Amy Winehouse made a point of never drinking in front of her family. She knew she was an alcoholic and hated the fact. She told them she couldn’t bear how it made her feel, and what it was doing to her — but she promised them that she was going to stop.

Just as the 27-year-old-star had, in 2008, seemingly single-handedly conquered her life-threatening addiction to drugs, so she seemed determined to do the same with drink.

But she made it clear she wanted to do it on her own terms and in her own time, without interference. Taking the words of her favourite Frank Sinatra song, she told her family she wanted to do it ‘My Way’.

Amy’s mother Janis, 56, dabs at her eyes with a tissue as she remembers her daughter’s utter conviction. ‘I think Amy felt she was invincible,’ says Janis, in her first interview following last week’s inquest into the Grammy Award-winning star’s death on July 23.

‘Amy didn’t want to die; she didn’t have a death wish. She had a huge zest for life. There was so much she still wanted to achieve.

‘Amy was incredibly strong, both physically and mentally, but alcohol addiction seemed to creep up on her and then just took her by surprise.’

Three empty vodka bottles were found near Amy’s body in her bedroom, and a pathologist who examined her body said she had 416mg of alcohol per decilitre of blood — five times the legal drink-drive limit of 80mg. The inquest heard that 350mg was usually considered a fatal amount, and that Amy’s binge-drinking session had followed three weeks of sobriety. Small traces of Librium, used to treat alcohol withdrawal, were found in her blood, but no illegal drugs.

Janis, who visited her daughter at her Camden home in North London once or twice a week, adds: ‘When I left, she threw her arms around me and said, “I love you, Mummy,” and I said, “I love you too.” I never imagined for a second that would be the last time I would ever see her.’

Later that evening, at 7pm, Amy’s private GP, Christina Romete, saw the singer, who by then appeared slightly tipsy but still coherent. Ms Romete told the inquest she did not believe the star had deliberately drunk herself to death.

Amy, who won five Grammy Awards for her 2006 album Back to Black, told her GP: ‘I do not want to die . . . I have not achieved a lot of the things I wanted.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk