Amy Winehouse was released from the hospital yesterday after spending nearly a week undergoing medical tests to find out the cause of her most recent fainting spell. After her father, Mitch Winehouse, revealed to The Sunday Mirror that his daughter was suffering from the early signs of emphysema (due to excessive smoking of “crack cocaine and cigarettes”), Amy was spotted upon release from the hospital with a cigarette in her mouth … natch. Additionally, Amy’s spokespeople are trying to downplay the “emphysema” report, attempting to clarify that she is merely showing the signs of developing emphysema and does not yet have the disease (which is essentially what her father said in his interview):

Amy Winehouse was photographed smoking in London on Monday after her father Mitch revealed she is suffering from emphysema. “The doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs it won’t just ruin her voice, it will kill her,” Mitch told UK newspaper the Daily Mail. Winehouse, 24, was taken to the hospital last week for tests after she fainted at home in London. “With smoking the crack cocaine and the cigarettes her lungs are all gunked up,” Mitch said. “There are nodules around the chest and dark marks. She’s got 70 percent lung capacity.” If she doesn’t get treatment, she could need an oxygen mask to breathe, Mitch told the Daily Mail.

Meanwhile: A publicist for Winehouse later said he had misspoken “out of his concern for her.” “She is not diagnosed with full-blown emphysema, but instead has early signs of what could lead to emphysema,” Tracey Miller, her U.S.-based representative, told The Associated Press on Monday. In an interview published Sunday by the Daily Mail of London, Mitch Winehouse said that his daughter’s crack and cigarette smoking had led to early-stage emphysema, and that the singer had an irregular heartbeat. He said she had been warned that she will have to wear an oxygen mask unless she stops smoking drugs … However, in an interview later with BBC Radio 1, he appeared to downplay his dire statements, and said: “Amy really hasn’t got emphysema, there’s traces of emphysema. Obviously, if she doesn’t quit smoking, it’s going to get worse, like everyone else … with patience her lungs will recover completely.” He added that she was covered in nicotine patches and is “flourishing” in response to treatments … She is still scheduled to sing at a concert in London on Friday celebrating the 90th birthday of Nelson Mandela and plans to take part in the Glastonbury music festival the following day. Mitch Winehouse said it would be good for his daughter to perform. “When she’s been inactive work-wise then that’s when the problems really start. The doctors have said that medically there isn’t any reason why she can’t do Glastonbury,” the paper quoted him as saying.

I’m just amazed. Amazed! I cannot for the life of me imagine a scenario where I was faced with the prospect of developing a disease that would hinder my BREATHING to the point where I couldn’t survive without an oxygen mask and still choose to engage in smoking cigarettes. It appears that nothing seems to phase Amy Winehouse in the least. She either will not or cannot put a stop to her dangerous vices in order to maintain her health. It’s so hard to feel sorry for a person who actively chooses to put her life in danger. It is very easy to feel sorry for the family that loves and still cares for her and want nothing more than for her to clean up her act. At what point will the story of Amy Winehouse end? I fear it won’t be a happy ending.

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source, Source]