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Back to Black is a 2024 biopic based on the life of English singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, played by Marisa Abela. It chronicles the life of Winehouse.
In particular focus is the singer’s volatile relationship with ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil.
Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were married for over two years. The couple made plenty of headlines, though often for problematic reasons. Both faced legal troubles and battled addiction. Her problematic relationship usually inspired most of her songs.
Ultimately, Winehouse’s unexpected death in July 2011 cast a tragic shadow over their relationship that still lingers.
The Couple: Winehouse and Fielder – Civil
Fielder-Civil and Winehouse met at a London pub called The Good Mixer in 2005. He was working in video production for commercials and musicians such as Lily Allen and the rock band Kasabian. Winehouse, meanwhile, had released her debut album Frank in 2003 but had yet to achieve the global fame that would come with 2006’s Back to Black.
Fielder-Civil, a former video production assistant, had dropped out of Bourne Grammar School and, aged 16, moved to London from his native Lincolnshire. The couple dated off and on over the next year. They had an unfaithful relationship, usually breaking up and reuniting. This inspired a significant part of the Back to Black album. The title track, for example, refers to Fielder-Civil returning to a past girlfriend.
Fielder – Civil eventually married Winehouse on 18 May 2007, in Miami Beach, Florida.
Their marriage was filled with hurdles: unfaithfulness and hard drugs.
In early 2007,Fielder-Civil introduced her to heroin.
According to The Guardian, he told ITV’s Jeremy Kyle Show in 2013 he had used the drug “three or four times” before the singer asked to try it herself. “I was smoking it on foil, and she said can I try some and I said… I might have put up a weak resistance—the fact is whatever I said, she did end up having some,” he said.
Consequently, both of them became addicted. Fielder-Civil insisted they only used the drug together over four months of their years-long relationship—and that Winehouse’s dependence grew worse after his arrest later in 2007.
However, the singer gave a different point of view telling News of the World in 2009, “Our whole marriage was based on doing drugs.”
In July 2007, Blake was involved in an assault that broke the victim’s cheek. He was arrested and tried in court. From 21 July 2008 to 25 February 2009, Fielder-Civil was imprisoned following his guilty plea on charges of trying to pervert the course of justice and of grievous bodily harm with intent.
Winehouse was spotted on holiday in Saint Lucia with Josh Bowman.This was in early January 2009. She said ”she was in love again”.
Still in January, it was confirmed that “papers have been received” for what Fielder-Civil’s solicitor said were divorce proceedings based on a claim of adultery. In March, Winehouse was quoted in a magazine as saying, “I still love Blake and I want him to move into my new house with me—that was my plan all along … I won’t let him divorce me. He’s the male version of me and we’re perfect for each other.” Nevertheless, Fielder-Civil ultimately filed for divorce the following year, and the High Court Family division in London granted their split in July 2009.
She was in a relationship with a British writer and director of films, Reg Traviss, from early 2010 until she died. According to media reports and a biography written by Winehouse’s father, Traviss and Winehouse had planned to marry and intended to have children.
Blake also was in another relationship with Sarah Aspin.
But he and Amy still kept contact and tried mending the relationship.
Death of Winehouse
However in June 2011, Fielder-Civil was sentenced to 32 months in jail for burglary and possession of an imitation firearm.
The following month, on July 23, Winehouse was found dead inside her home in London at age 27. Officials determined alcohol poisoning as the cause of death.
She had been struggling with substance abuse and mental illness.
According to her physician, Winehouse quit using illegal substances in 2008. In an October 2010 interview, speaking of her decision to quit drugs, Winehouse said, “I literally woke up one day and was like, ‘I don’t want to do this any more.'” However, alcohol emerged as a problem, with Winehouse abstaining for a few weeks and then lapsing into alcohol abuse.
Her physician said that Winehouse was treated with Librium for alcohol withdrawal and anxiety and underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations in 2010, but refused psychological therapy.
That same day of her death, she had visited her doctor for her regular check-up.
Less than 24 hours later she was found dead.”After the checkup, Winehouse had called her doctor to confess her feelings regarding her codependency, stating “I don’t want to die”, alongside how she had attempted sobriety, but could not achieve it. These were Winehouse’s last recorded words, while her bodyguard’s final conversation with her included the quote, “If I could, I would give it back just to walk down the street with no hassle.”
Because he was in jail at the time, Fielder-Civil was only allowed to attend a small ceremony in a prison chapel following her death.
Fielder-Civil became the subject of scorn from fans and members of Winehouse’s family, who blamed him at least partially for her death. Her father, Mitch, wrote in his 2012 memoir Amy, My Daughter that Fielder-Civil was the “biggest low-life scumbag that God ever put breath into.” Even as recently as April 2024, Fielder-Civil says he continues to receive death threats on social media.
Still, he insists he genuinely loved Amy. “And if there was anything that I could do to bring her back, I would obviously,” he said.
According to Variety, director Sam Taylor-Johnson was determined to cast Jack O’Connell as Fielder-Civil in Back to Black. The 33-year-old actor told the outlet he spent an afternoon with Fielder-Civil to prepare for the movie.
“When I met Blake, he resembled the kind of guys that I looked up to back in the day, the sorts of characters I’d be drawn to and want to have a drink with and spend time with,” O’Connell said. “I felt like I had stuff in common with him and understood the type of geezer that he is and wanted to handle that authentically and give the portrayal a bit of depth.”
