Over the course of her life, Amy Winehouse tried numerous times to get sober. The most recent attempt at getting healthy took place in May, when her representative said the singer checked herself into an inpatient facility as a means of preparing for her tour in Europe that was to take place over the summer. However, a friend of the family told People that before she set foot inside the clinic, she drank a mini bottle of Smirnoff vodka, in what was described as “typical Amy style.” Winehouse ended up leaving rehab just a week later, and her representative said she was “raring to go” on her tour and that she’d continue treatment at the clinic as an outpatient.
And even though the autopsy performed by the St Pancras Coroner’s Court in North London deemed the cause of death as “inconclusive” and were preparing to launch a full-scale investigation as to the circumstances that led to Winehouse’s death, people find it hard to refrain from assuming that the Rehab singer died from abusing numerous narcotics. But it turns out her family seems more inclined to believe that Winehouse died from alcohol withdrawal. Apparently, a friend of the family told British paper The Sun that they suspect Winehouse’s death was the result of her ignoring her doctor’s orders to cut down on her drinking slowly, which would make her withdrawal symptoms less intense and her body would be able to handle it. But that reportedly wasn’t what Winehouse herself wanted to do — it appears as though she was more interested in completely giving up alcohol altogether, rather than just weaning herself off of it. The source said that during Mitch Winehouse’s eulogy for his daughter, “he said doctors had told Amy to gradually reduce her intake of alcohol and to avoid bingeing at all costs. Amy told him she couldn’t do that. It was all or nothing and she gave up completely.” They added, “Mitch said the shock of giving up, after everything she had been through over a bad few years, was just too much for her to take.” They won’t know for sure, though, until toxicology reports come back in 2-4 weeks.
