All of the UK’s tabloid press is in an absolute frenzy, having suddenly decided that she’s doing sooooo much worse than before that she might not make it through the weekend. This appears to be mostly based on some especially hideous – to the point of disgusting – photos of Amy that have turned up in the last few days.
Skeletally-thin with a fag-end hanging out of her gob, bruises up her arms and a grey, ravaged complexion, Amy Winehouse looked worse than ever as she staggered about in Camden in the early hours of the morning today.
Though her spokespeople have recently been claiming she’s currently clean and sober, the troubled singer looked distinctly unhealthy as she staggered to her local pub The Monarch to play a DJ set.
She was then booed by drinkers in the night spot as she repeatedly stopped playing records to make trips to the toilet.
The dishevelled diva had already arrived two hours late for her slot.
As previously exclusively revealed by Mirror.co.uk, just last week Winehouse’s spokespeople insisted that she was fine as she had been busy working on tracks for her forthcoming album and had already finished a clutch of songs.
Sadly, it seems the pictures are telling the opposite story.
[From the Mirror]
I think they’re being a little over dramatic. I’ve definitely seen Amy look worse than this. I mean to be fair Amy could be walking around wearing nothing but a beat up garbage can and she’d look better than this, but it’s definitely not her worst state. Some days I wonder what kind of article I’ll be writing about her the next week, but it seems like Wino defies all medical logic. That’s probably exactly why she thinks she can keep going like this forever. It makes a person curious what it would take to make Amy take this shit seriously and clean up her act. And then you realize the reason it hasn’t happened is because it doesn’t exist, and nothing will get Wino to care until it’s way too late to do anything.
You’ve got to wonder though – what does she think when she’s a little less drunk and she sees these pictures of herself? Is Amy capable of feeling shame and remorse like a regular person?
Here’s Amy at the Monarch pub in London on Thursday. At one point WENN says she stuffed “a selection of record vinyls down the back of her ill fitting leggings. She also suffered cuts to her legs and hands.” Images thanks to WENN.
That thigh scares the everloving Hell out of me.
More than that…I don’t know, it might sound nuts, but I’ve always been a firm believer that you can tell someone’s true state by looking at their eyes. She looks…sad. Desperate. And that’s the first time I can recall seeing that look– she always looked colossally screwed up, but with a certain amount of *control* to it. But I don’t see that control now, I just see pure addiction, and worse, that she *knows* it’s pure addiction.
I want to be able to say “she did this to herself” or “she deserves it for ––––––” or anything else, but I can’t. Maybe I’m a sap but I can’t dismiss someone that easily.
It can’t be much longer before her organs start shutting down. She’s just so thin… thighs should not be the circumference of a bicep.
Why doesn’t one of her handlers or her father or her record label force her into rehab??? There has got to be someone who can tell her enough is enough.
I think she IS desperate. She’s sick. Addiction is an illness, and I think she had a few psychological problems to begin with.
Now she’s in this deep, any pain and desparation will just lead her to shoot/snort up again, because the short term effect of the drug will at least make her feel momentarily better. And she simply can’t see beyond the next half hour or so…
Someone needs to intervene.
Her life force is completely faded. I feel pretty darn sad for her. And, why isn’t she in a hospital getting the help she needs?
@ Kate: I agree–surely there’s SOMEONE who cares enough about her to step up and help her! I’m disgusted by her father’s denials that she’s fine; and WTF is her mother doing?! I’m pissed off, because as someone else said, she has a look in her eyes in these photos that scares me–it’s like she’s given up. And I don’t want to watch her die! We are ALL on a deathwatch. No matter what I think of her music, or her as a person–she is a human being. If she were a dog someone would have put her out of her misery by now. 🙄
Jaybird says she’s seen Wino looking worse but I’m not sure I agree. These pictures are pretty shocking.
I agree with Solitaryangel: why isn’t the rest of her family, or even her management, doing something? I know an addict has to want to help themselves but surely if someone is so morbidly ill there’s a case for drastic measures?
I agree with you Carrie – these photos are truely frightening! You can still look bad comming off drugs but she definately wasn’t looking this bad a few weeks back.
I have had various friends on ‘substances’ and their brain just simply didnt function properly, which meant that all their decisions were poor ones. If noone takes over for her we can only hope that she will come to realise she has to change her ways- hopefully it wont be too late.
