Amy Winehouse's dad blames himself for her troubles

Amy Winehouse's dad believes he is to blame for the troubled singer's train wreck life.

57-year-old Mitch Winehouse is certain that his affair with another woman when the singer was younger, pushed his daughter over the edge.

Amy - along with her older brother Alex - grew up aware of her father's illicit affair and even had a special name for his mistress - referring to her as 'Daddy's work wife'.

Mitch married Amy's mom, Janis Seaton in 1976 - and Amy was born almost 7 years later.

18 months after Amy, now 24, was born, Mitch embarked on the affair with a colleague he was working with in a double glazing firm. The affair lasted almost 10 years before Mitch - now a taxi driver - eventually left his family to move in with his mistress - and then married her in 1996.

Mitch, who now lives with his second wife, tells new BBC show Rock Star Parents: "The children used to call Jane 'Daddy's work wife'.

"I did not leave home until Amy was ten, so the situation occurred for another eight or nine years before I left home. It was difficult.

"I should have left earlier, I should have left sooner. There was not really a negative response from Amy [when I left], but she definitely became a lot more independent.

"Perhaps deep down she felt her parents were splitting up, she could not rely on them to stay together and that it was about time she learned to look after herself.

"I thought Amy was over it pretty quickly - in fact it felt at the time Amy felt no effect at all.

"Maybe she could not articulate it in words, but she certainly did it with music."

Talking of Amy's drug and drink abuse, Mitch opened up about her seizure last August and confirmed doctors warned her she could die if she continued taking drugs.

He added: "She could die horribly. That is not going to happen - that cannot happen.

"It is easy for me to say it is my fault, and that had I been a better parent this would not have happened. But who knows whether it would or not?"