Amy Winehouse made a typically bizarre appearance at court today as she denied assaulting a fan at a charity ball. The singer, looking tanned and healthy in a tight floral minidress, blew kisses to the huge media pack and grabbed her chest as she sashayed into the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court. She spoke loudly to confirm her date of birth and her name, which she gave as Amy Jade Civil – her married name. Winehouse, 25, is charged with punching dancer Sherene Flash at the ball in Berkeley Square last September. Ms Flash, 30, is said to have asked her for a photo and while the star initially agreed, she then allegedly lashed out. Winehouse is then said to have fled the star-studded event crying: “Life can’t go on.” Her solicitor Mark Haslam excused Winehouse’ s late appearance at the court, blaming problems during her journey and saying she had left her Barnet home at 8.15am. Her case was adjourned for trial on 23 July. Winehouse, who was granted unconditional bail, left the court, pulling down her dress and giving a wiggle as she went. Wearing high heels and platform soles, Winehouse then appeared to stumble as she was ushered into a side room to speak to her lawyer. She was greeted by a scrum of photographers and press when she walked out of the court in Horseferry Road, where police officers and her own security staff helped her into a waiting people carrier. Asked how she was feeling, she said: “I’m all right, thanks.”

Awww … can’t we just cut her a break and wipe the slate clean? It’s very obvs that she is trying to clean up her life, I say we give the poor mess a second chance. Because of this legal tussle (which may or may not get settled out of court before her trial begins in July), Amy has been denied a visa to come to the US to perform at Coachella — hasn’t she suffered enough? OK, prolly not … but I’d hate to see her fall off the wagon, as it were, and revert to her old reckless ways. I don’t recall Amy lookin’ this healthy in ages. Let’s hope she keeps it up. What do y’all think … is Amy Winehouse finally on the straight and narrow?

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While I am still skeptical that early release from jail in order to serve out the final month of a criminal sentence in rehab is really the right way to go about things, I am encouraged that Blake seems willing to get help. Of course, the decision to “get help” in a cushy rehab facility over renaming in a jail cell prolly made more to do about comfort rather than a genuine desire to “get help”, I’m willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Now, if only Blake’s bride Amy would join him in this rehab facility so that they can “get help” together. Amy Winehouse is a poor shadow of the immense talent that she possesses and it is very sad to see her wither in front of our eyes. While it’s great to see that her father is involved in her life, I think she needs something stronger than parental supervision to get her act together.

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin, Splash News]

Amy Winehouse was rushed to the emergency room of a London hospital Monday, her reps say. “Amy Winehouse suffered a reaction to medication at home this evening and was taken to the hospital. Doctors have advised that she will be kept under observation overnight and is likely to be released tomorrow,” the singer’s American rep says. The troubled 24-year-old star was taken by ambulance from her home to University College Hospital, her U.K. spokesman Chris Goodman confirms to PEOPLE. No other details were provided.

As of this morning, tho, Amy has already been released … free to terrorize the streets once again:

Amy Winehouse was discharged from hospital this morning after receiving emergency treatment for a adverse reaction to “medication”. A spokeswoman for University College Hospital, where the singer spent the night, said she was ushered out via a private exit shortly after 9.45am. She was said to be in good spirits after a “comfortable night”. The spokeswoman said: “Our doctors decided to keep her overnight for observation. She had a comfortable night and will be discharged today.” Her release comes less than 24 hours after she was stretchered out of her Camden home and rushed to A&E. The singer was seen being wheeled out of her north London home just after 8.40pm by paramedics, her beleaguered father Mitch Winehouse watching on. Paramedics had been called by Mitch after Winehouse reportedly collapse after suffering an episode of “fitting”. Her father blamed the scare on a mistake with her prescription pills, saying: “She’s fine, she just mixed up her medication.”

Uh, yeah … just what sort of medication did she get mixed up? Why is she even taking medication in the first place? How much of the stuff is she taking that A.) there are so many to mix up and B.) would cause such a severe reaction? Any of y’all wanna guess what sort of “medication” Amy swallowed down and caused this episode of “fitting”?

In other news, Amy Winehouse’s wax statue doppelgänger is still alive and doing well.

