Amy Winehouse’s Father Talks About Her Pain

By: Shannon Gossage

Papa Winehouse did an interview with the BBC for a new special called "One Lie: Rock Star Parents." The show is set to air on Tuesday. During the interview he said that he began cheating on his wife, Janis, with a co-worker named Jane shortly after Amy was born in 1993. He claims that the affair emotionally scarred his daughter. Mitch said that everyone in the family knew about the affair. He said, "The children used to call Jane ‘Daddy’s work wife.’"

Mitch eventually left Janis and moved in with Jane when Amy was only 10 and her older brother Alex was 13. He said that when he finally left Amy "definitely became a lot more independent." He also said, "I thought Amy was over [the affair] pretty quickly – in fact it felt at the time Amy felt no effect at all. Maybe she could not articulate it in words, but she certainly did it with music." He said her song "What It Is About Men" is about is affair and the pain it caused. He eventually ended up marrying Jane in 1996.

Mitch doesn’t take the blame for his daughter’s battle with drugs and alcohol. He said, "It is easy for me to say it is my fault and that had I been a better parent, this would not have happened. But who knows whether it would or not?" He also said, "I think she would have found her way here one way or another without any help from me." Father and daughter Winehouse have since reconciled and put their issues in the past. Mitch is just intent on getting help for his troubled daughter. He claims that the drugs and alcohol led Winehouse to have a seizure in August. He said, "She could die horribly. That is not going to happen – that cannot happen." Winehouse entered a rehab facility shortly after a video of her allegedly smoking crack hit the Internet. She remained in the facility for about two weeks and is reportedly abusing drugs and alcohol again.