It was bulimia that led to Amy Winehouse's death, her brother said in an exclusive new interview, not alcohol intoxication as previously reported.
Winehouse, the Grammy Award-winning British singer known for her signature beehive hairdo, died suddenly in her London home in July 2011 at age 27 after a lengthy battle with alcohol and drugs.
Though a coroner ruled that a "lethal amount" of alcohol —
there was more than five times the British drunk-driving limit of .08 in her bloodstream — caused her death, her brother Alex Winehouse, 33, says it was actually an eating disorder that killed her.
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"She suffered from bulimia very badly," he told The Observer. "That's not, like, a revelation — you knew just by looking at her… She would have died eventually, the way she was going, but what really killed her was the bulimia… Absolutely terrible ... I think that it left her weaker and more susceptible. Had she not had an eating disorder, she would have been physically stronger."
Alex Winehouse is speaking out to promote a new exhibition at the Jewish Museum called "Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait." The presentation features family photos of the Winehouses and some of the singer's personal items in an effort to portray her as "a normal person and us as a normal family," Winehouse told The Observer.
"She was annoying, frustrating, a pain in the bum. But she was also incredibly generous, very caring. She'd do anything for anyone, she really would," he said. "She was loyal — as a sister, daughter and friend. She was probably the most loyal friend to people I've ever known… She was a really good person. And horrible in other respects."
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