For everyone asking why her management / Parents havent stepped in. Amy is wealthy… they are clingers.. If they were to say NO then amy will discharge them from her life and that means no more highend lifestyle for them..
theyre all a circle of enablers.
Amy’s parents do not have a high end lifestyle. You can’t force an addict into rehab. They can’t have her sectioned because she doesn’t fit the ‘danger to herself and others’ criteria (according to the powers that be.) This is 100% Amy and, bottom line, nothing will change for her until SHE wants it to change. Bad as she is now, if she manages to survive another couple of months, Blake will most likely put an end to both of them. Girl is f*ked unless a miracle happens.
I see death in her eyes, she can’t go on too much longer.
Ditto Geronimo’s comment. How sad….
Miracles have happened before – like with John Frusciante of the Chili Peppers. He was the walking dead. Here’s a link to the interview he did for Dutch TV in 1994 with some text information as well.
http://www.leechvideo.com/video/view1779496.html
Anyway, I try to hold out hope for Amy. I’ve got a real soft spot for her. I met her once here in Toronto on a patio a few years ago. She’s very tiny – I’m 5’6″ and the top of her beehive came up to my shoulder. She was very gracious and has a lovely speaking voice. It’s a fond memory of mine.
OMG, she is grey, I guess this is it. Rest in peace Amy. Atleast we loved your music.
Oh, I also read that for whatever reason, quite a few people die around their birthday. Amy’s is September 14th…
I don’t mean to be morbid, but that recollection came to mind in light of these pictures.
If she makes it to the 14th, I don’t expect her to survive her own birthday party.
As far as I know, the grey colour,her swollen abdomen and feet (they look it to me at least) are signs that her heart is failing. 🙁
So devastating to see a young woman look like this. Her skin is grey and pastie looking … she looks terribly unwell.
It is very sad.
She is a very talented woman.
Given her substance abuse and anorexia she will die. It is not if but when.
She is committing sucide.
Unfortunately the only person that can save Amy is Amy and that seem very unlikely at this point.
Heath Ledger looked better than this and was dead before we knew it. His drugs were even prescribed. Can’t the people around her just kidnap her and give her help? I am sure no one will object. Cerainly not me.
WHAT THE FUCK, United Kingdom? Don’t you have a Forced Treatment for Addicts law? Winehouse’s life is obviously in immediate danger. Lock her up! Strap her down! Then, when her detoxed brain is starting to function again force her into intense therapy at a locked facility.
She’s going to die and it sickens me that nobody takes charge.
You can’t do anything if they don’t agree or unless they are legally put away after an infraction. Seriously. My sister has had an ongoing addiction, 27 years of it, at the cost of e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. Kids, family, home, jobs, three years in prison, everything. I put her in rehab, paid for it, several times….never worked. She wasn’t ready on her own. Don’t know if she ever will be. She even called my mother from the overpass of a freeway and said she’d had enough. Click. Phone goes off. Police called. Held her for 36 hours. Let her go. Yep. Shocking. I don’t know….it’s a tough one. You eventually have to accept that you keep them in that place in your heart where you would be devastated to get “that call” but you also have to move on and not let their life envelope everyone else’s. And trust, it does. It’s a sad situation. But, you’re always praying for that miracle, that’s for sure.
Peace to her and hope she finds a way. Amy as well…it’s a bad, bad thing. Makes people lose themselves and those left behind are left wondering if they have done enough. It’s heartbreaking.
“She was very gracious and has a lovely speaking voice. It’s a fond memory of mine.”
@baholicious – Why I can’t give up on her either. Before all this mess, I’ve seen her live lots of times, sweet, very funny, unassuming, genuinely surprised at the attention she was getting. A miracle (and a Blake-free future) is what she needs.
why does anyone care about her anymore? Quit giving her the attention and just let her go kill herself if that is what she is determined to do.
I think she needs to loose everything and hit the street, begging for $$$, hustling, sleeping on the street or in a park, because only then will she make or break it. She’ll either come back (I did it, it can be done) or she’ll end up like Jaco Pastorius. (may Jahbless his soul) Because having a comfortable, although I hear filthy, home and money in an account will not help this girl. With those, there is no rock bottom.
You’ve got to wonder though – what does she think when she’s a little less drunk and she sees these pictures of herself? Is Amy capable of feeling shame and remorse like a regular person?
