Amy Winehouse was “scared” as she was asked to pose for a photograph backstage at a charity event last September, she told a court in her assault trial Thursday.

The singer – who asked to be addressed by her married name Amy Civil – was happy to pose with dancer Sherene Flash, but said that when she asked for a minute to see a friend off, Flash refused. “She lent down all over me. She had her face down by me,” Winehouse told City of Westminster magistrate’s court, London.

Describing herself as an undemanding, low-maintenance celebrity, Winehouse said on the stand, “I’m not a Jennifer Lopez, paint the room white before I get there, and I want five bunches of lilies.”

By the same measure, said Winehouse, Flash “was pretty much leaning on me. She’s a big girl. She was being overly presumptuous. I’m not Mickey Mouse. I’m a human being.”

Dressed in a somber gray suit, trademark black eye make-up and a demure string of pearls, Winehouse, who in March pleaded not guilty to the assault charge, further described the scene of the alleged skirmish.

‘People Are Rude’
In the dressing room area backstage, the singer, 25, said that as she moved her left hand across her face, she pushed her right hand upwards, towards Flash. “She’s there, she’s tall. I wanted her away from me,” she told the court. “I thought: ‘Do I get a choice in this? Hello?’ People are mad, people are rude.”

As if to emphasize the height differences, the 5′, 2½” Winehouse moved away from the evidence box and showed chief Magistrate Timothy Workman her flat pink ballet pumps. “And my hair does make a difference,” the often-beehived singer added.

Winehouse had been at the event – the Berkeley Square summer ball – to support and sing backing vocals for her goddaughter Dionne Bloomfield. It was her goddaughter’s first gig, Winehouse told the court, smiling.

Alleged Direct Blow
Earlier, prosecuting lawyer Lyall Thompson told the court that there was “nothing accidental about Miss Winehouse’s actions. It may be that well-known figures find such requests tiresome, but they need to develop strategies” to deal with them. “She acted with deliberate and unjustifiable violence,” he said of Winehouse allegedly landing a “direct blow” to Flash’s face with her right hand.

Flash called the cops and later saw a doctor. She said she was left with a “slightly swollen” right eye after the incident. Flash told the court that she had been dancing at the event and then, later, went backstage with a friend to see if they could meet the Grammy-winner.

She said that she had not touched Winehouse. Asked by Winehouse’s lawyer Patrick Gibbs if she had “misread” the situation, Flash answered, “Even if I did, it doesn’t give someone the right to punch me in the face.”

Flash, who admitted she was “tipsy,” described Winehouse as seeming “drunk.” Other witnesses concurred, with Jack Jefferson saying of her performance earlier: “Her speech was slurred and she didn’t appear to be in control of her physical actions.”

Dealing with Fame
When prosecutor Thompson asked Winehouse how she dealt with fame, she said that the positives included: “Getting to meet nice people and help people.” And the drawbacks? “I just deal with it. It’s life.”

Yet she was quick to add, “It’s not necessarily unwanted. It’s nice to meet nice people. It’s not a demand on my time.” And if it gets too irksome, “I just say. ‘I’m sorry, I have got to go and see my dad.’ ”

Source, Bauer-Griffin

Amy Winehouse told a London court Thursday that she did not punch a fan who asked for her photograph, saying she felt intimidated by the alleged victim – and claiming she was too short to have hit the woman in the face.

Winehouse is on trial accused of assaulting another guest at a charity ball last September. Dancer Sherene Flash alleges she was hit in the eye by the 25-year-old “Back to Black” singer after asking to take her picture following the event in London’s Berkeley Square.

Winehouse told District Judge Timothy Workman that at “5 foot 2 1/2, or 5 foot 3,” (about 1.6 meters) she was too short to have punched the taller Flash in the face.

“My hair does make a difference,” said the singer, who sported her trademark beehive hairdo.

Winehouse, known as much for her chaotic lifestyle as her soulful music, arrived at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court for the hearing dressed in a gray pinstripe suit.

Winehouse, who was granted a divorce from her husband Blake Fielder-Civil a week ago, gave her name in court as Amy Jade Civil and sat quietly, occasionally taking notes, as prosecutors outlined the case against her.

She appeared relaxed and healthy as she took the stand and denied punching Flash. She said she had felt intimidated and annoyed when Flash “lunged at me and put her arm around me,” and had only meant to push the other woman’s arm away.

