LONDON — Singer Amy Winehouse’s family believes she was killed by quitting alcohol, according to a new report.
They believe the singer’s decision to lay off alcohol completely for three weeks was a lethal “shock” for her tiny body, the London Sun reported.
Family sources told the newspaper that the “Rehab” singer, who was found dead aged 27 on Saturday, was killed after ignoring her doctor’s advice to cut down on her heavy drinking gradually.
He family believe she was killed by a seizure because her tiny frame could not cope with such a dramatic withdrawal.
A source close to Amy’s family said: “Abstinence gave her body such a fright they thought it was eventually the cause of her death.”
The soul singer was seen drinking gin and other alcoholic drinks at the iTunes festival at the Roundhouse in Camden, North London, according to The Sun.
But at Winehouse’s eulogy at her funeral on Tuesday, her father Mitch Winehouse dismissed reports she went on a 72-hour binge saying that he, her boyfriend and her manager believed it was actually the complete opposite.
The source said, “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.”
“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,” the source added.
Winehouse’s mother Janis, 56, and film director boyfriend Reg Traviss, 35, saw her the day before she died and were sure she had not been drinking. Her doctor gave her a clean bill of health the same day.
The cause of the singer’s death is still not known, as police await toxicology test results that could take up to four weeks.
To read more, go to the London Sun.