Absolutely. That poor bitch is trapped in her own personal hell. The shame, the guilt, the depression . . . all these feelings of doubt and inadequacy fuel her self-hatred and drives her to use, to quiet the inner demons that nag at her constantly. When she’s high, the icky feelings (generally) go away – or at least subside. But of course, therein lies the rub. The more she uses, the better she feels short term, but the more damage she inflicts on herself in a neurological and cognitive capacity.
When she’s relatively sober, I’m sure there isn’t damn thing she likes about herself. I’m not saying that to be cruel, I’m saying it because it’s self-evident. The copious amounts of drugs, the suffocating co-dependent relationship, the affairs, the cutting and self-destructive behavior. . . all symptomatic of a very, very depressed individual.
Drugs aren’t Amy’s problem. Amy is Amy’s problem. Unfortunately the only way she can deal with herself is a commitment to sobriety (hard) and a good, long, introspective look at herself and what drives her to use in the first place (hardest!).
Piedlourde – Read Yeah’s post which describes perfectly the reality of addiction and the absolute helplessness of those around the addict.
A person can NOT be sectioned unless they are a danger both to themselves and others. YOU CAN’T MAKE AN ADDICT STOP! Succumbing to serious addiction-related illness is the only thing that’ll get her into a place of safety – ie. a hospital – but even then, while she can be detoxed, she can’t be MADE to stop using. It’s the nature of the beast.
And, as JaundiceMachine says, she’s locked into a seriously destructive relationship with the arsehole waste-of-space who got her in this state in the first place. While he’s in prison, nothing good will happen for her. When he comes out, if she manages to live that long, I seriously fear for her life.
I know with me, forgiveness of myself was the hardest thing to do, but once I did, the train started rolling and my personal life River has been flowing constant since. ( I know it sounds bizarre, but it’s the only way I can describe it)
@Jmac – so true
Enough of this “poor Amy” bullshit. No one held a gun to he head & told her to do meth,coke & whatever other shit she’s gotten herself into.
Happy to you, Cara, for getting your life back.
The only time Amy will finally realize what she’s become is when she hits below rock bottom, if she ever does.
I’m with Rob & Geronimo. Only Amy can help Amy.
It is sad and painful to watch. My guess is that she is never sober, so either doesn’t look in a mirror or when she does, doesn’t see reality.
Real music is born through pain.
The terrible irony in all this is that Blake is the inspiration behind Back to Black. Without Blake, there would have been no Back to Black. Something so glorious and extraordinary born out of someone so f*king awful and undeserving of a tribute like this album.
How about this: maybe she’s just said all she needs to say. By no means do I mean a one album wonder like Frampton (or Alanis, depends on your point of view)but sometimes an artist just has that ‘one thing’ to express, you know? Maybe that’s all that she was here for, to make a mark and flame out. It happens. It makes me far from happy but I don’t think she’s got anything left in her.
Man. What an utter drag.
It is possible, Back to Black is IT for Amy. At one point, I’d never have agreed with the idea but now, although she’s rumoured to have 80% of a new album underway, I just can’t see it.
I think these pics are the worst we’ve seen. WE’ve seen her DO worse things but I think this is the worst she’s looked.
@ yeah and geronimo:
I hear you and I feel you. At Nov 9th last year, my sister’s best friend took her own life at the age of 25 after years of bulimia, depression and serious amphetamine addiction (fueled by her eating disorder and ADD). I can’t help but feel angry and hopeless about Amy Winehouse’s situation. I guess it’s too close to home for me.
@ cara:
Good on you! Stay strong!
@ vdantev:
Yeah, but it’s a plus if the artist has the strength to hold her own pencil writing those brilliant, insightful lyrics.
@Piedlourde – Kids in the Hall rock 🙂
Starla, I completely agree with you. I haven’t got any sympathy for her- it was her choice after all.
She thrives on the attention and consciously went down this road. When she was a middle-class, chubby girl hardly anyone knew of her except for the music critics.
She definitely looks like hell. Her thighs have totally disappeared! I think she does see herself in these pics and feels worse and worse about herself. I read this article from Rolling Stones awhile back, she cares a ton about her looks and is extremely self-conscious. However bad she looks, she tends to over-compensate, hence the over-done make-up and the attempt to hide sores by wearing a lot of foundation. She looks very grey in these pics though, she may be coming to the realization that she needs to stop. Maybe not though, I think she’ll stop when she’s dead…literally!
