ABC News: After Cocaine Video Surfaces, Winehouse Goes to Rehab
Concern About Celebrity Drug Use Grows After Heath Ledger's
Death
By AMMU KANNAMPILLY
LONDON, Jan. 24, 2008
Amy Winehouse has finally said "yes" to
rehab.
"Amy decided to enter the facility today after talks
with her record label, management, family and doctors," Winehouse's
record company, Universal Music Group, said today in a statement
to reporters. "She has come to understand that she requires
specialist treatment to continue her ongoing recovery from
drug addiction."
Tuesday, a photo of the British singer apparently smoking
a crack pipe was splashed across the front page of the U.K.
tabloid The Sun.
The photo, taken from a 19-minute video whose source The
Sun has not revealed, was accompanied by reports that the
Grammy-nominated singer had allegedly engaged in a drug binge
of cocaine, ecstasy, Valium and crack.
Winehouse, 24, is perhaps best known for her 2006 hit "Rehab," in
which she wrote about her refusal to visit a rehab facility.
Hours after the video was released, however, the singer
turned up at the privately run Capio Nightingale Hospital,
accompanied by her father, Mitch, and a bodyguard, according
to The Times of London. The mental health clinic in central
London is famous for treating celebrities with addiction
problems.
Supermodel Kate Moss was among those who retreated to the
clinic when photos of her apparently snorting cocaine were
published by The Daily Mirror, a British tabloid, in September
2005. Moss has since resurrected her modeling career to great
fanfare, earning an estimated $28 million that same year.
So, will Winehouse survive her apparent drug addiction,
not to mention the unflattering glare of the U.K. tabloid
press?
Is Winehouse's Life on the Line?
In an interview with ABC News, Bryony Gordon, a columnist
with The Daily Telegraph, said that the video footage meant
that Winehouse wouldn't "be able to attend the Grammy
Awards ceremony this year, because the U.S. authorities are
unlikely to give her a visa."
But, according to others, the possible refusal of an American
visa is the least of Winehouse's problems.
Andrew Wainwright, director of the U.S.-based Addiction
Intervention Resources, told ABC News that drug addiction
was "unlike any other disease."
"If the doctor says you have cancer, you believe him
and begin the curing process immediately," Wainwright
said.
"But with drugs," he added, "people don't
buy into it the same way they do with other illnesses."
If news of the addiction makes it into the public domain,
however, that can lead to addicts acknowledging their problems,
according to Wainwright.
Certainly this is the line espoused by The Sun. Managing
editor Graham Dudman told ABC News that the newspaper was
not on "a social crusade to save Amy Winehouse."
"But," he added, "that is certainly one of
the reasons why we published these pictures she clearly
needs help."
Although Gordon scoffed at that claim, saying, "I think
The Sun's line is to help their sales," few people deny
that Winehouse needs help.
Concerns about her health began to emerge last year, when
she canceled her U.K. tour after giving a series of erratic
performances. In October, her father told a British tabloid
that he was so worried about her health that he had already
composed a eulogy for her.
Wainwright acknowledged that while "it's incumbent
on people in her inner circle to say, 'I won't help you live
this way,'" recovery ultimately boils down to the addict's
determination.
"It's important to never ever give up hope," he
said.
"There's something we call the rule of 101 - if you
have tried 100 times to help the person, it's probably worth
trying 101."
Rehab Remedy #101: A Jail Spell?
The latest footage has led some commentators in the United
Kingdom to wonder whether a stretch in jail might not be
the best option for Winehouse.
If "her family feels that a prison stint is the best
way of intervening, then so be it," Wainwright said.
Winehouse's husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, is currently facing
criminal charges for allegedly assaulting and attempting
to bribe a pub landlord in East London. Her father has repeatedly
accused Fielder-Civil of encouraging his daughter's drug
addiction.
As for Winehouse, Friday, she showed up at her husband's
hearing in London and blew several kisses at him before shouting, "I
love you, handsome, gorgeous one."
Winehouse's spokesperson refused to comment on the video
footage, but public interest in her apparent descent into
addiction has never been higher.
"The truth is we all love a train wreck," Wainwright
said. "Maybe part of it is that addiction is the great
equalizer - it's a nondiscriminatory disease," he said,
adding that "it transcends gender, race and wealth."
But, according to Gordon, what keeps people interested in
Winehouse is "a talent that transcends everything."
"People want to see her get better, there is genuine
concern for her," Gordon said, adding that the public
usually "forgives people with huge talent."
Fabiola Antezana contributed to the reporting of this story.
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