Amy Winehouse‘s ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil says he regrets introducing the late soul singer to heroin – admitting that he wished he had been ‘more careful’ in using drugs around her.

The 41-year-old is the subject of renewed attention because of his portrayal by Skins actor Jack O’Connell in Back To Black, the controversial biopic about Amy’s life that hit cinemas today.

He has admitted introducing her to harder drugs such as heroin – but rejects that he was to blame for her death in 2011 at the age of 27 from alcohol poisoning; fans have accused filmmakers of ‘whitewashing’ some aspects of the singer’s life.

And speaking today, the father-of-two reiterated his ‘regret’ over his drug use – revealing he had not spoken to Amy’s father Mitch in years as he expressed an interest in getting back in touch, saying it’s what the singer would have wanted.

But friends of the late singer have criticised some aspects of the biopic, which portrays Blake in what they say is an unrealistically sympathetic light; it has also been endorsed by Mitch, who disliked his portrayal in 2015 documentary Amy.

+20
View gallery

Blake Fielder-Civil has been speaking about his portrayal in Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black on Good Morning Britain

+20
View gallery

He has defended the film’s portrayal of him, which some have criticised as being overly sympathetic and a ‘whitewash’

+20
View gallery

He told the programme he regretted using heroin alongside Amy – but has maintained he was not directly responsible for her death in 2011 (pictured together in 2007)

+20
View gallery

Marisa Abela and Jack O’Connell as Amy Winehouse and Blake Fielder-Civil in Sam Taylor-Johnson’s biopic Back To Black – in a scene depicting their Miami wedding in 2007

+20
View gallery

He spoke to Adil Ray and Kate Garraway on Good Morning Britain – with Garraway pressing him on his history of drug use

+20
View gallery

Blake and Amy’s relationship played out in public view in the glare of paparazzi bulbs (pictured in Soho, London in 2007)

+20
View gallery

Amy stood by Blake after he was jailed for his role in an assault on a pub landlord – but he filed for divorce to ‘set her free’ shortly after his release from prison (Amy pictured with her father Mitch entering court to attend his case)

Blake, who recently got a new teardrop tattoo below his right eye, told Good Morning Britain’s Kate Garraway and Adil Ray he had done ‘nothing but try to take responsibility for quite a long time’ for the role he played in Amy’s addictions.

He admitted in a 2013 interview that he had introduced the singer to heroin after using it himself ‘three or four times’.

But in 2015 he sought to distance himself from claims he was responsible for her death, telling an interviewer Amy ‘did have other addictions before she met me’.

‘I don’t speak about it often but I felt I’ve done pretty much nothing but try to take responsibility for quite a long time – it’s been a cross to bear,’ he told GMB.

‘I’ve had death threats online and on social media – Amy inspires a lot of fierce fandom and devotion.’

Kate asked him if one of his regrets was introducing Amy to heroin, adding: ‘That’s got to be a big regret… that you introduced it to her’.

He said: ‘Yeah… I sense the idea of heroin ,obviously, it’s a horrible, terrible drug – I was in addiction as well. It’s not as black and white as that.

‘I was a very, very young person and I thought I had all the answers. Of course I regret any drugs.

‘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.’

Blake says he hasn’t spoken to Amy’s father Mitch in years – but believes Amy would want the two to make amends.

‘I think Mitch seeing the film would also see parts of the film where he thought, “Oh maybe I shouldn’t have done this.”

‘He may have regrets like I have mine, not as profound as mine, I shouldn’t wonder.

‘I think one thing that comes from the film is Amy was a peacemaker and I thought, watching the film yesterday, she probably would want me and Mitch to… we don’t need to be best friends, but I wouldn’t mind having a conversation.

‘Mitch is a father, I’m a father, I understand his position on me, I really do.

‘But I hope he could see there was genuinely love there, and I loved Amy very, very much, and she loved me too.

‘If there was anything that could bring her back, I would obviously (do it). She was always saying we two (Mitch and Blake) should speak.’

