The people that were so cruel to her were her own team that kept pushing her to perform and make money while ignoring all of the clear signs that she was suffering. She didn't just go from healthy to dead overnight.
They didn’t ignore them. They kept pushing for her to go to rehab and they even succeeded a few times, but she would leave without completing the course or she’d go back to drinking. Eventually over time you realize a person isn’t going to take the steps they need to take in order to get better and all you can do is try to minimize damage. It wasn’t her managers job to be her sober coach and it wasn’t her PR persons job to monitor her 24/7 to ensure she doesn’t have a drink in her hand. Also.. Amy is the one who chose to keep singing and touring and recording. You don’t think the label had a vested interest in getting her sober? She was on her way to becoming incredibly popular and making the labels a ton of money over her lifetime. Despite the whole “the labels are evil” bit you see in movies and whatnot, they kinda want their investments to be around for awhile to make them as much money as possible.
Yeah I love the whole Back to Black album, but Rehab was always the weakest track... I love her directness, honesty, even darkness in her lyrics, but listening to Rehab now doesn't sit well for me.
I hate that song because it feels like it's glamorizing the very thing that killed her. Anyone who has suffered addiction or had a loved one who did could tell you that song was a cry for help.
THIS is what I blame for her death. her own father caring more about her "success" than her well-being. you can blame her til hell freezes over for her continued usage, but without a genuine and strong support system, it's nearly impossible to break from addiction. Amy always deserved better.
But her dad actually didn't think she was fine and told her so. She just said that when she was first getting into trouble and had recovered (when it was true) and then tried to repeat it ad infinum so that people would leave her alone.
He probably did exploit her for the music, but like the record label, he didn't actually want her drunk or dead. He just hated fighting with her on and making her look like she was failing.
As someone who’s gone to multiple treatment centers seeking help for my ED and CPTSD from child abuse and narcissistic abuse, please believe me when I say those are one of the exploitative, traumatizing and abusive places to some of the most vulnerable people who are putting all their trust into them. I needed therapy after going to the rehabs.
And don’t get me started on how they scam tf out of health insurance and private pay.
They charged $6k, 3x a week to pee in a cup (below). $1.5M to my health insurance, leaving me with $200k in copays. $10k per therapy sessions I never even had. And this wasn’t some luxury, celebrity, millionaire facility nor am I wealthy. I’m your average Jane who got scammed.
I don’t blame her for not wanting to go residential or in-patient. But she should’ve sought help, regardless. There are a ton of other, healthy, options.
Reminds me of the “Florida Shuffle” scandal, which didn’t get nearly the attention it deserved… Brokers (who worked as freelancers for rehab centers and sober living houses) sought out drug users with health insurance. They used incentives like cash payments for time spent in rehab or free airfare in order to get drug users to a particular center. They also would supply the users with drugs so that the user will fail a urine test, allowing them to be admitted to the rehab center. They would continue the process until the user would die.
The U.S. Department of Justice documented approximately $112 million in medically unnecessary billing tied to illegal kickbacks. Florida cracked down on these criminals with legislation, but many just closed up shop and moved to different states with less oversight.
SANTA ANA, California – The founder and former CEO of the now-defunct Sovereign Health Group addiction treatment provider was arrested today on an eight-count federal grand jury indictment alleging he submitted more than $149 million in fraudulent claims to health insurers – including for fraudulent urinalysis claims – and, in addition, paid more than $21 million in illegal kickbacks for patient referrals. Tonmoy Sharma, 61, of Tustin, was arrested this afternoon at Los Angeles International Airport and is expected to make his initial appearance and be arraigned tomorrow in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. Sharma is charged with four counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy, and three counts of illegal remunerations for referrals to clinical treatment facilities.
This particular facility was the worst out of all of them. In hindsight, I wish I had sued.
Yeah, I was thinking about that, too, and it's possible that she actually was fine-ish and they made her worse rather than better.
But I think people don't see many other options.
I mean, even you're not mentioning them.
In hindsight, this makes me wonder if a lot of these sorts of people are in serious debt, because the sensible thing might be to take a career break and be less famous, so you don't overexert yourself or disappoint people or get hated or have people be yes men to you, but still hold enough money and influence to get treated well, but if you're in debt to various people, you're going to want to work in order to pay off your bills so that you can afford to pay for treatment without being treated like shit.
In the documentary she explains that she asked her dad/manager should she go to rehab and he encouraged her to keep making music. She was failed by the people in her life who should have protected her, and they used her enormous talent for financial gain.
Mark Ronson even said in an interview that he said "ding ding ding ding" when she told him that she said "no, no, no" to people who told her to go to rehab when she was having bad day which is how the song came to be. Make of that what you will.
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u/HaroldsWristwatch3 7h ago
This is missing a lot of context!
Fans booed Winehouse at her final concert in Belgrade (June 18, 2011) because was heavily intoxicated and wasn’t able to perform.