Amy Winehouse's father has blamed her death on her efforts to quit drinking. In an interview to air on Monday, Mitch Winehouse said he believes his daughter died after suffering a seizure brought on by alcohol withdrawal. "Everything Amy did, she did to excess," he told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "She drank to excess and did detox to excess."
Almost two months after she was found in her north London home, the cause of Amy's death has still not been identified. While a toxicology report showed there were no illegal substances in the singer's system, Mitch told CNN there were traces of Librium, a prescription drug used to fight anxiety and alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Some alcohol was also found in her bloodstream.
This was part of a pattern Mitch said he had seen before. Although he insists his daughter quit hard drugs in December 2008, alcohol was still a problem. "The periods of abstinence were becoming longer, and the periods of drinking were becoming shorter," he said. "It was heading in the right direction." Withdrawal caused seizures, Mitch said, and he believes one of these seizures killed her on 23 July. "There was nobody there to rescue her."
CNN also spoke to Amy's mother, Janis Winehouse, her stepmother, her aunt, and Reg Traviss, the singer's boyfriend. Two days before Amy died, Traviss said, they spent a quiet evening watching DVDs. They were planning a holiday in St Lucia in September. "She was a really clever girl," he said. "She knew what she was doing." Traviss said he wanted to talk to her more about her drinking problem but feared he would be seen as "nagging".
A full inquest into the singer's death will begin next month.