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin; Source]

Amy Winehouse’s wacky – and waxy – likeness has now been officially immortalized, along with her tattoos. The singer’s parents, Mitch and Janis, unveiled their daughter’s wax figure at Madame Tussauds London on Wednesday, with her father calling its likeness “perfection.” “This is the reward for her musical achievements and her talent,” he told reporters. The waxwork’s outfit replicates the one Winehouse wore to 2007’s Brit Awards – a bright yellow mini-dress with towering black heels. Microphone in hand, the figure stands in the museum’s “Music Zone” among such other chart-toppers as Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake and Kylie Minogue.

Speaking to GMTV, Mitch Winehouse joked that the wax figure looked so perfect that he’d be willing to swap out his real-life daughter for this fake one:

“Yeah, it’s great. We just said we’re going to take this one home with us and send the real one back.” Speaking about Amy’s improving condition, he added: “She’s doing OK. You know, she’s doing well, she’s getting a lot better, she’s getting a lot stronger, she’s putting on a lot of weight, she’s eating, and she’s concentrating on her new album now, so she’s doing pretty well. She’s obviously sad that Blake didn’t come out the other day, but we were prepared for it and she was prepared for it, because we knew that that could have happened, and it did happen, but now she knows he’ll be out in December so things will be ready for him then.” Mitch also claimed Amy is currently “clean” and commented on his daughter’s plans to have five kids with Blake as soon as he’s out of prison. “If Blake cleans up his act, as I’m sure he will do, they’ll have a wonderful life together and we can look forward to being, you know, a happy family.”

Lofty ambitions for a couple as messy as Amy and Blake. I suppose hope springs eternal and naturally Amy’s father is going to wish the best for the two of them (the prospect of children, tho, makes me shudder). I’m not convinced that either of them are “clean” but, again, there is always a hope that they might be some day. I understand that Amy is planning to visit this exhibit at Madam Tussaud’s within the next two weeks … I’m curious to see how the real thing compares to the wax statue. My guess is that the statue will appear the more lifelike.

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source, Source]

The troubled singer Amy Winehouse, right, has early stage emphysema as a result of smoking crack cocaine and cigarettes and may need an oxygen mask to breathe if she cannot stop, her father told a British newspaper, The Sunday Mirror, in an interview. Ms. Winehouse, 24, was taken to the hospital last Monday after a collapse and underwent tests last week. “The doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs it won’t just ruin her voice, it will kill her,” her father, Mitch Winehouse, said. Mr. Winehouse, who said his daughter also had an irregular heartbeat, added that focusing on her work has sometimes helped her to stay away from drugs, and that had she not performed recently in Moscow and Portugal, “she could have been dead by now.” Ms. Winehouse is scheduled to sing on Friday at a London concert celebrating the 90th birthday of Nelson Mandela and also plans to take part in the Glastonbury music festival on Saturday.

Daddy Winehouse gave an exclusive interview with The Sunday Mirror this weekend where he opened up about his daughter’s health and his hopes that she will finally work towards taking her health seriously …

Here are a portion of the interview that Mitch Winehouse gave to The Sunday Mirror this weekend:

