‘I’ve lost a heavy influence in my life’: Amy Winehouse’s goddaughter Dionne Bromfield believes people will see different side of singer in new doc airing for 10th anniversary of her death
Dionne Bromfield has revealed she believes there was a side to Amy Winehouse people didn’t know ahead of the tenth anniversary of her death on July 23.
Amy was godmother to singer Dionne, 25, who will be discussing her close relationship with the icon in MTV documentary Amy Winehouse & Me: Dionne’s Story.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com, Dionne said: ‘I knew there was a side to Amy that I just didn’t feel like people really knew. So, I really wanted people to see the Amy I love so dearly. I felt like doing a documentary would be the best way and doing it from my perspective would be even better.’
Memories: Dionne Bromfield has revealed she believes there was a side to Amy Winehouse people didn’t know ahead of the tenth anniversary of her death on July 23 (pictured in 2020)
Dionne said she hopes the documentary will show people what Amy was really like, describing her as a ‘motherly figure’.
She explained: ‘I think I’ve lost quite a heavy influence in my life. I mean, my mum’s an amazing mum anyway but my relationship with Amy, it was kind of like I had a sister and a mother.’
Dionne was just 15 years old when Amy died from accidental alcohol poisoning in 2011, aged 27, and said the passing caused her to bottle up her feelings.
She added: ‘I miss having off-record conversations and just really on a like a public level and career wise, just having that person who really understands it. I miss having that mentorship really.’
Close: Amy was godmother to Dionne, 25, who will be discussing her close relationship with the icon in MTV documentary Amy Winehouse & Me: Dionne’s Story (pictured together in 2008)
Dionne said she feels more comfortable talking about Amy now, describing herself as ‘very reserved’ in the past.
Amy soared to fame upon the release of Frank in 2003, as she gained both critical and commercial success with the debut as her jazz-inspired vocals won fans all over before her second album Back to Black’s introduction three years later.
In a heartbreaking turn of fate, the London-born icon’s dazzling career was plighted by drink and drug addiction.
As she ascended higher on the fame ladder she discovered her demons – in drink, drugs and also eating disorders, which her brother Alex insists contributed to her death.
Dionne said: ‘I really wanted people to see the Amy I love so dearly. I felt like doing a documentary would be the best way and doing it from my perspective would be even better’ (pictured in 2008)
In 2011, an inquest gave a verdict of misadventure after finding that she had 416mg of alcohol per decilitre in her blood.
A second inquest in 2013 confirmed that she died of accidental alcohol poisoning.
This is more than five times the legal drink-drive limit and enough to cause her to become comatose and depress her respiratory system.
In a June 2013 interview, her brother Alex said he believed her eating disorder, and the consequent physical weakness, was the primary cause of her death.
Career: Amy soared to fame upon the release of Frank in 2003, as she gained both critical and commercial success with the debut as her jazz-inspired vocals won fans all over before her second album Back To Black’s introduction three years later (pictured in 2007)
He said: ‘She suffered from bulimia very badly. That’s not, like, a revelation – you knew just by looking at her…
‘She would have died eventually, the way she was going, but what really killed her was the bulimia… I think that it left her weaker and more susceptible. Had she not had an eating disorder, she would have been physically stronger.’
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Amy Winehouse & Me: Dionne’s Story premieres on MTV UK on Monday July 26 at 10pm.
Tragedy: An inquest in 2013 confirmed that she died of accidental alcohol poisoning (pictured at Glastonbury in 2007)