Since Amy Winehouse’s tragic death in July 2011, I assumed she had passed away from a drug overdose.
Stories of her turbulent relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, a broken marriage she subsequently explained “was based on doing drugs” – in combination with her reported heroin and crack cocaine addiction – informed my belief the songwriter overdosed on illicit substances.
LISTEN: The journalist who became addicted to crystal meth. (Post continues…)
I never gave the circumstances of the iconic singer’s death much thought until Autopsy: Amy Winehouse began playing on Channel Seven late last night.
“She had made huge progress,” the documentary’s specialist in forensic and legal medicine, Dr Jason Payne-James, said. “She was clean from drugs and she was tackling her alcohol dependence, so why did she suddenly drink herself to death?”
I had been so ignorant.
In reality, Amy Winehouse was not taking drugs at the time of her death. She was in a new, healthy relationship with film director Reg Traviss. She was even on Librium, a medication to control her desire for alcohol. And yet, all alone in her bedroom, the superstar relapsed, and reportedly went on a three-day-long drinking binge.
Her heart stopped beating by the time paramedics arrived at 3:54pm. Two empty vodka bottles were nearby her lifeless body.
But there’s a side to Amy Winehouse’s story we rarely heard: From the age of 17, the Londoner’s life had been marred by eating disorders and self harm. Long periods of starvation would be followed by binge eating and then purging; the singer would empty the contents of her stomach into the nearest toilet bowl. The toxic pattern continued for a decade.
Top Comments
It's quite sad how the lead up to the deaths reported on Autopsy are revealed as it makes you really think differently to how they are announced in the news.
This is not entirely accurate. By all accounts what really killed her was the Borderline Personality Disorder she was claimed to have suffered. The bulimia, self harm and excessive drinking and drug abuse were manifestations of that disorder. A similar tragic end was met by Marilyn Monroe and to an extent Lady Diana.
I think you can take Lady Diana off THAT list - her death lies with a combination of speed, no seatbelt, and the people who chased after her to take photos. Her death was nothing to do with anything you list.
Well said Guest
Um....what? Diana died due to a CAR CRASH. Nothing else.
Whose accounts? Claimed to have suffered by whom?
Lady Diana? Are you serious? Or is it the pap that was chasing their car that you are talking about?