Amy Winehouse’s mother, Janis Winehouse, looked back on her late daughter’s life on the 15th anniversary of her tragic death.
“She was a victim of her own success,” Janis, 72, told The i Paper in a rare interview published on Thursday, July 23. “She didn’t want it, but it just followed her. And she’d be like, ‘Who, me?’”
Amy died in July 2011 at age 27. Her official cause of death was ruled accidental alcohol poisoning. Before her passing, Amy openly struggled with substance abuse. Looking back on it now, Janis thinks her daughter used alcohol as a crutch.
“She was actually nervous,” she said of the Grammy winner. “She didn’t have confidence. Hence the alcohol. I think it’s the same with many, many addicts with alcohol. The alcohol takes away the pain. And that is a horrible thing with addiction.”
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Janis added that many people to this day do not understand how addiction takes a toll on a person.
“Once you’re addicted, you’re addicted,” she reflected. “The only boss is the addiction. People say, ‘Oh, no, you just stop doing such and such’.” They don’t get it. You can’t stop because your body is saying I need it.”
While Janis has been without her daughter for nearly two decades, she still struggles with grief.
“I’m just getting on with it because that’s what I do. I get on with life. I live it,” she said. “She was so like me, she just got on with it.”
One way Janis has channeled her grief was to co-found the Amy Winehouse Foundation alongside other members of Amy’s family. The nonprofit helps children and young adults build their self-esteem. The foundation also runs a recovery house for women, aptly named Amy’s Place, in London.
Amy’s stepmother, Jane Winehouse, shared that the inspiration to create the nonprofit was to help spread joy amid their dark time.
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“I think as a family, we just didn’t want to spend the rest of our lives in misery, you know,” Jane, who serves as the Amy Winehouse Foundation director and co-founder, told the outlet on Thursday. “We wanted to make something really positive come out of something that was so tragic.”
Jane added that Amy would be proud of how the organization has helped many who faced similar challenges.
“It’s very true to her. Everyone here is so real,” she said. “To be here, to engage properly in recovery, you have to get real. You quickly connect to people on quite a visceral level that you don’t necessarily connect with people in everyday life.”