Amy Winehouse's mother says late singer may have had Tourette Syndrome

The singer's mother believes her daughter may have had the neurological disorder
Proud mother: Janis Winehouse-Collins with her daughter Amy Winehouse
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty
Emma Powell7 January 2016
The Weekender

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Amy Winehouse’s mother has revealed she believed her daughter may have had Tourette Syndrome.

The late singer was nicknamed Hurricane Amy as a child, and her mother Janis Winehouse- Collins is convinced she suffered from the neurological disorder which causes involuntary physical and vocal tics.

Speaking to People, Winehouse- Collins, 60, said: “She could well have been almost Tourette's, where she would just shout things out. We just do not know."

The Rehab singer – who won five Grammy Awards for her second album Back to Black – died from alcohol poisoning in July 2011.

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Speaking to the magazine, her mother praised her daughter’s intelligence and described her as “gifted”.

"I think that she was a special-needs kid in that she was so intelligent,” she said. “She was so gifted, living in a world where she just wasn't average, where she didn't quite fit in. But it was a great life lived."

A documentary film chronicling the singer’s early life was released last year and broke UK box office records during its opening weekend.

But it was criticised by her father Mitch Winehouse who claimed the film was "incredibly misleading", and accused director Asif Kapadia of suggesting he and his family could have done more to care for her.

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