EXCLUSIVE: Amy Winehouse's Family 'Reeling' Over Sad Final Heartache Dealt to Her $5Million Estate
Amy Winehouse's family has found themselves in a legal battle almost 15 years following her death.
Dec. 11 2025, Published 7:30 p.m. ET
RadarOnline.com can reveal Amy Winehouse's family is "reeling" over her dad launching a legal claim for $980,000 – the amount he alleges two of the tragic singer's flatmates made from wrongfully auctioning possessions of hers they did not own.
It comes after tortured soul Winehouse died of alcohol poisoning in 2011, aged just 27, after a whirlwind career derailed by heroin, crack cocaine, and heavy drinking.
The 2021 Auction Fallout
Winehouse’s family reeled after her father, Mitch, launched a $980,000 legal claim.
After her death, her former taxi-driver father Mitch, who raised her in north London, remained in touch with two of her closest friends, Naomi Parry and Catriona Gourlay.
Both are now 41 and lived with the star at various times. But Mitch and his daughter's old friends fell out after an auction of Winehouse's clothes and other possessions in Los Angeles in 2021.
Around 700 items were given by her family. It's the auction and its proceeds that are now the subject of the case in London's High Court.
Friends Keep the Proceeds
Mitch accused two of Amy’s former flatmates of selling items they didn’t own.
Only after the sale, which saw most of the proceeds going to the singer's charity, did Mitch find out Parry and Gourlay intended to keep the proceeds from around 150 items.
They were mostly clothes, and the pair claimed they owned them. Two years later, Gourlay went on to sell an infamous pair of Winehouse's blood-stained ballet slippers for $4,000.
Mitch inherited his daughter's multi-million-pound fortune – estimated at around $5million – after she died.
He denies his daughter would have given away so many items to her friends, claiming in his case, they formed part of her estate.
Charity Funds at Stake
Parry and Gourlay claimed Amy gave them many of the items over the years.
Winehouse's father also says her two friends should pay back the money so he can give it to the Back to Black singer's charity to build a school in St Lucia in the Caribbean.
A source said, "This is such a sad, heartbreaking chapter in the rows over Amy's estate.
"Her life was tortured enough, and now her whole family feels this case is ripping open new wounds. It has left them reeling with pain and sorrow."
The High Court Battle
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Mitch insisted the disputed items belonged to his daughter’s estate.
Mitch's barrister Henry Legge KC, told a court: "It was only after the 2021 auction ended that Mr Winehouse discovered Ms Parry and Ms Gourlay were claiming they owned more than 150 auction lots between them and intended to keep the sale proceeds for themselves.
"They have repeatedly insisted they were 'entirely transparent' in the lead-up to the auction. "Their claims are wholly inconsistent with the documentation."
The lawyer referred to a text exchange between Los Angeles auctioneer Darren Julien and Parry in which the former said: "Last dress sold for $190,000. I think Mitch thinks he owns that dress."
Parry replied: "Amazing!!" She later added: "Unsure how he'll feel when he realizes it's not (his.)"
Julien then wrote: "He definitely thinks he owns it." Mitch has conceded his daughter could be extremely generous – but said about the possessions in dispute: "I assume she would have given (Parry and Gourlay) some things – but I don't believe it's 150 items."
The case against the duo says they repeatedly visited a lock-up storage unit stuffed with an "overwhelming" amount of Winehouse's possessions.
Parry and Gourlay insist they also lent Winehouse many items, which ultimately remained theirs, and say she often gave away clothes to them, leaving them with every right to auction them off.
Winehouse's life was marked by the tragedy of severe, public battles with alcoholism, drug addiction, and bulimia, leading to her premature death at 27 from alcohol poisoning.
Her addictions were compounded by mental health struggles like depression, all under intense media scrutiny and the pressures of fame.
Winehouse's addiction often overshadowed her incredible talent, leaving a legacy of both musical brilliance and profound loss – much like fellow musicians Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin.
