LONDON - The mother of troubled soul singer Amy Winehouse has written a public letter to a British Sunday newspaper pleading with her daughter to come home for help to deal with a series of personal traumas.
Last week a distraught Winehouse, who has struggled with drugs andalcohol, was pictured in newspapers wandering the streets of London at dawn in only a bra and jeans.
The 24-year-old singer recently cancelled all her remaining planned concerts this year, saying she could not perform while her husband was in custody.
Blake Fielder-Civil, 25, is being held on remand accused of inflicting grievous bodily harm on a pub landlord in an incident in June last year.
"We want to help you, but we know that unless you want to be helped - unless you come to us - anything we tried would be in vain," wrote Janis Winehouse in a letter published by the News of the World.
"I pile hope upon hope that your strong will can bend for just a moment to make that decision and come home to me.
"We were terrified after we saw those pictures of you earlier this week, wandering the freezing streets of London at dawn in your underwear.
"All I wanted to do was rush into those pictures and wrap you up in a big, warm blanket."
Considered one of the leading talents in Britain's pop scene, Winehouse has rarely been out of the pages of the country's tabloids which have closely followed her and her husband's increasingly chaotic lifestyles.
Winehouse's mother believes her daughter, who has been nominated for six Grammy awards, has struggled to deal with the attention her success has brought her.
"Early fame has overwhelmed you, it's dizzied you and muddled your mind. For a moment, forget you're a superstar. You're also young and vulnerable, no stronger than any of the rest of us.
"You think you're strong enough to get through this on your own, darling, but you're not."
