Amy Winehouse sank so deep into drug addiction she smoked crack cocaine during her gigs, according to her ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil.
The troubled star fled her native Britain last year (08), spending eight months in the Caribbean in a bid to kick her longrunning battle with drink and drugs - which nearly claimed her life following an accidental overdose in 2007.
Fielder-Civil, whose divorce from the singer was finalised earlier this month (Jul09), admits he introduced Winehouse to heroin in 2006, and she later developed a serious addiction to the deadly drug, as well as crack cocaine.
He says, "We were in a hotel in East London having one of our mad little nights. I'd been smoking heroin on my own before that, but never in front of her. I got a bit for myself and she looked at me and said, 'Can I have some?' I was out of my mind on drugs and I said, 'Of course.' Amy took to heroin like a duck to water, same as me."
Fielder-Civil alleges the star began spending more than $10,500 (£7,000) a week on drugs at the height of her addiction and often used a "crack pipe" smoking device to ingest drugs during her gigs.
He explains, "Amy would stumble off, with her hands out, waiting for the pipe. She smoked after every song, and without her hit, she wouldn't go on. It's no wonder she couldn't sing properly. We carried a crack pipe everywhere with us. If we went out to dinner, Amy would get it out and hide under the table so she could have a quick hit. She was quite blatant about it and no one ever questioned her."
After her accidental overdose in 2007, Winehouse endured a brief stint in rehab at the Causeway clinic in Essex, England.
And Fielder-Civil admits he used to smuggle in drugs for her while she was undergoing treatment.
He adds, "I think the most inappropriate place we did drugs was probably in rehab. I took something in with me - just a couple of Valium and a heroin substitute. But it showed we weren't taking the thing seriously."