♪ >> mitch winehouse, primetime exclusive, emotional in an extraordinary hour. >> real heart broken, heart broke broken. ♪ thank you for coming back. i can only imagine it's been a hideous few weeks for you. how are you and the family holding up since amy die? >> very difficult, piers, very, very difficult indeed. we have each other, a wonderful family. and extremely wonderful friends. and we kept each other strong and, of course, we've got the foundation that we're working on. so we're doing okay. under the circumstances, we're doing okay. >> obviously you knew that amy was incredibly popular. have you been taken aback by the sheer scale of the reaction to her death? >> i have. i didn't realize how popular -- i knew she sold 20 million albums but the sheer depth of feeling that people have had for her has been extraordinary. the love and the messages she's getting and how she changed people's lives, it's just wonderful. >> are your feelings ones of anger, frustration, sadness. how would you describe how you've been feeling since you heard the news? >> all of those, all of those. very angry. i would spank her bottom. but all of those things is -- you know, very angry. very -- feel very guilty. i haven't done anything to be guilty about. all of those feelings combined. >> where were you when you heard the news? >> i was in new york, i was with my cousin who we're on the 47th floor of the tower block in manhattan. his wife and he had just had twin babies. i went to see the babies. and i was about to do a show at the blue note club my baby in new york. i was holding one of the babies. and my cousin's english and he phoned his dad to say that i was there and i spoke with my uncle. and he says, how's amy. i said, she's doing great. and as i was talking to him, my mobile rang, picked up the phone, it was amy's security guard and he was crying and he told me that she had passed away. >> just to go through her last night, tell me what happened from everything that you now know? >> okay. she had a good day as most of her days are good days. and she had -- her mom and janice and richard janice's boyfriend went to her early in the day. good spirits. close to bed. about 1:00 at night. she's singing, she's got a drum in her room. she's playing her drum. >> she was on her own? >> she was on her own. nobody else was in the house. i think her friend tyler was under the -- he stays with her. and he was in the room underneath hers. and it was 1:00 and the security guard said to her, you better stop playing the drum, amy, because people next door will complain. yeah, no problem. she stopped playing the drum. he heard her walking around for another half an hour or so. thought she couldn't sleep. he checked in on her at 3:00 in the morning. she had -- she seemed to be asleep. i think he checked her again. you have to excuse me if i don't have the timing right. he checked her again at 8:00. he saw there's a problem and they called the paramedics and that was it. >> what was your reaction? >> i had incredible clarity. i wasn't crying, screaming. i was holding the babies. i gave the baby to my cousin. i was comforting the security guard who, you know, he blamed himself. nothing to blame himself for. and it's quite natural. and i was comforting him and i was comforting my cousin. i was comforting my uncle and i was obviously in shock. but as i was sitting there taking it all in, i had thoughts coming to my mind, amy wine house foundation, amy wine house foundation. amy winehouse foundation. music, horses, children -- these are the things that were important to her. not necessarily in that order. children were not less important than children. but she loved horsed, loved children, she loved kids. this is what was in my mind. amy winehouse foundation. and she was basically guiding me and telling me what to do. that's my belief, anyway. >> did part of you expect this call? >> no, not at all. not at all. had this have happened three or four years previously, to be honest with you, i would have held my hands up and said, fair enough. her recovery, as we'll speak about later from the drug addiction was extraordinary. i've been banging on for the last three years for the fact that she'd been clean of drugs for three years. >> so you believe absolutely that amy had been clear of drugs for three years. >> she hasn't taken any drugs for three years. >> what about alcohol? >> alcohol is a different issue. unfortunately, alcohol, as you may be aware, one -- one addiction can follow the other. and this is when i found she had conquered the drug addiction, she then went on to a positive addiction. she was exercising every day. so fit, incredibly fit. she had a gym at home. she was exercising for three or four hours a day. if not more. >> yeah, three or four hours a day in the gym, on the treadmill, on the bike. on the rowing machine. just really, really fit girl. and then she would -- then there was another phase when she would buy -- buy loads of clothes and i had to deal with the buyer. she'd buy maybe 25,000 pounds with the dresses, i'd take them all back and i'd keep one for her. she said what's your favorite? she said i'd love the yellow. and i would take them back. she didn't know i had taken them back. the addiction was going to the store to buy the goods and the fact that i took them back didn't make the slightest bit of difference. >> did you have any way of controlling any of these adicks that -- addictions that she had? >> how do you control somebody else's addictions? people say what should you to? people should know better, what you should do is hire a house in the country, big house in the country so nobody can hear you scream. take her there, lock the doors, lock the windows, leave her there. put some food -- you can't do that to somebody. that's imprisonment. you can't treat people like that. if somebody is an addict, they have to deal with it in their own way. the only way the family could help was to be there to love them and support them. sometimes it's tough love that's there. sometimes it's soft love. whatever it is, the answer comes from the add dick, not from the family of the addict. so, in terms of doing anything about her addiction -- her addictions, whatever they were, it's not really an awful lot that any family can do. >> in the last few weeks, have you had any regrets. you say you feel guilty. it's a different feeling, any parent in that situation. but do you have any concrete regrets of things you wish you'd done? >> i really don't. our family was or is a terribly strong family and, you know, great example set on them half hour to go back to my grandparents and my -- my mother and father. who are both gone now. and we -- we took that forward and as a family, we were in love -- we are a loving family. and amy was an incidetra integr that family. >> you have shown such control. have you had moments in private that you've lost it about this? or were you able to keep things together? >> i mean, i have moments when i can't believe what's happened. it's just incredible. you know, even now, i -- she walked in here right now, i -- i wouldn't be surprised. it's just incredible that a force -- her force, her nature has gone. but it's not really gone. because i'm affirmed all my family -- firm believers in life after death. she's right here with us all the time. there's been some fantastic stuff going on as far as that's concerned, butterflies, birds, butterflies and birds just incredible. and wonderful messages that we're getting. and it's very, very difficult. and you know to answer your question -- in answer to your question, it's not a question of losing it. i think that crying is an intra g integral part of the grieving process. i can't tell everybody how they should grieve. the way i grieve is to cry. i'm a crier. i'm glad. i hope that means that i'm not storing my grief up for something else. because amy wouldn't want me to have, you know, to suffer from depression or -- or anything like that. because i just have too much to do. there's so much work that we have to do for the foundation, i can't afford to get depressed. so if it means i'm going to cry, i'm going to cry. if it means i'll going to cry here, i'll cry. not ashamed to cry. >> i'm going to talk to you about the early days with amy. what she's like as a little girl. and the dark days when you watched your daughter self-implo self-imploding. life insurance companies treat you like a policy, not a person. instead of getting to know you they simply assign you a number. aviva is here to change all that. we're bringing humanity back to insurance and putting people before policies. aviva life insurance and annuities. we are building insurance around you. a living, breathing intelligence that is helping business rethink how to do business. in here, inventory can be taught to learn. ♪ in here, machines have a voice... ♪ [ male announcer ] in here, medical history follows you... even when you're away from home. it's the at&t network -- a network of possibilities, creating and integrating solutions, helping business, and the world...work. rethink possible. the crib is already there. great. thank you so much. [ male announcer ] we provide great service, so you can stay you. holiday inn express. stay you. [ tv announcer ] today's trivia question -- what's the hardest play in baseball? the unassisted triple play. the unassisted triple play. [ male announcer ] stay smart and book smart. book early and save up to 20% at any holiday inn express. stay you. ♪ trying to make me go to rehab ♪ ♪ i won't go go go ♪ ♪ i'd rather be at home with ray ♪ ♪ i ain't got 17 days ♪ ♪ because there's nothing there's nothing -- ♪ >> the song made amy winehouse an international superstar, "rehab." i can tell, you can hardly bare to look at amy singing that. >> i was with her -- this is a great story because she just had a breaking up with her partner, chris, a very, very nice