(obviously taken in happier times…look how good she looks)

Wow.  I have been asking for a while now what has happened to the family of Amy Winehouse, and look at what I found…an explosive interview with her father Mitch where he lets loose on a whole number of subjects concerning his wayward daughter.  I know it sounds hypocritical, but as much as I wanted to know where they were in her obvious time of need, perhaps there was some of this info he could have kept to himself, y’know?

Well, anyway, he said it, I read it, and now I offer it to you.  So gird your loins, we’re gonna dive right in…

Some highlights from the interview with Britain’s News Of The World:

In an exclusive interview with the News of the World, he said: “I want her sectioned. The situation is getting out of control. I want her off the street.”

Dismissing another stint in rehab, Mitch said: “I don’t think being somewhere for six weeks is going to cure her problems.

“I think it needs far more radical measures. We will take the bull by the horns and deal with it.”

Well, I have to agree with him there.  And good on him for taking the initiative.

Taxi driver Mitch is cutting short a holiday in Tenerife to fly home for a Council of War with the 24-year-old singer’s team, family and medical professionals tomorrow.

Mitch, 57, revealed: “I’ve been on the phone to Amy’s manager in Los Angeles and he’s starting things rolling. They are going to be speaking to doctors, psychologists and everything else.

“I want Amy to be somewhere where she will be safe and where no harm can come to her.

“Obviously as her dad I will try and do what’s best for her.

“Unfortunately, what I think is best for Amy and what she thinks is best for her are two different things.

“And it might be that other parties might need to be involved.

“You need all four—the psychologists, the doctor, the local health authority and the next of kin—all to decide that somebody is sectionable.

“Now is the time to exert whatever pressure we have to try to do it.

“I’ve told them she is a danger to herself. There is evidence of self-harming and she’s a danger to other people because she’s attacked someone.”

And yep, agree with that, too.  If she’s attacking people because of her drug-addled state, there’s a huge problem (although the courts in the UK seem to not care, letting her go with a slap on the wrist and a stern finger-waggle).

Shaken Mitch went on: “One of the reasons I came to Tenerife [on a holiday] was to get away from it all.

“If I was in England, I’d be around there and try to impress upon her the foolishness of her ways.

“During the week I nearly came home from Tenerife because she phoned me and said ‘I really miss you’ and started crying. I got my sister to go and see her. She has clearly been through a very traumatic week.

“I don’t feel Amy is beyond help. But unless she wants it, you can’t force her to do anything against her will.”

Mitch added: “Some of the things that Amy has articulated over the last weeks were that she wanted help. That’s the first time she has spoken about it.

“But wanting it and actually doing it are two different things.”

People can sometimes be reaching out for help and not even realize that is what they are doing…they are doing it in an unconscious way, a way which they don’t fully understand.  And yes…you can’t help someone who doesn’t want help.  What Amy needs to understand is that you can’t clean yourself up for an event or another person or whatever reason…you have to clean yourself up for you, and you alone.  Even if her father begins to practice “tough love” with her (refusing contact unless she agrees to treatment), at least it is a decision to do something to help her…much better than standing back and pretending nothing is wrong.  Yes, it’s very hard…and that is where she needs the support of her family.

He said: “Unless somebody is suicidal or they are a danger to other people—for example walking around the streets threatening to kill people—no one is going to section them.

“And even then, after 36 hours, if somebody shows any sign of improvement they can be let back into the community.” Mitch believes Amy’s caution for assault may increase the chances of getting her sectioned.

“That is one of the tacks I will take,” he said. “I’m going to speak to our lawyers. I’m going to speak to the doctor and then we will see what happens.

“Ultimately it’s the doctors who will decide if anybody is sectionable.”

I think if anybody can do this, Mitch can.  At least he isn’t sitting at home, making pithy comments and blaming everybody else in the world for Amy’s problems but Amy (unlike her rather useless mother, who seems to believe her angel was held down, force-fed drugs, and made to start cutting herself).  He has even begun to take a little responsibility for her behavior himself (but just a little…oh, we got a ways to go, Mitch).

AMY’S dad angrily confirmed that she HAS been cheating on hubby Blake Fielder-Civil with her manager’s assistant, Alex Haynes.

Mitch, who asked geeky Alex to look after Amy, said: “It’s unbelievable. He’s tall, but he’s like a little boy.

“I am shocked. His job was to look after Amy. I asked him to stay with Amy while she was recording at Henley. This was not part of the job! I don’t like infidelity. But Alex could be the victim in all this.

“I can’t ever imagine Alex seducing Amy. He looks like Clark Kent.

“It was clearly the other way round and Amy had her wicked way with him. But I would never dream of putting those two together.”

A friend of 24-year-old Alex revealed he confessed to his fling with Amy in a phone call to his boss Raye Cosbert in Los Angeles.

The pal said: “Alex was far from happy that the news of his affair had come out. I think he was feeling very sheepish and guilty. His job was to make sure she was all right.

“No one suspected he was actually having a fling with her.”  

Well, now!  So much for Janis’ assertions that he’s such a ”lovely boy” and she’s “thrilled” about the relationship.  And if it is a fling, then this just shows that Janis doesn’t know what she’s talking about when she says they are in a relationship.  Makes me wonder how much she got for the interview?  (Yeah, Mitch probably got paid too, but at least he is speaking the truth, albeit a bit too much of it.)

I do believe Mitch is less than thrilled.  It also sounds like he’s a bit daft to be seduced by Amy.  And what is he doing, shagging her when he’s supposed to be looking after her?  That’s pretty low and it would serve him right if Mitch wrung his geeky little neck.

So…while, yes, I think perhaps Mitch gave me a bit more than I was wanting, at the same time it gives me an idea of where he is going with all this.  I don’t just sit here and rag on celebs…I take an interest in them, and when I see an obvious talent like Amy Winehouse (whom I have defended on many occasions here) throwing her life (not to mention her career) down the toilet, it makes me sad.  I don’t like it.  I want to see her get help, get clean, and get back on top of her game.

Unfortunately, it is going to be a long, hard road.  The good news is that she isn’t a lost cause…she can do this if she sets her mind to it.  The bad news is is just might be her last shot.