Amy Winehouse's expensive addiction

Dec 28, 2008, 11:00 GMT

The singer was often so desperate for a hit she used a screwdriver to scrape heroin remnants from her drug-taking paraphernalia according to Alex Haines, who claims he had an affair with Amy earlier this year. © Landmark / PR Photos

Amy Winehouse spent £3,500 a week on drugs at the height of her addiction, it has been claimed.

The singer was often so desperate for a hit she used a screwdriver to scrape heroin remnants from her drug-taking paraphernalia according to Alex Haines, who claims he had an affair with Amy earlier this year.

Alex said: "Amy had to have a heroin or a crack pipe near her or she freaked out. She'd keep taking drugs until she passed out. I reckon she spent £3,500 a week on them.

"When Amy ran out of drugs she would cut the bottle she used to take them in half and sit there on the floor completely wired, scraping the inside to get the residue with a screwdriver."

Alex says he began a relationship with Amy - whose husband Blake Fielder Civil is currently in prison serving a 27-month sentence for grievous bodily harm and attempting to pervert the course of justice - after he joined her team as a junior assistant manager in 2007.

He claims the 25-year-old singer is "addicted" to sex, adding their relationship was fuelled by lust.

He told the News of the World newspaper: "It was like having my own little porn star. Amy was so dirty - she wanted sex all the time. We did it four or five times a day and she'd even wake me up for it. She was addicted to sex like she was to drugs."

Alex revealed Amy - who was recently pictured looking the picture of health during a festive break in St. Lucia - suffers from eating disorder Bulimia, which sees sufferers binge on food and then make themselves sick, and sometimes gorges on 10 chocolate bars a day.

He said: "Amy suffered from bulimia, which is why she looked so thin. She would have a massive McDonalds and then throw it all up in the bathroom. I found my toothbrush covered in sick, and asked her about it.

"She told me she suffered from it for a long time. Several times I went into her bathroom and saw sick all over the sink.