It doesn’t matter whether you choose it or not, at some point it stops being a choice. Thanks, Geronimo, I haven’t given up on her either. It ain’t over till it’s over… Doesn’t look good, but….people do come back from this. Not very many, I admit, but it’s possible.
someone take that eyeliner away from her. please.
This cock and bull nonsense about addiction being a choice. It’s not. That’s why it’s called addiction. The people in this thread saying such mean things about someone who is hurting herself, and cannot help it, is very discouraging.
This is so painful I can’t even begin to describe it.
@ yeah – Perfect description of addiction. Thank you.
I really hope she makes it through this.
I remember when I was hooked on coke how I wished so much someone would take me to a cabin far in the woods and just leave me there for a few weeks to detox and fight my demons.
What finally worked – my new boyfriend, who I was totally obsessed with, said not to call him again till I had been sober for 24 hours. Sounds like nothing maybe, but it was the hardest 24 hours of my life. He’d keep challenging me – go for 2 days, 3…until I was past the acute, hard-core dependency and could see past the next high and get my life together.
Clean for 7 years and married to that boy who saved my life 😀
@ Cara: what you describe is my husband. He’s not there now, but he was. He sure as sh^t wouldn’t talk about it as you have (and I am because I feel the need to defend here, so bear with me folks…) nor would he be so unfeeling. Being there means REMEMBERING. Check yourself.
Baholicious, an addict is described as “one who give oneself up (to a strong habit), a devotee”. The choice is to try, addiction follows if the habit is not stopped. That is how addiction starts. By choices people make.
that photo is disgusting. 😳
@Starla: Great, an “academic”, or 12 stepper. You underestimate the power and influence of the base will – or the ‘id’- over the rational mind -the ‘ego’. When you get past Wikipedia, we’ll talk. You know squat about addiction. I don’t mean to talk smack, but it’s true. Give me a little credit here.
Don’t you think for one moment if addicts could listen to their rational minds and stop, that they wouldn’t? Unless they’re suicidal, and that comes out in funny ways too. It’s easy to be in the armchair.
I know this is going to sound strange, but I’ve always thought as long as she can still put that crazy eyeliner on halfway decently, she’s not too near death.
And up until now, she might have looked like she staples that hairpiece on, she might weigh about 85 pounds, she might have meth scabs all over her face, but she always managed to get the eyeliner on.
But this looks like she’s now just using a magic marker. It’s worse than ever.
I’m really sad to say that I no longer hold any hope of her seeing the age of 30. Possibly not even 28.
oh sweet lord, it’s alive, it’s ALIVE!
btw, all gods die young. i wish her luck, but i think this is the beggining of another legend.
You need to hit rock bottom…I don’t think she has yet, no matter how bad she looks here, she’s like determined not to change. It’s up to her, no one asks for help unless they accept that they need it. Seriously.
Karen Carpenter 2008.
🙁 Sadness. I can’t say much more. You know music is the ability to be able to convey emotions to a crowd that most of us keep bottled up = for sanity. The closer you hit a nerve – your own and that of the general public the more talented you are. It’s a mixed gift/curse. I am sad for her, her family and us – as we will lose one of our very few bright stars.
My God. 😯
The people that really love her should have her committed to a mental hospital, so she can get well. If you really love her don’t let her keep killing herself. She is a talented young lady and I hope she has enough true friends and family to help her save her life.
Let’s wish for her birthday, tomorrow, 😉 sanity, peace of mind, and good health.
She already looks dead. She’s had too many enablers around her. I won’t say getting clean is impossible but she continues to get worse and worse. Maybe she needs to end up with jail time and hit rock bottom.
Enablers… exactly! Too much ppl around her who take advantage (money) of her for their own good and too much ppl around her who are enablers. I just don’t understand, why nobody is taking her out of the public eye and make her clean up. She isn’t a frakking cash cow, even though everybody seems to like the idea. And I am really shocked that those ppl cut her parents out of the picture. They always seemed very concerned and helpful, but now you don’t hear a thing about them anymore.
I don’t particular like her, but imagine to have nobody who really takes care when yourself can’t anymore, is more than scary. I wish she has a bright moment to figure herself what is going on and that she needs to get a grip. Amy, be strong! And start to clean up! You need real friends, no yay-sayers anymore!
