The father of troubled soul star Amy Winehouse blames his affair with a colleague for the star's addiction to lethal drugs.

The Back To Black hitmaker checked into a rehab clinic in London earlier this year after a video showing the singer allegedly taking a variety of illegal substances was passed on to The Sun.

But father Mitch - who left Amy's mother in 1996 following a 13-year affair with his colleague - has blamed himself for his 24-year-old daughter's public downfall, insisting it was a broken home that led her to drugs.

He says, "Perhaps deep down she felt her parents were splitting up, she could not rely on them to stay together and that it was about time she learned to look after herself.

"I thought Amy was over it pretty quickly - in fact it felt at the time Amy felt no effect at all.

"Maybe she could not articulate it in words, but she certainly did it with music.

"It is easy for me to say it is my fault, and that had I been a better parent this would not have happened. But who knows whether it would or not?"

(China Daily/Agencies March 14, 2008)