Amy Winehouse's Troubled Road to Rehab

Bloody appearances, drug arrests: The singer goes from rising star to rehab in less than a year. By Cara Lynn Shultz
By People Staff
Updated January 24, 2008 04:00 PM

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DADDY'S GIRL

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Amy Winehouse (with her father Mitch on Jan. 24 in London) may sing "My daddy thinks I'm fine" in her hit "Rehab," but it's her record label that announces that she's entered a rehab facility that day to "continue her ongoing recovery from drug addiction." The news comes after footage of Winehouse smoking from what appears to be a crack pipe hits the Internet.

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GOING PLATINUM

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Amid rumors that husband Blake Fielder-Civil – in jail on charges of witness tampering – is threatening to divorce her, Winehouse drastically changes her signature black beehive to a bleached blonde hairdo in early January. (She returns to her original color less than two weeks later.)

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BACK TO WORK?

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Winehouse and producer Mark Ronson – who cowrote several songs on her breakthrough Grammy-nominated disc, Back in Black – team up again in London, spending time in a small studio for five hours.

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LETTER FROM THE HEART

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Winehouse pairs off with dad Mitch on Dec. 11 – just a few days after mom Janis wrote an impassioned open letter to the News of the World begging her daughter to come home. "This letter is my way of making sure that you know that all you have to do is come to us, Amy, and we'll do everything in our power to get you well again," her mother wrote.

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PREDAWN STROLL

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While most of London was fast asleep, Winehouse – sans shirt, in spite of the cold December weather – was photographed wandering around at 5:45 a.m., reportedly "muttering incomprehensively." Her rep insisted, "She was not on an all-night bender ... She'd been sound asleep" when she heard a noise outside and went to investigate.

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NO ENCORE

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Six days after Fielder-Civil is arrested, Winehouse takes the stage Nov. 14 at the Birmingham Indoor Arena. Stumbling and slurring her words, the singer is booed by the fans who head for the exits. "To them people booing, wait 'til my husband gets out of incarceration," she reportedly threatens the crowd.

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SPECIAL GUEST

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Just a few days earlier, Winehouse wins over the crowd at London's Brixton Academy – while a special guest was watching backstage, much to her father's chagrin. "I do worry about people like Pete Doherty. He's a scumbag," Mitch Winehouse told Grazia magazine about the rocker, who has suffered through his own public battle with drugs. "I flipped when I saw him sitting with Amy backstage at her Brixton gig."

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IN THE NEWS

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Winehouse checked out the papers at a local newsstand Nov. 8 – unaware that the police were in the process of raiding her London home. That same day, Fielder-Civil is arrested in the witness tampering case, but officials would not comment on why her home was targeted, noting that "investigations are ongoing."

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A WINNING MOMENT

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At the MTV Europe Music Awards on Nov. 1, Winehouse won the coveted Artists' Choice award, which is decided by fellow musicians. She offered only a bashful "Thanks" in her acceptance, and those in attendance noted her "lack of energy" when she performed her song "Back in Black."

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FREE BIRD

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After spending 12 hours in a Norwegian jail cell for marijuana possession Oct. 18, Winehouse makes her way into her scheduled concert at the Greigehallen in Bergen, Norway.

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ROMANTIC GETAWAY

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Winehouse and Fielder-Civil escape their problems for a quick Caribbean vacation in September, a month after she was hospitalized for "exhaustion" in August and canceled all her appearances. "I really thought that it was over for me then," Winehouse told German magazine Stern. "My husband Blake saved me."

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A BLOODY MESS

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After staying overnight in London's Sanderson Hotel on Aug. 23, Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were photographed with blood splatters on their clothes and faces. Police had reportedly been called to the hotel when guests complained of a loud argument, and Winehouse fled the scene and flagged down a stranger's car. The next day, she texted gossip blogger Perez Hilton to say that "I was cutting myself after [Blake] found me in our room about to do drugs with a call girl and rightly said I wasn't good enough for him. I lost it and he saved my life."

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A TENDER MOMENT

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The newlyweds share a sweet moment on the Hollywood set of Winehouse's video for "Tears Dry On Their Own," which Winehouse wrote about Fielder-Civil during a break in their relationship. (In spite of the turmoil, the twosome have shared tattoos – she has "Blake" on her left breast, while Fielder-Civil has "Amy" tattooed behind his ear.)

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SAYING, 'I DO'

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After a brief engagement (he proposed in April), Winehouse weds Fielder-Civil – a onetime gofer on music video sets – in Miami on May 18. At the time of their nuptials, the two had been dating on-and-off for two and a half years.

See more of Amy's path to stardom: Her complete timeline

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