16:42 15 August 2012
Comedian Russell Brand feels guilty for failing to help Amy Winehouse overcome her addiction to alcohol and drugs, which ultimately led to her demise.
The famous singer spent many years struggling with her addiction before she passed away last summer due to alcohol poisoning. Brand, who is a former addict and was Amy’s friend, now believes that he should have done more to help Winehouse kick the deadly habit.
Brand, who was able to overcome his own addiction ten years ago, now wishes that he had used his own experience to help his friend recover from her own issues too.
He said: “Her death wasn’t inevitable – there was something that could have been done.”
“I know that from my own experience. I got clean at the age of 27, the age Amy was when she died. Amy’s death was a paradoxical unsurprising shock. I felt like I could have done something to help – to give her the chance I had…”
“When she died, it was this feeling of ‘Agh, I knew that was going to happen.’ And I had this flickering sense that I should have done something about that. I feel a bit guilty that there was nothing I did.”
The British comic star, perhaps touched by his guilt, has now produced a documentary film entitled 'Russell Brand: From Addiction to Recovery'. He hopes it will help other addicts recover from their addictions.