Amy's had awful ordeal but will be fine, says father

The 23-year-old, who is notorious for her wild partying, was treated in a London hospital last week after taking a cocktail of heroin, ecstasy, cocaine and the horse tranquiliser ketamine.

However, after spending a weekend in "crisis" talks with his daughter, former taxi driver Mitch Winehouse said he was confident she would pull through.

Speaking last night from his home in Greenhithe, Kent, he said: "Amy's going to be fine. She knows she's been through a terrible ordeal and is on the mend. We have been encouraged, after the initial scare, that she is now getting better and going to be alright."

Ms Winehouse was rushed to University College Hospital on Wednesday morning last week by her husband Blake Fielder-Civil, 25, and a female friend. She was released later that day and retreated this weekend to the £250-a-night Four Seasons Hotel in Hook, Hampshire, with her family and friends.

Describing her ordeal, she said: "I never want to feel that way again. It was just crazy - one of the most terrifying moments of my life. I've scared myself this time. I was all over the place. I know things have got to change. I have to sort myself out."

She said she needed her father, not doctors, to help her overcome her problems. "When I get self-destructive I just need to spend time with Dad. Rehab is a cop-out," she added.

Despite the close relationship between father and daughter, fellow residents at the Four Seasons described how the pair clashed over breakfast. An onlooker said: "They were talking and then all of a sudden it got really heated and Mitch went mad. He just couldn't take it any more. He told her that she's ruining everything - her career and more importantly her life. He told her to look at what she was doing to her friends and family.

"It got to the point where they were screaming at each other. Amy told him to butt out - she claimed to know what she was doing.

"Then at the end, Amy just pushed him out of the way. She kept shouting 'No' and 'Stop it', running back to her suite in floods of tears."

Although she had promised to be back at work today, Winehouse will not make her scheduled appearance at tonight's Rolling Stones concert in Dusseldorf, Germany. It is thought doctors feared she would struggle to cope with flying and performing.

A spokesman for her record company could not say whether she would appear at this weekend's V Festival in Essex and Staffordshire.