Amy Winehouse’s childhood friend has spoken out about ‘feeling guilty’ over the singer’s death as he was ‘too afraid’ to speak to the star about her addiction struggles.
Michael Collins, who grew up with Winehouse from a child, is remembering the Tears Dry on Their Own singer on the 10th anniversary of her death.
Winehouse, who had a public alcohol and heroin addiction, died at the age of 27 from what was determined to be alcohol poisoning - after a period of sobriety that left loved ones hopeful for her future.
Her family and friends are now remembering her in a new documentary, and speaking about the film on Lorraine, Collins told Ranvir Singh about the special bond he had with the Back To Black star.
Reflecting on her tragic death, Collins said: “There’s still a lot of guilt associated with her death that comes back to you…
“Amy was always so headstrong and she would do what she wanted. She’d cut off her nose to spite her face, that was just her kind of character. There were times when I saw her lose some good friends who were challenging her over the amount of drink she was drinking.”
“There were times when I wanted to say something but maybe selfishly I was too afraid of losing her,” he added.
“I was too afraid that she would just cut me off and then I might never speak to her again. Put yourself in those shoes and it’s harder than you think.”
During the chat, Collins added he felt the time period of her death contributed to her battle, with mental health and addiction not being spoken about as sympathetically or openly.
"What I’d like to think is if we moved it forward 10 years and she was 27 today then actually, we’d be a lot more open in talking about mental health,” he said.
“Maybe she’d have a lot more time to work through her issues.”
The new documentary, Amy Winehouse: 10 Years On, sees her mother Janis narrate the story of his daughter’s life, and what may have been the root of her troubles.
There will also be never-before-seen footage and interviews with her loved ones.
During the interview, Ranvir noted how the documentary takes a different course to that of another documentary, Amy, that was released in 2015.
While Amy cited her parent’s divorce as part of the reason behind her troubles, 10 Years On instead notes that the loss of the singer’s grandmother marked the beginning of her struggling to cope.
But Michael doesn’t believe there’s one sole point of blame, and said: “The thing to get out of this is it wasn’t just one moment. It wasn’t just her parents breaking up, it wasn’t just Cynthia, it was everything coming together that ended in addiction.
“What I’d like to think is it’s an unfortunate coming together of her addiction, her having the time and money… we can’t just apportion blame to one particular person or reason.”
Lorraine airs weekdays from 9am on ITV.
