10 Years After Losing Amy Winehouse, Her Legacy Is Saving Women’s Lives

To mark the 10 year anniversary of Amy Winehouse’s tragic death, Anna Silverman meets her stepmother and visits Amy’s Place – a recovery house helping vulnerable women – to see how her legacy is saving lives

There was a period, just after Amy Winehouse died, when Jane Winehouse had a series of vivid dreams where she and her stepdaughter were back together. ‘She was so real,’ Jane recalls.

Then she’d wake up and the horrific reality would gradually seep back. She’d remember that Amy – who she’d known since she was two – tragically died of alcohol poisoning on 23 July 2011.

Jane was out for lunch by the sea when her husband, Mitch – Amy’s dad – rang and told her the news. ‘The following days and weeks are still a blur,’ Jane says. ‘I know I came back to London. I went to the house and there were loads of paparazzi so I didn’t want to stay there and went immediately to some of our closest friends.’

Family gathered and they kept the TV off. ‘We made this little bubble and had all the people closest to us altogether.’ In-between the tears there was utter shock – they had thought Amy was recovering from her addiction to alcohol. ‘She seemed to be getting better. She was on that positive trajectory. We thought she was going to be OK. It felt like she was going to make it; she was going to be all right. So for that to happen at that point…’ Jane tails off. ‘We’d prepared ourselves for something like that [around 2007], then gone beyond that, so when it actually happened it was shocking. And that underlines the fragility of recovery.’

Amy’s second album, Back To Black, skyrocketed her to megastar status in 2006. But a very public battle with drugs and alcohol followed. After her death the family set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation to help young people make informed choices about their lives. Five years later, they launched Amy’s Place in east London – a recovery house for young women to live in after they leave treatment.

I visit with Jane Winehouse, who is managing trustee of the charity and co-founder, along with Amy’s parents – to see how it is helping women. It provides homes and support for up to 16 young women at a time – each living in a comfortable apartment. The aim is to bridge the gap between rehab and independent living. Sessions, including art therapy and life coaching, are also available.

‘I absolutely love it,’ says Laura*, 29, a graphic designer who’s been here 10 months. ‘I’ve lived in another recovery house before this and this is like five star.’ Her one-bed flat is spacious, homely and has a good-sized living room where she frequently hosts the other residents. She started using drugs at university. ‘I was just very very scared of the world and I didn’t feel so scared when I took drugs,’ she explains. In the years that followed her addictions snowballed. ‘I had a beautiful flat in Notting Hill. I had a seemingly great career, enough that social media made it look that way and nobody thought anything was wrong. It was really hidden,’ she says. Yet she was in and out of rehab, in Narcotics Anonymous and trying to get clean for nine years. She’s been clean for two now, following a recent stint in a treatment centre for trauma. ‘I had to lose everything in order to get clean,’ she says.

For Laura, it ‘doesn’t bear thinking about’ where she’d be if it wasn’t for Amy’s Place. ‘How insane and depressed I was would have led me to a place where I probably would have killed myself. This is the first time I feel I have a home that’s safe. It’s such a loving community. The nurture and love is unconditional. No one is alone here,’ she says.

The need for more services like Amy’s Place is clear, yet this is the only all-female supported accommodation for young women recovering from addiction in the UK. Hannah Chrystal, 32, recovery project manager here, says the waiting list has grown over the past year. ‘There’s periods where we’ve had to close the waiting list because it’s so long,’ she says. ‘It’s definitely increased over the last year. People’s support needs have increased. Isolation is a big trigger for anyone in addiction.’

Emily*, 22, has been here 11 months and can’t believe her luck after coming from rehabs and recovery houses where she’s had to share with older men. ‘Men would say, “I’ve got a fiver, do you want to go upstairs [for sex].” It was so scary. It makes such a difference that this is female-only,’ she says. ‘There’s a camaraderie. You’re surrounded by so much love it’s overwhelming. Now I’m going to university. I have friends and I work for a charity. That’s how far I’ve come.’

Jane says when Amy shot to fame it was thrilling. But when the addiction struggles began, it took the family a while to recognise how serious things were. ‘It became more and more frightening,’ says Jane. ‘Mitch remembers the conversation very clearly where Amy said, “I’m done. I don’t want to be taking drugs any more.”’ She hadn’t used drugs for a few years when she died, and was abstinent from alcohol for widening periods before she relapsed. If Amy were still here, Jane likes to think she’d still be performing and writing music. ‘She would have loved to have had kids,’ she adds.

The nature of relapses is why Amy’s Place is so vital. Jane says, for some young people, going back to where they were before treatment means they won’t survive. In comparison, there’s only been one relapse after a woman has left Amy’s Place.

‘For us as a family to be able to help other young women like Amy and for families to get their daughters back, their sisters back, it’s an incredible thing that’s happening in Amy’s memory,’ she adds. ‘What better thing to come out of something that was so terrible for us, to see that other young women can come through it.’

For more on theAmy Winehouse Foundation, visit amywinehousefoundation.org.

‘Reclaiming Amy’ is on BBC Two at 9pm on Friday 23 July.