Winehouse Dad's Overblown Diagnosis

Mon., Jun. 23, 2008 6:31 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

Ben Dome, PacificCoastNews.com

Turns out Amy Winehouse's pop is the one blowing a little smoke these days.

The singer's rep is saying that the 24-year-old Brit does not have emphysema, as her father told Britain's Sunday Mirror over the weekend.

Rather, she has "early signs of what could lead to emphysema," rep Tracey Miller said Monday.

Mitch Winehouse was only speaking "out of his concern for her" when he told the press that his little girl was suffering through the early stages of the chronic respiratory disease.

Winehouse was hospitalized last Monday after fainting outside her London home and remained on bed rest throughout the week while doctors performed various tests to identify the cause of her collapse.

"With smoking the crack cocaine and the cigarettes her lungs are all gunked up," the Grammy winner's dad told the Mirror. "There are nodules around the chest and dark marks. She's got 70 percent lung capacity.

"To think this could be my beautiful 24-year-old daughter's life is preposterous. But if drugs mean more to her than breathing properly, then so be it. But the doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs it won't just ruin her voice, it will kill her. It's been a tough week."

But apparently there's hope—and Mitch Winehouse seems to be looking on the bright side now.

"Amy really hasn't got emphysema, there's traces of emphysema," he told BBC Radio 1 today, downgrading his earlier remarks. "Obviously, if she doesn't quit smoking, it's going to get worse, like everyone else...with patience, her lungs will recover completely."

"With no more inhalation of smoke of any kind, she's going to be absolutely fine."

The elder Winehouse also maintained that, barring any unforeseen complications, his daughter will be able to perform at this weekend's Glastonbury Festival, as well as at Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday celebration Friday.