Cocaine, heroin, ketamine, alcohol and all the addictions that sadly marked the fate of Amy Winehouse

«I don't write songs to be famous, I write them because otherwise I wouldn't know what else to do». The fact that his words and his music also coincided with a crystalline talent was under the eyes – or rather, in the ears – of everyone, in the case of Amy Winehousethe British singer-songwriter, champion of R&B, passed away on July 23, 2011 at his home in Camden for acute alcohol intoxicationaccording to the autopsy investigations carried out after death.

It is now released in Italian cinemas Back to black, first biographical feature film, produced by Studio Canal, directed by Sam Taylor Johnson and written by Matt Greenhalgh. In the role of the iconic voice – who reluctantly entered the Club 27or those artists who died due to unnatural circumstances at the age of 27, which includes stars like Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrixto name a few – the British actress Marisa Abelaalready seen in Barbie by Greta Gerwig; to Jack O'Connell instead the role of Blake Fielder-Civil, the man with whom Winehouse falls in love and marries in 2007, somehow accused (with his admission of guilt) of having been the one who introduced her to the use of narcotic substances, such as heroin and crack.

Drug and alcohol addiction and refusal to rehabilitate

Winehouse indeed was addicted to hard and soft drugs, as well as alcoholbut he never made a secret of this: it was precisely the refrain of Rehab, famous hit from the album Back to black, released in 2006, to consecrate it to the general public. «They tried to make me go to rehab, but I said no, no, no ed.): few words, but which have become a manifesto of his rebellion and his lack of willingness to adhere to any therapeutic recovery path.

The father Mitchmentioned several times by his daughter also in her songs, a controversial presence at her side, in the biography published posthumously (titled Amy, my daughterpublished by Bompiani) told of the numerous rehabilitation attempts made in prestigious clinicssuch as Pryory Clinic, London Clinic, Capio Nightingale, University College Hospital and Causeway Retreat, all of which turned out to be failures, since, as he later revealed in an interview with Mirror the doctor Christina Romete, the last doctor who examined her the night before her death, «despite her frailty, Amy refused any mental health support, because he feared this might affect his creativity. She was very determined to do everything her way, including therapy. She had very strict opinions about it.”

The family situation is at the origin of the discomfort

Since she was little, Winehouse comes into contact with the pain: first for the separation of parents, occurred when she was 9 years old, a condition that sees her remain alone with her mother Janis, suffering from multiple sclerosis, and with her brother Alex, while her father Mitch leaves the marital home, but always remains present in his daughter's life, a presence very bulky and at times suffocating. As reported in the biography, At 11, Amy began to report insomnia and conduct problems at school. with failing grades and expulsions.

The first contact with drugs: from marijuana to hard drugs

It was in those years that his vocal talent began to be noticed: that's how At a very young age she began to appear on the first London stages, but also with an early start to marijuana consumptionwhich will then become daily, and that she used to calm performance anxiety, before going on stage.

But it is known that no altering substance can fill a void that has never been elaborated: and this is how when Amy in 2005, at just 23 years old, he met Blake Fielder-Civil, a problematic boy, almost the same age as him (he was born in 1982, while Winehouse was born in 1983), becomes morbidly attached to him, consuming himself in a love story, which today we would instead recognize as yet another addiction of the singer. Is exactly “for love”, that Amy begins to consume heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine, at the urging or imitation of Fielder-Civil, already an avid consumer, whom she later married in Miami in 2007 in a solo wedding, only to divorce two years later.

Drug abuse almost cost her twice before the fateful 2011, with two overdoses, from which she recovered thanks to timely gastric lavages. However, he never recovered from the hunger for love, also demonstrating a certain awareness, as he wrote in the text of his What it is about men of 2003, in which almost like an omen he wrote: «…and I'll take the wrong man as naturally as I sing” and “…my destructive side has grown a mile wide” walked the wrong mile”).

Eating disorders: anorexia and bulimia

Drug addiction was not the only cry for help that Amy launched: in 2006, statements from her record managers came out, reporting that they were worried about the dissolute conduct that the singer had regarding drug abuse, to which was added the statement to the press of Winehouse herself who admitted: «I've been through every eating disorder you could have. A little anorexia, a little bulimia. I'm not entirely well now, but I don't think any woman is.” And everyone noticed it, due to that evident weight loss between the first and second album, which it made her lose six sizes and for which it was necessary to send her to rehabilitation to regain weight.

The processing of pain: writing and music as therapy

Listening to an Amy Winehouse song is equivalent to digging into the depths of the heart: you feel all the pain and discomfort for that love, that perhaps he has searched for a lifetime, without ever really finding it. «Creating music – his greatest passion – had a more positive effect than anything else we had tried – writes her father Mitch, even if – Every song she wrote was for her like cutting off an arm, like tearing her heart out of her chest».
When Amy wrote she was lucid, she didn't need to alter herself with substances, because it was writing that helped her process the pain, to take it out and deliver it to those who would then listen to it. However, this explains why its production was not automatic and fast: for her, composing was searching inside herself, singing was retracing an obstacle course, and this torment came out with every scratch of his voice.

Alcoholism, the new addiction after drugs

Winehouse quit drugs in 2008 he started drinking: a sort of relapseas this type of alcoholism can be defined as a disguised drug addictionconsidered to trigger the same reward mechanisms as opiates. It was precisely because of alcohol that the singer died in 2011: the autopsy declared the definitive cause of death to be acute alcohol intoxication, which was followed by a respiratory crisis, all after drinking – presumably alone – 3 bottles of vodka. The blood alcohol level detected was 4 g/la quantity of alcohol that Amy's already weakened body probably couldn't handle.