guy. he was a bit of a wimp. and she wrote the song about him, "you should be stronger than me." off of the first album. and he -- they broke up and she -- she had a few -- she went on a bing because of it. and she fell an banged her head and she came and stayed with me for three or four days. the managers were a couple of guys. and nick godwin and they say, you have a guy in rehab. they came to my house. and at the time, i didn't think she needed to go to rehab. she just had a breakup with her boyfriend. and i said, you know, and she said, what do you think? i think you're fine. and they tried to make me go to rehab. i said no, no, no. she did go there. she went to rehab for two hours. and then she came back. and i said, but she's been away from my house for three hours. we thought you went to rehab and you've come back already. she said, oh, the guy i went to see, all he wanted to do was speak about himself. it's all in the song "rehab," but my daddy thinks i'm fine. but out of that one situation, she managed to write "rehab". >> one of the great, great songs of the last 20 years. >> reporter: of the last 20 years. >> the poignancy of the title of that song, an irony, i guess, that "rehab" was something that bedeviled amy for years. she flirted with it. did she ever commit to rehab properly or not? >> no, i don't. to be frank -- i say she didn't. she went to the nighting gael three weeks before the grammies. she said, you know, dad, this group therapy life is not for me. at 5:00, the bell would go off and they would come in and talk about the whole -- i said, well, look, just sit and see how you get on. she was there for two or three weeks. and i when to see her every day as i did, this guy -- next door, his mom did this, sisters this. and i realize, that is group therapy. she didn't like the formalized group therapy. if anybody said so, at 5:00, we're all going to sit around the table and we're going to talk about ourselves. she'd say, this suspect for me. all she was doing all day long was talking to other people in a similar situation to herself. >> let's go back, mitch, to when amy was born. tell me about your family. what kind of environment it was for you all when she was first out there? >> well, it feels -- it wasn't that long ago. just coming up to 28 years and my mother was alive. her twin sister was alive. my father passed away at 1967, age 43. i was 16. she never knew him. but she came into the world surrounded by all of these people. i mean, when amy popped out, there was ab20 people in the waying room outside all wailing to see what she looked like. we already had my little boy, alex. he was, i think he was 3 1/2 at the time. so they -- it was just a fantastic family to be born into. >> she was showered with love by lots of people. very close family. when did you realize amy had a real talent for music. this is the first time. you're a musical guy. always have been. what was the moment for you that you thought, okay, wow, this is interesting. >> so many stories, the story i tell over and over is that we -- she got a scholarship for silyla young as an actress and dancer. >> like an acting school. >> it's an acting school. for music too. but we went to the first show she did, my wife and i, not janice, we went to see her, and whether the song she was singing in the wrong key. she didn't sing it well at all. i remember saying to my life, thank god she could act. she had acting jobs, she was doing okay. she said if a the following yea she said, dad, i'm singing again. i thought, oh, my god, she's singing again. she could sing. that's the age of 14. i heard her singing before, but i wasn't in the house from the age of 10. i saw her three or four times a week, but i -- janice and i got divorced when she was 10. so i wasn't there all the time. she was singing all the time. she didn't sound anything out of the ordinary to me. until we saw her at that show. >> the irony is she left the school because she wasn't in their eyes performing academically well enough, right? >> sylvia would say she wasn't expelled but she was expelled because -- >> for underperforming. >> underperforming. >> what was the moment for you that you realized this little girl of yours was going to be an international star? >> at silylvia young, she met a guy called tyler james, great friend, in the house with her that night. he introduced her to the management team called 19. they asked me to come down, she was under 18. i had to sign the forms for her. i went down, they said your daughter is absolutely fantastic. they sent some tracks. i never heard her sing on a cd before. they sent us some of the tracks that she'd done. they were brilliant. at that point, i remember saying to my wife, this is incredible. but really, it's a question of when did this happen? >> you hasn't seen it coming? >> not really, no. not really. >> i heard her sing, a lot of kids could sing. >> it wasn't just singing, she wrote this stuff. she