Amy Winehouse’s condition made parents ill

Amy Winehouse’s brother has revealed his family’s relief at her apparent recovery, saying his parents’ fears for their daughter’s health had made them both ill.

Writing in The Times newspaper today, Alex Winehouse said he visited his sister just weeks before she won five Grammys, when she was “clearly in the wake of a hit from the old crack pipe”.

“It was hard to take in that the barely communicative shell in front of us was my own flesh and blood.”

“I should mention here that we all knew how bad her condition was. There was never any denial on the part of my parents, whose fears and anxiety over their only daughter had made them both ill.”

The singer entered a London rehab clinic, emerging to prepare for her Grammy performance via satellite after she was denied a US visa.

Mr Winehouse said her performance, widely considered her best in months, made the family “truly happy”.

He wrote: “Yes, the best of weekends. Spurs continue their resurgence, but most importantly of all very definite signs that Amy – the real Amy – is back among us.

“The hope, of course, is that this time it’s for real.”

The star’s mother, Janis Winehouse, told GMTV yesterday that she believed her daughter was “on the road to recovery”.