Amy Winehouse’s ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil approves of how he has been depicted in the new biopic Back to Black.
During an appearance on Good Morning Britain on Friday, Blake, who was married to the late singer between 2007 and 2009, addressed the critics who thought the film was “too sympathetic” to him.
“There were some parts of it that enabled me to feel like I was seeing a more accurate representation of the relationship,” he said. “Not in a sense of being let off the hook or whitewashed, as (has) been alluded to, the comments that people have made, just in a sense of it wasn’t all about addiction.
“As much as that might have been the salacious headlines, and the paparazzi’s goal, there was addiction, but it was only an aspect. The relationship started like every relationship does.”
Blake shared that watching the film was a “surreal” and “almost therapeutic” experience and praised Jack O’Connell for meeting with him “out of respect” before playing him onscreen.
Blake also addressed the criticism that the film doesn’t blame him for Amy’s drug addiction, despite him publicly admitting that he introduced her to heroin.
“(The filmmakers were) not interested in rehashing that story,” he responded. “(They thought) there must be a little bit more to this relationship than just an addled user, or whatever I was portrayed as, or somebody that was sinisterly leading Amy into addiction, which wasn’t the case.”
However, he insisted he takes responsibility for his part in Amy’s substance abuse problems and that will always be his “cross to bear”.
Elsewhere in the interview, Blake praised Marisa Abela for doing “a really great job” with Amy’s mannerisms and revealed that the film has inspired him to maybe “have a conversation” with the singer’s father Mitch Winehouse.
Amy died of alcohol poisoning in 2011 aged 27.
Back to Black is in U.K. cinemas now.