wrote some of the great songs in the last 25 years. where do you think she got that from? >> i'd like to say me, of course. but the truth is that janice, my ex-wife's family, they were professional musicians on that side too. we're all singers on our side. they're the musicians on janice's side. pretty good gene pool one way or the other. >> amy propelled to the stratosphere of music superstardom. the first album did brilliantly. the second one exploded and everything changed. i want to talk to you about the effect of fame and fortune on her life and in particular, the effect of her quite troubled love life after this as well. ♪ trying to make me go to rehab ♪ ♪ i won't go go go [ male annou] this is the network. a network of possibilities... ♪ in here, pets never get lost. ♪ in here, every continent fits in one room. it was fun, we played football outside. why are you sitting in the dark? ♪ [ male announcer ] in here, you're never away from home. it's the at&t network. and what's possible in here is almost impossible to say. she won't eat eggs without hot sauce. she has kind of funny looking toes. she's always touching my hair. and she does this dancing finger thing. [ male announcer ] with advanced technology from ge, now doctors can diagnose diseases like breast cancer on a cellular level. so that women, like kristy's mom, can get personalized treatment that's as unique as she is. [ kristy ] she's definitely not like other moms. yeah, my mom is pretty weird. ♪ i've tried it. is pretty weird. but nothing helped me beat my back pain. then i tried salonpas. it's powerful relief that works at the site of pain and lasts up to 12 hours. salonpas. possibilities are everywhere. multiply them with the premier rewards gold card from american express. with triple membership rewards points on airfare, double on gas, double on groceries, and a single point on everthing else, it's a fast way to earn more every day. plus, you can earn 10,000 bonus points. and the annual fee the first year is on us. call 800.axp.gold to apply. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from? ♪ that's why right here, in australia, chevron is building one of the biggest natural gas projects in the world. enough power for a city the size of singapore for 50 years. what's it going to do to the planet? natural gas is the cleanest conventional fuel there is. we've got to be smart about this. it's a smart way to go. ♪ ♪ since i'm coming home >> the night before amy and i met, i know she hasn't been involved in that sort of stuff, like 3 1/2 years, something like that. she said, which i knew, you know, i know, i mean that wasn't part of her life, you know what i mean? it was -- it was long in the past. it was gone and she wasn't into it. she wasn't into that scene or that kind of thing, you know? she wasn't in to drugs at all. so, nothing to do with her life. >> that was amy winehouse's boyfriend of her death, reg tra vis. she had found proper love with a decent guy. is that how you saw it? >> absolutely. >> force of good in your life? >> an incredible force of good in her life. i don't know where she found him from, he's like a throwback to the '50s, old fashioned values, dresses very retro in a modern old-fashioned way, if you know what i mean? it's a terrific go. he had a great influence on amy. >> many people say that amy's almost inevitable downfall came after she met this guy blake who became her husband. he's serving a prison sentence in britain for assaulting somebody. when she first got together with this guy, as her father, what was your immediate reaction when you saw the kind of person that he was. >> my immediate reaction was that he was a very charming guy. i saw him at one of amy's shows. i knew he hnknew she had been s guy called blake and he'd been in and out of her life. he only wanted to come back to her life when she was successful. >> you were suspicious of his motivation? >> yes, i was. and my suspicions proved to be well founded. >> people close to amy believed it was blake who got her from soft drugs like marijuana which she had admitted taking when she feels a teenager to hard drugs, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin? >> i don't know about ecstasy, but cocaine and heroin, yes, i do. >> and as her father how did that make you feel? when you thought this guy that she's in love with, hooked up to, is driving her to this kind of thing? >> i was sickened, i did everything in my power to stop the relationship. but, again, what can you do? she really loved blake. >> did you ever confront him? >> oh, frequently. >> and his family. >> what would you a? >> leave my daughter alone, leave us alone. you're killing my daughter. he would say, well, i'm not killing her. he would admit to nothing. and his family were in denial, which made it more difficult because we had them to deal with as well, which is very, very painful and very difficult. >> did they not believe that he got amy to the hard dru