Despite its obvious flaws—including drug abuse, documented infidelities, and repeated legal drama—Blake Fielder-Civil looks back fondly on his relationship with the late musician Amy Winehouse.
The tumultuous union of Fielder-Civil, a former producer who’s now 42, and the six-time Grammy winner is featured prominently in the new biopic Back to Black. The movie about Winehouse examines their time together, including a brief marriage from 2007 through 2009. and its influence on the singer’s rapid ascent in music.
While their relationship influenced some of Winehouse’s most popular songs, many believe it also set her on the path toward her tragic 2011 death from alcohol poisoning. Fielder-Civil continues to grapple with his responsibility in her untimely demise. “If I had known how it was going to [end up], I would’ve been far more careful about the things I was doing and the people I was doing it with,” he said in an April 2024 interview.
Seemingly true to his word, Fielder-Civil now has his own family and is trying to put his checkered past behind him.
Now sober, Fielder-Civil has a family
Fielder-Civil continued to struggle with drug and alcohol addiction after Winehouse’s death. In August 2012, his then-girlfriend Sarah Aspin told The Sun he overdosed and was placed in a medically-induced coma. He recovered and, in an April 2024 interview with Good Morning Britain, said he has been “clean for years.”
Today, he is a father to a son named Jack, born in May 2011, and a daughter named, Lola, born in April 2013. He had both kids with Aspin, whom he later married and divorced.
Media outlets reported in 2021 that Fielder-Civil was engaged to his girlfriend, Bay Wright, and that the couple lived together in Leeds. However, there are very few details on the current status of their relationship.
He still thinks about Winehouse’s untimely death
Blake Fielder-Civil and Amy Winehouse began dating around 2005. Their on- and off-again relationship continued until her death in 2011.
Fielder-Civil has expressed remorse over Winehouse’s death and revealed he felt a degree of responsibility after introducing her to heroin. “For me, personally, I’ve needed to stop carrying that cross on my own. I’ve carried that burden myself for over 10 years,” he said in September 2023. “I feel, to be honest, that I’m the only person within that story that’s ever held any accountability, that’s ever tried to say, ‘Yep, I made some huge mistakes.’”
Fielder-Civil isn’t on speaking terms with members of Winehouse’s family but has suggested he is open to mending those relationships. This is especially true of her father, Mitch, who in his 2012 memoir scathingly referred to Blake as the “biggest low-life scumbag that God ever put breath into.”
Fielder-Civil claimed the singer requested the two talk while she was still alive. “We don’t need to be best friends, but I wouldn’t mind having a conversation,” he said of Mitch.
Fielder-Civil says Back to Black is “almost therapeutic”
Back to Black stars English actors Marisa Abela—one of Biography.com’s People You’ll Know in 2024—and Jack O’Connell as Winehouse and Fielder-Civil, respectively.
The real Fielder-Civil saw the movie ahead of its release and dismisses the idea it glamorizes him in any way. Shortly before the United Kingdom premiere, Fielder-Civil told Good Morning Britain he found the film “almost therapeutic in a way” and praised its “more accurate representation” of his relationship with Winehouse.
“Not in a sense of being let off the hook or whitewashed, as has been alluded to... just in a sense of it wasn’t all about addiction,” Fielder-Civil said in the interview. “As much as that might have been the salacious headlines, and the paparazzi’s goal, there was addiction, but it was only an aspect. The relationship started like every relationship does.”
See Back to Black in theaters now
Back to Black star Jack O’Connell met with Blake Fielder-Civil to discuss the new movie and its portrayal of his relationship with Winehouse. “I wanted him to understand this wasn’t a tabloid piece, and this wasn’t scandal-driven, to show him it was going to be handled in earnest,” O’Connell, 33, told Esquire. See the actor’s performance in theaters now.
Tyler Piccotti
News and Culture Editor, Biography.com
Tyler Piccotti first joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor in February 2023, and before that worked almost eight years as a newspaper reporter and copy editor. He is a graduate of Syracuse University. When he's not writing and researching his next story, you can find him at the nearest amusement park, catching the latest movie, or cheering on his favorite sports teams.
