Winehouse ignored warnings about excess detox – father

Late British soul singer Amy Winehouse ignored warnings from doctors that switching frequently between bouts of heavy drinking and short periods of detox could be fatal, her father has revealed.

I guess she was like any other 27-year-old who thinks... they are going to live forever...

Mitch Winehouse told a talk show on CNN that the Back To Black singer, who died in July, made repeated attempts to quit alcohol but without any medical supervision.

“She would drink for two or three weeks and then she would detox for two or three weeks and that is the worst thing that anybody can do,” he said in an interview with Piers Morgan, broadcast yesterday in the US.

Her doctor told her six months ago that “if this behaviour continued – the binge drinking and then the detoxing – that could lead to seizures which could ultimately lead to death”, her father said.

But he added: “I guess she was like any other 27-year-old who thinks... they are going to live forever, and she chose to ignore the advice because she had just come off the back of a two week very successful detox period.”

Amy Winehouse spent years battling addictions to alcohol and drugs, and famously sang about her refusal to seek treatment in her huge hit single Rehab.

But her family said she had kicked the drugs before her death and toxicology tests on her remains showed no illegal substances in her body. A full inquest is due to be held on October 26.

Mitch Winehouse, who is setting up a foundation in his daughter’s name to help addicts, also revealed the devastating moment he learnt of the singer’s death while he was visiting New York.

“My phone rang – it was Andrew, her security guard, in tears. He said something terrible had happened,” he told The Sun newspaper in an interview published on Monday.

“Amy had died. I couldn’t understand him at first. I was like ice. I was cool as a cucumber.”

The singer rocketed to fame after winning five Grammy awards off the back of her 2006 second album Back to Black.