God bless her.
Okay, so I want to feel bad for her but I don’t. Well, maybe just a tiny bit. Just like a few other people here have said, she had a choice in the first place. I don’t even begin to know how it feels to have an addiciton but she shouldn’t have started in the first place. I’m sure there was all this pressure blah, blah, blah. You can say no. My ex and all of his friends used to do ectasy A LOT (why he’s my ex) and I never did it. He asked me a lot and I always declined. Why? Because I’m not a fraking idiot and value my life.
I am going to feel a tiny bit sad when I dress up as her for Halloween. I maybe wouldn’t do it but I already ordered my wig. I don’t think I can make myself look quite that bad no natter how much makeup I use though.
@Baholicious, I’m not an Academic or 12 stepper. I was married to an addict so I do know about addiction , the damage it does, & how it starts. Give me a little credit here. But I do agree with other posters that after it does not become a choice.
Long-term addiction changes the brain in so many profound and fundamental ways that past a point the addict has no choice; biochemistry has overcome judgment. Amy Winehouse is no more able to exercise any kind of judgment about her own behavior and its effects than she can change the color of her eyes. Her personality and whatever rational self-preservation instincts she might have had are gone. It will take forceful emergency intervention to save this girl’s life, and those who stand by and watch this happen should be prosecuted for manslaughter.
Such a sad situation. So talented, yet so doomed by her own actions.
I will be tremendously suprised if she lives to see 2009. She can’t last very much longer. Even in her photos she emanates death.
The phrase “live fast, die young, leave a good looking corpse” comes to mind. Hmm.
@ Starla: Absolutely. It’s a raw topic for a lot of people, that’s for certain.
take care 🙂
Thanks, Baholicious. I didn’t want to start a war of words.
You take care too.
I can assure you she is a really really sweet girl, even now…she’s not trying to kill herself but she obviously has her self destructive streak and is in pain. She’s confused and lonely, she’s not doing drugs to piss anyone off. It’s a shame the media like to make her feel worse.
I think she’s some kind of weird thing from hell, and she’ll die after all of us. druging herself and showing up with those pictures just to scare us more than yesterday, or past week.
So sad!!! 🙁 She’s the best…
i like amy’s music and i think she is very talented. i would be sad if she dies and anyone saying mean things about her has never dealt with an addict.
Please God, let her pass away. Some like this dirty, dumb bitch i`d never seen before…
A family member or friend can have her involuntarily committed. They can say she threatened to commit suicide and the law states that a person who is a danger to him or herself must be locked up in a psych ward. From the psych ward, the person is transferred to a detox. ..but if there is money involved, the family may not want to do it. An addict with money will financially cut off anyone who turns them in.
Winehouse’s family would have to take her to court, declare her mentally incompetent and take over her assets.
But I think her family will probably let her die; like a lot of families, they will not intervene because they don’t want to offend anyone or face reality.
Amy R.I.P.
I gotta say RIO’s comments got me teary eyed. I see the same thing in her eyes and I dont care what anyone says..I feel bad for her..really really bad. Addiction is not something you choose for yourself, you sample, you like, you think you have control and with out warning who you are is gone.
I truly hope and pray that there is one person in her life that will tell her she is important and that they love her very much.
screw it…
she doesnt care…why help someone that doesnt wanna be helped. in my opinion she doesnt deserve anything she has…she cant even show up for gigs on time or play a whole set…
dont get me wrong she loves music but theres no way she takes it seriously anymore…
i personally think she likes being the messed up one, it gets her attention… I MEAN FOR CHRIST SAKE THE ONLY REASON ANYONE KNOWS WHO SHE IS, NOW IS BECAUSE OF HOW MESSED UP SHE LOOKS AND IS!!!
i dont like her…but what really annoys me is a large % of you people probably put crap on the stoner kids at school…But when its a famous junkie its different…
i’ve never brought an album and wont because im not helping fund someones junk habbit…
she doesnt want help…and i dont get how anyone could take her seriously…sure the media prob doesnt help…but she LOVES IT…why else would she be out like that?
Maybe. I think a lot of the public is also near the end–fed up with having to hear about Amy’s travails each and every day.
Just make sure you’re alone in the car, Amy, when you wrap it around a tree.
Let’s hope she hits her bottom asap.