In an emotional interview, her devastated father Mitch told the Sunday Mirror how watching his daughter deteriorate reminded him of his own 78-year-old mother struggling for breath on an aspirator before she died of lung cancer. Worried dad Mitch said: “To think this could be my beautiful 24-year-old daughter’s life is preposterous. But if drugs mean more to her than breathing properly, then so be it. But the doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs it won’t just ruin her voice, it will kill her. It’s been a tough week.” Mitch also told of his fears as Amy underwent tests after a mystery lump was found on her chest during scans at private London hospital The Clinic. He said: “After lots of tests they found a lump in Amy’s chest. A scan has shown it’s not cancerous and there are no traces of cancer in her blood. But they might need to double check. “There is a chance she might need a biopsy. If they need to cut the lump out then that will mean a massive and painful operation and a lot of recuperation. At the moment that doesn’t look likely. “When they told me she had a lump, I was very, very worried. At times Amy seems nervous about it but she doesn’t panic until something’s 100 per cent.” Ex-cabbie Mitch revealed how he recognised “warning signs” that Amy would have a seizure after noticing her eyes were squinting at a family lunch last Sunday. Then at 4pm on Monday, he rushed the troubled star to hospital in the back of his cab after she collapsed in a fit at her home in Camden, North London. She has suffered two seizures in the past year, including one last August when she was hospitalised after a huge drugs binge. Mitch added: “When I saw her last Sunday lunch at her favourite Spanish bar in Camden she was just picking at her tapas and salad. Her eyes kept on squinting and flickering and I said to her then how that had happened the last time she had a seizure. I even called her manager Ray to tell him. Amy just brushed it off and said she had a headache. But the next day she collapsed. I got a call when I was out for lunch. An ambulance came but she sent it away. “But she wanted to go to hospital this time and she could walk so I put her in the back of the cab. She didn’t talk much and I could see her in the mirror falling asleep. “When we got to the hospital a room was ready. Several doctors came in and checked to make sure she didn’t need any emergency treatment. They operaput her on a drip straight away because she was dehydrated. She said, ‘Don’t worry about me, Dad. I know I’ve got to stop taking drugs now’. At the hospital we found she’d been awake for 48 hours. We can only speculate she’d been taking drugs all that time. She curled up in bed and went to sleep. In between tests, she slept for almost three days solid.” The lung-damage caused by emphysema is irreversible and can lead some sufferers to become dependent on oxygen supplies. Skeletal Amy was also suffering from irregular heartbeats when admitted. Terrified she risks losing her life, she has now vowed to stay clean and started a drug replacement programme on Tuesday. Mitch said: “The doctors have said that if she had continued the way she was going she could have ended up an invalid – she wouldn’t have been able to breathe” … “With smoking the crack cocaine and the cigarettes her lungs are all gunked up. There are nodules around the chest and dark marks. She’s got 70 per cent lung capacity” … Mitch is now terrified that Amy – who is being watched by a nurse 24 hours a day and is expected to be in hospital for another week – will discharge herself as soon as she feels better and will fall straight back into her old ways. He has called for Amy’s drug dealers and circle of drug addict pals included troubled rocker Pete Doherty – to stay away from her. He said: “I’m saying to those drug dealers, and they know who they are, if they are supplying crack to Amy, then they’ve got to take responsibility. I don’t want her hanging out with her mates like Pete Doherty either” … Mitch has visited Amy’s husband Blake Fielder-Civil three times in jail, where he is awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to GBH and conspiring to pervert justice. Blake, 26, is calling Amy every day “to help her stay strong”. Mitch said: “Blake apologised to me for getting Amy into drugs and says he’s going to try and put it right. Blake was clean when I saw him but he’s told me he wants to go into rehab. We’ve organised it so that as soon as he’s out, that happens. He wants to go from zero to hero. It’s very hard for him being in prison, but at least he’s been trying. “He wants me to live with Amy in her house in Camden when she’s out of hospital, but at the moment I don’t really want to do that” … “My family have been criticised for not doing enough for Amy. Some say we should put her in a room and throw away the key but that’s against the law. In our limited way, we are doing the best we can and we are being guided by the doctors and psychologists. “There’s no need to cry yet. If, God forbid, doctors said they can’t help her, then that’s when we can have a good cry. But if she doesn’t go back to drugs then she can lead this magnificent life. With her husband Blake too, if he gets clean as well.” He added: “We are praying that that’s what Amy really wants. She seems resolute. “I’ve started to see my old Amy back. We’ll just have to see how great her resolution is.”

Wow! Could this be the wake-up call that will finally snap Amy Winehouse out of her downward spiral and help her get her life back in order? I really hope that Amy does start to take her health seriously. She is such a hugely talented performer and it is so sad to watch her life fritter away because of her reckless drug use. Emphysema is no joke, the damage that has been done to her lungs is irreversible … she needs to straighten up and quick. It is my sincere wish that from here on out, we’ll see a change in Amy — a change that will show that she is serious about staying healthy and, you know, alive. Get well soon, Amy … you’re running out of second chances.

[Photo credit: Bauer-Griffin; Source, Source]