What was Amy Winehouse doing wandering outside in London’s predawn chill wearing only jeans and a red bra?

“She was not on an all-night bender,” her U.K. rep tells PEOPLE of Winehouse’s appearance outside her flat at 5:45 a.m. Sunday morning.

Winehouse, 24, was sound asleep when she heard a noise outside. Having had friends over earlier in the evening, she wondered if one returned, according to the rep, who said: “She heard all these noises, and she went outside to look and there were all these photographers.”

The rep added, “She’d been sound asleep, and then there were all these photographers – of course she looked startled.”

British newspapers reported the singer – captured in photographs sans makeup and her trademark beehive – was “muttering incomprehensibly.”

Says her rep: “In light of recent reports, it’s easy to make assumptions, but she’s trying to get better and she needs the space to do that.”

After a rocky start to her U.K. tour, the singer on Nov. 27 canceled all appearances for the rest of the year.

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