Amy Winehouse's father faked illness

Jul 30, 2009, 9:07 GMT

Amy Winehouse's father faked a heart attack to try and shock his daughter off drugs.

Ex-taxi driver Mitch Winehouse took the drastic measure because he "didn't know which way to turn" to convince his troubled daughter to seek help for her addiction to heroin.

He told Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper: "I just didn't know which way to turn. I'd tried everything. I pretended I was seriously ill and even got our doctor to tell Amy that I was dying.

"Once I even started screaming and said I was having a heart attack, but it didn't work. Amy's not stupid and she wanted to see my medical records proving I was actually ill."

Mitch faked the health scare last August because Amy was so tightly in the grip of addiction she wouldn't leave her room.

He said: "She was claustrophobic, agoraphobic. Phobic of everyone and everybody. People were even throwing drugs over the fence and up to her window for her."

Since then the 'Back to Black' singer has embarked upon a course of drug replacements and last November agreed to enter a clinic to help her get clean.

Mitch, 59, insists Amy has been free of drugs since last December - around the time she left her native UK for an extended break on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia - but he is now worried about her drinking.

He explained: "I think potentially she could have a drink problem, as addicts tend to replace one addiction with another.

"Her tipple of choice is Jack Daniel's and coke and when she and her friends get together she can drink too much.

"But she tells me it's something which she will stop - and I believe her. She did it with drugs, so she can do it with alcohol."

He also told how 25-year-old Amy has become obsessed with exercise and shopping.

Mitch added: "She exercises for three hours a day and she's become addicted to shopping - in particular splashing out on jewellery. She spent a small fortune on one ring, only to lose it.

"Any of these addictions could become a problem, but drinking is the one we're keeping an eye out for."