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Blake Fielder-Civil, known as the ex-husband of the late Amy Winehouse, has insisted he isn’t to blame for her death.
In his first ever longform interview since award-winning singer Winehouse’s death in 2011 at the age of 27, Fielder-Civil has vowed to ‘take control of my own narrative’.
The pair were married from 2007 to 2009 and he has often faced blame for her passing after admitting to introducing her to hard drugs during their incredibly turbulent relationship.
Speaking on Paul C. Brunson’s We Need To Talk podcast, Fielder-Civil, 43, who is now sober, said it’s a ‘fact’ that he and Winehouse ‘became addicts together’.
‘It was known that Amy had experimented with drugs and it was nothing to do with me. The heroin was something as I said that I tried, let’s say ten times, smoked it over a period of six months with some friends.
‘That’s where I was at with that. But yeah, the first time she did it was with me and it was probably my sixth time.’
Winehouse’s official cause of death was alcohol toxicity. At the time of her passing, which was two years after her divorce, her blood alcohol level was more than five times over the legal limit.
Responding to claims that he played a part in Winehouse’s addiction, and ultimately her death, former video production assistant Fielder-Civil told Brunson: ‘My stance now is that I know a lot of people, especially people reading media 20 years ago, would have an idea that Amy’s passing is my responsibility.
‘As I’ve always said – I never shirk from any responsibility. If I’ve done something, I’ll put my hand up to it, but I’m okay. I’m not okay, but I’ve made my peace I had a part to play. But there’s one thing aside from everyone else that also had a role to play.
‘Amy herself had agency, and that is in no way at all disrespecting her by saying that, but Amy did what she wanted to do and even knowing the drinking had started to hurt her, she carried on.’
He insists Winehouse was already experimenting with drugs, specifically cocaine, before they met.
‘I need to defend myself slightly on things, you know it’s not fair to the people who love me to think untruths,’ he told Brunson. ‘Amy had started trying cocaine with their ex-partner.
Fielder-Civil also spoke about the moment he learned of Winehouse’s death while serving a prison sentence for assault and perverting the course of justice.
He revealed how he prayed every night that Winehouse would still be alive following his release from prison, because he ‘had this massive fear that something’s going to happen to her if I’m not about.’
Prison officers took him to an office and showed him a news report confirming the Back to Black singer had died.
‘My first thought was that it would be a hoax,’ he said.
‘I burst into tears. It was the only comfort I had at that moment for losing this massive, huge part of my life.
‘My cellmate at the time was a really solid guy. He’d seen it on the news and gave me a hug straight away. I burst into tears. He started crying too. So it’s strange I got held up by, you know, as being supported and held up by somebody I’d known from a matter of weeks.
‘That was the only comfort I had at that moment for losing this massive, huge part of my life, a big part of my heart. Somebody I was not going to see again or hear again or anything again. It was too much.’
Metro has contacted Amy Winehouse’s estate for comment.
The full interview is available to watch on the latest instalment of Paul C. Brunson’s We Need To Talk podcast, out now on YouTube.
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