’s inside’ what I meant was that putting him in jail might help him to clean up HIS act and change HIS life.
It wasn’t said