+20
View gallery

Fielder-Civil, 41, was married to Amy Winehouse for two years in a tumultuous relationship that saw him introduce her to heroin (pictured: the couple in 2007)

+20
View gallery

Back to Black actor Eddie Marsan has dismissed the ‘narrative’ that either Amy Winehouse’s husband Blake Fielder-Civil or father Mitch Winehouse were to blame for her death

+20
View gallery

The English actor, 55, who plays Mitch Winehouse in the biopic (pictured with Marisa Abela as Amy) instead said that addiction should be viewed as the ‘main villain’

+20
View gallery

The biopic has been slated by film critics as a ‘poor piece of filmmaking’ and a ‘Saturday-night impersonation’ of the star

+20
View gallery

The film, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, tells the life story of the late singer who died in 2011 aged 27 from alcohol poisoning (Amy pictured in 2008)

Blake said he felt his portrayal in the film was ‘accurate’, as there was more to their relationship than drugs.

‘It’s a surreal experience watching a film about somebody you recognise – same with Jack, that played me,’ he said.

‘We were together, we were totally in love – from that to the addiction there were difficult parts to process.

‘It was almost therapeutic in a way – I was seeing a more accurate representation of the relationship.

‘Not being in the sense of being kind of like a whitewash – just in the sense it wasn’t all about addiction. As much as that may be the salacious element, it was only an aspect (of the relationship).’

Back To Black, directed by Nowhere Boy filmmaker Sam Taylor-Johnson, has been criticised for its allegedly overly sympathetic portrayal of Blake.

The Mail’s Peter Hoskin questioned Blake’s ‘saintly’ portrayal by Jack O’Connell, adding: ‘Back To Black shies away from the ugly stuff so thoroughly that it sometimes looks like a perfume ad: soft-focused and pretty.’

One friend told the Mail: ‘It’s more like they’re a loved up Disney Princess and her Prince – Blake comes across as a charming and loveable rogue, rather than a thoroughly broken drug addict who dragged Amy into the depths of depravity.’

Another added of the movie, which is out today: ‘Amy looks lovely and innocent, and her music and talent comes across beautifully, but to let Blake off the hook is just wrong.’

Sam Taylor-Johnson has said of the portrayal of Blake: ‘We had to understand why Amy fell in love with him, so it wasn’t about making a one-dimensional villain.

‘We had to fall in love with him to understand why she wrote one of the greatest albums about their love.

‘In terms of Blake, it wasn’t my place to cast judgement on somebody who was obviously an addict, and on the two of them having this intense, albeit toxic, love affair.’

Critics also questioned the portrayal of Amy’s father Mitch Winehouse, played by Eddie Marsan. The movie has been endorsed by the Winehouse estate.

Eddie has said he did not want to play a role that ‘sanitised him or demonised him’, adding that he thought Mitch was a ‘loving father… in an impossible situation.’

Marisa Abela, 27, has been praised for her portrayal of Winehouse – despite fans taking issue with her resemblance to the singer when the first look at the film was released earlier this year.

Back To Black is her first leading role in a major film and she later admitted undergoing hours of singing lessons so she could impersonate Amy’s signature contralto voice.

+20
View gallery

Amy Winehouse’s parents Janis and Mitch Winehouse at the Back To Black premiere. The singer’s estate has endorsed the film

+20
View gallery

Jack O’Connell, Marisa Abela, Sam Taylor-Johnson and Eddie Marsan at the Back To Black premiere earlier this week

+20
View gallery

Director of the new Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black Sam Taylor-Johnson has been lambasted by friends of the late singer for glamourising her husband Blake Fielder-Civil

Blake last spoke about his turbulent relationship with Amy – who later wrote signature song Back To Black about him after he left her for an ex-girlfriend – in September, when he said he would change ‘almost everything’ about his earlier life.

He told GMB last year: ‘If it wasn’t for certain factors I think it could have been a different outcome. Everything happened very quickly for Amy. We were young.’

Blake added of Amy’s addictions:  ‘I do (get blamed for them) and that’s okay. I can’t change what other people feel about that, but for me personally, I needed to stop carrying that burden. I’ve carried it for over 10 years.

‘I’m the only person within that story that’s ever held any accountability, I tried to say I made some huge mistakes. I was a 20 something old drug addict.’

The pair married in Miami in 2007 after an on-off relationship and were pictured months later after a furious bust-up where it emerged they had been taking heroin.

The following year, Blake was jailed for his part in an assault on a pub landlord which led to Amy’s famous Grammy Awards tribute to ‘my Blake, incarcerated’.

Blake filed for divorce from the singer shortly after his release.

He had a son in May 2011, two months after Amy’s death, while his daughter Lola was born in April 2013.

Following Amy’s death in 2011, an inquest gave a verdict of misadventure after finding that she had 416mg of alcohol per decilitre in her blood; a second inquest concluded she died of accidental alcohol poisoning.