The Death of Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse, a beautiful and talented young woman, was found dead in her home in July of 2011. Her funeral was held Tuesday, July 26th, 2011. Although the autopsy results were inconclusive as far as cause of death, the general consensus seems to be that Amy Winehouse died of a drug overdose or a seizure induced by heavy drinking and drug use
Amy Winehouse & Treatment for Drug Addiction
A lot of people who are speaking out on television shows or twitter are upset, but a lot of people don’t seem too bothered by her death. It’s more of a game to them or simply entertainment.
For years now, people have been wondering when Amy Winehouse would die. People have been speculating how she would die, and now that it has happened, she has just become one more celebrity who didn’t want help and ended up dying because of it. She has even been lumped into a group of celebrities who also died of drug/alcohol overdoses at the age of 27, the age Winehouse was when she passed away.
I obviously didn’t know her personally nor was I a particular fan of Amy Winehouse’s songs. There is no question that she was incredibly talented, I just never really got into her music and listened to much of it. That being said, her death has affected me a lot more than I could ever imagine. I’m not sitting around crying over the death of someone I have never met before, but as a recovering addict, and just a human being who cares about other human beings, I am extremely saddened by her death.
I know that there is another way to live than in the grips of addiction. I know that no one has to overdose and die; no one has to be miserable and continue to kill themselves through drugs and alcohol day in and day out. I am blessed to have found another way of life, and I unfortunately cannot say the same thing about Amy Winehouse.
For her entire career, Winehouse has been known more for her stints in rehab and her out of control drinking and drug use rather than her musical talent. Why was it that everyone in the world knew that Amy Winehouse needed treatment for drug addiction, but she never got it?
In an article I was reading, her record label openly stated in 2008 that she entered rehab to “continue her ongoing recovery from drug addiction and prepare for her planned appearance at the Grammy Awards.” Who does that? Who enters rehab so that they can ‘get better’ and go perform and go on tour? Who agrees that this is a good idea? How could there possibly have been all of these people around her, knowing VERY well that she needed long term treatment for alcohol recovery and drug addiction, who didn’t care about her enough to tell her to stay in rehab and forget about the music for a while?
I get it – life is different for celebrities. I’m not ignorant enough to think that things work the same way for them as they do for us. BUT, I do know that addiction does not discriminate. Addiction doesn’t say “Oh, it’s Amy Winehouse; I’ll take it easy on her.” Addiction KILLED her, just as it has killed many other famous and non-famous people, and just as it will continue to kill people.
The toxicology report released in October 2011 showed cause of death to be an alcohol overdose. To me it was always very clear that drugs and alcohol led to her death. No matter how you look at it – even if her toxicology report came back saying it wasn’t the drugs that killed her that night, I certainly know that she was doing her mind, body, and soul an extreme disservice by drinking and using drugs the way she did. She was destroying her body and slowly killing herself.
I tend to be a firm believer that things happen for a reason, but no one EVER has to die from a drug overdose. No one EVER has to remain a drug addict or an alcoholic until the day they die. There is addiction drug rehab treatment out there, there is even free drug rehab, and people need to educate themselves and the people around them so that the help can be provided. Celebrities and the people they work with or work for need to understand that someone’s life is much more important than a Grammy or a world tour. When someone dies, there is no Grammy and there is no world tour.
Celebrities face some serious and unique challenges in terms of sobriety and recovery. Celebrities are allowed to work and continue with movies and writing songs and etc while they are in rehab. Celebrities often aren’t able to focus on themselves and their sobriety while they are in rehab; there are too many people who just want them to ‘get better.’ Their sobriety never seems to be the first priority. Whether you are a celebrity or a ‘normal person,’ addiction kills you unless you get the treatment you need and you make alcohol addiction recovery THE priority in your life.
I truly feel sorry for Amy, her family, her friends, and her fans. I feel so horrible that she has died at such a young age and that her family has to move on without her. The reason I feel the most sorry is because this is something that could have and SHOULD have been prevented.
Famous or not, death is always incredibly tragic. This story is something that clearly hit very close to home for me, and I wish she could have gotten help. I wish I could help everyone who needed it, but the truth is no one can make someone get better. A person has to really want to get better and be willing to do the work to stay clean and sober. Recovery needs to come before everything. I’ve always heard people say “anything that you put before your recovery is going to be the first thing you will lose.”
Amy Winehouse put her life and her career before her recovery and sobriety, and these are the things she lost.