Amy Winehouse Goes to Rehab

You’ve heard the words to the song:

He’s tried to make me go to rehab
I wont go, go, go.

… and now they’re true.

Amy Winehouse is no longer saying “no, no, no.” She’s going to rehab. An article on billboard.com announced that Amy is cancelling her appearance at a Saturday awards show and checking into rehab.

“Amy decided to enter the facility today after talks with her record label, management, family and doctors,” reads a statement from the Universal Music Group. “She has come to understand that she requires specialist treatment to continue her ongoing recovery from drug addiction and prepare for her planned appearance at the Grammy Awards.”

Just yesterday there were reports of Amy being caught on video smoking crack.

The British tabloid the Sun released grainy footage showing Grammy-nominated Winehouse, 24, inhaling fumes from a pipe. The video was reportedly shot hours before she attended a court hearing for her jailed husband.

Amy’s “Rehab” song is in the iPods of Hundreds of thousands of teenagers across the world. The message that most kids hear from the song is one of “I don’t care.” But if you listen a little closer to the talented yet troubled singer’s lyrics… you see pain, something today’s generation can relate to.

I don’t ever wanna drink again
I just, ooo, I just need a friend
Im not gonna spend 10 weeks
Have everyone think im on the mend

It’s not just my pride
It’s just til these tears have dried

They’re tryin to make me go to rehab
I said no, no, no

Amy has confessed to her troubles in interviews before. In Spin Magazine last summer she said, “I write songs because I’m f—ed in the head and need to get something good out of something bad.” (Amy Winehouse, Spin, July 2007, p. 60.)

As a youth worker I have two thoughts:

1. Pray for Amy. Don’t mock her in this (sometimes the ‘righteous’ have the tendency to kick people when they’re down). Just pray for her.
2. Use this as an opportunity to talk with our kids about these feelings. “Have you ever felt like her lyrics: ‘I just need a friend?'” “Have you ever turned toward something that you know down deep isn’t the answer… but you do it anyway?” “What could be the answer to this emptiness we feel?”