“I pushed her up, like away. I wanted her away from me,” Winehouse said.

Source, Fame

The 2-year marriage of Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil came to a formal end in a functional first floor courtroom in London Thursday.

As one of 25 couples seeking to dissolve their marriages, Fielder-Civil, 27, was granted the divorce from Winehouse, 25, in a hearing that lasted all of 75 seconds, as the singer admitted adultery, court papers show.

Neither she nor Fielder-Civil were at Court Three of the High Court Family Division in London’s Holborn area to hear District Judge Michael Segal grant the “quickie” divorce.

In a question-and-answer format, the court papers show that it was Fielder-Civil who filed for the split. Asked if he finds it “intolerable” to live with Winehouse, he replies, “Yes.” And when asked to “state briefly your reasons for saying that the respondent has committed the adultery alleged,” he answers, “The Respondent confessed the adultery to me in April 2008.”

The papers show they have not lived in the same household since that date.

In her response, Winehouse is asked if she admitted “the adultery alleged in the petition.” She answers a simple “yes.” She adds that she is not intending to defend the case.

The couple married in Miami May 2007. First talk of a divorce surfaced in January, when Fielder-Civil, a music-video producer, signaled he would start proceedings. The singer initially said she would not let it happen.

Unless a dispute arises, the divorce will become final in six weeks.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

I’ve heard so many sad, sad stories about Amy Winehouse that I’m about to hop on a plane and straighten her butt out. Her parents are saying that they feel she is still in need of saving.

I think they should just commit her already. Or get her on Celebrity Rehab.

Janis Winehouse says, “The need to rescue her is enormous. I just want her to be OK, and I would do whatever it took to make that right.”

The “Rehab” singer was hospitalized for supposed dehydration last month and had to cancel her comeback performance in London. Her father, Mitch, claims she is in a drug-treatment program, but still boozing.

“For the last six months, there’s been a remarkable recovery,” he tells the news station. “A gradual recovery, which is good. With slight backwards steps—more drink backward steps, if you follow my drift.”

“Amy is in denial all the time,” her mother says. “She probably feels trapped, her body is trapping her. But I know with addiction you do not have the choice, because the substance itself directs you. I want to say to her, ‘Amy, what are you doing? Don’t you know what you’re doing?’ But she by then has got herself on to it to help her get through, and I understand that.”

“I need my daughter to be a whole person again,” Mitch adds.

Furthermore, the star’s father is anxious about his daughter’s relationship with her estranged husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, and blames him for fostering her addictions.

“The option of them being together is too horrible to contemplate,” he says. “They are going to get divorced, and who knows what’s going to happen down the line.”

In the future, however, he may be willing to offer the pair his blessing.

“Amy and Blake have decided that they want to live their lives separately, and if they get back together again in the future and they’re both clean and they still love each other, that’s up to them.”

I feel for her, I really do. Addiction is such a tough thing to overcome. I hope can get her life together and release some really awesome music again.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

After a brutally bad gig in St. Lucia which she eventually walked off in the middle of and subsequently reportedly being hospitalized for chest pains, Amy Winehouse has cancelled her comeback shows in London.

The event, which was due to take place on May 31st and was organized by Island records for their 50th anniversary, would have been Amy’s first show in her home country in a year.

A statement released by Winehouse’s management said they “regretfully announced that Amy and her band will no longer be performing at Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 31 May. Amy would like to apologise to her fans who bought tickets for the shows.”

Amy continues to live on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia where she is working on her 3rd studio album.

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photo: bauer-griffin

It looks like Amy Winehouse is taking her efforts at keeping sober seriously. The often troubled, but exceptionally talented Winehouse is slated to play the St. Lucia Jazz Festival next month and has put in a rider request a month ahead of time.

Among the low key demands were tea and HP sauce. She also demanded that all crew and backstage personnel remain sober at all times. That’s quite a change from 2006 when she requested a litany of alcohol including Champagne, vodka, red wine and lager.

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Jay-Z who has worked with Beyonce and Kanye West, and who remixed Amy’s single Rehab in 2006 claims that he is keen to work with the troubled Amy in the studio.

Jay-Z says:

 ”Amy has a really powerful voice, it is so distinctive and beautiful. Hopefully in the future we could get together and work on some new material – I’d love to work with her again.”

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photo: bauer-griffin