‘Amy Winehouse was not a victim,’ says Marisa Abela

Actor Marisa Abela spoke about the upcoming Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black, in which she plays the pop star, at the Harper’s Bazaar International Women’s Day event last night. “We don’t judge Amy in our film,” Abela told an audience at The Peninsula London.

The film, due for release on April 12, has attracted some debate over whether it glamorises Winehouse’s plight before her untimely death. “How have we got to this place where she is a victim of her own story? Of course, she was a victim of addiction and the media, but before all of that, she was a powerful woman,” Abela said.

The actor, 27, says she felt connected to the singer. “She was a young Jewish girl from London and our family situations were quite similar growing up. Getting up on stage was a place where my family came together, so I really resonated with Amy.” Abela added: “This is about putting Amy back in the driver’s seat of her own story.”

Former BBC producer Sam McAlister, who facilitated that Prince Andrew with Emily Maitlis, also gave a talk about her how she secured the scandalous sit-down with the Prince. “The power to convince a member of the royal family to do something against his own interest requires a huge amount of research and hard work but also a massive amount of empathy, and that is my superpower,” she said.

“Prince Andrew has never been tried in a court of law but he has been tried in the court of public opinion, and that’s what Newsnight and the women who worked there were able to do,” McAlister said. “This interview gave the public the opportunity to draw your own inferences. Good journalism does that.”

The event was held in partnership with Lingo by Abbott, Veuve Clicquot, Clé de Peau Beauté and The Caring Family Foundation. Patricia Caring attended to show her support.