Entertainment
Amy Winehouse’s best friend claims fame ‘f**ked her up’ as he speaks about singer’s death for first time
Amy Winehouse’s best friend has opened up about the singer’s death for the first time, and has claimed that fame ‘f**ked her up’.
The late musician died of alcohol poisoning almost 10 years ago in July 2011 at the age of 27, having struggled with substance abuse for many years.
Tyler James, 39, has spoken about his friendship with Amy in an interview with The Times to promote his new book My Amy: The Life We Shared, saying he ‘loved’ her and had tried his best to help her overcome her issues with alcohol and drugs.
He told the publication: ‘Amy was my world. I never have had that connection with someone again and I never will. I loved her. I was on a mission. I had a task. I had a job [to make her well] and that’s all I wanted to do.’
Tyler explained that he wants people to be able to understand ‘how close’ Amy was to giving up alcohol for good and ‘being healthy’ prior to her death.
He also believes being a world famous singer was never any good for her, due to the media speculation over her personal life as well as a lack of privacy.
‘I wanted to tell what it was like for her, having to actually live in that world,’ he explained about his reasons for writing his book. ‘With that level of fame, that level of intrusion, that lack of privacy.
‘I don’t think people really realise the effect that has on a person. She craved normality. The biggest thing that f**ked Amy up was being famous.’
However, Tyler does not blame anyone in particular for being involved in Amy’s death, but rather, he ‘blames addiction’.
‘That’s what I lost my friend to,’ he added.
It comes after Tyler recently revealed that Amy used to make secret visits to Barbara Windsor’s house so they could read EastEnders scripts together.
Tyler claims that Amy saw the late actress, who played Peggy Mitchell in the BBC soap, as something of a ‘nan figure’, claiming that she would ‘sneak out’ of private hospitals to go and visit her.
He also explained that Amy was a huge fan of EastEnders, and would often ask Barbara to get out scripts from the show so they could read them through and re-enact scenes together. Amy would often play Peggy.
‘Barbara loved it and she’d play Pat Butcher,’ he told The Sun. ‘Amy being Amy, with her accents and impressions, got right into it. There was a proper connection between them.
‘When we left, Barbara always said to me: “Look after her, Tyler.” It was comforting place for her to go.’
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