Amy Winehouse's ex Blake Fielder-Civil tells of terror as wife 'died' in his arms

Fielder-Civil, who married the award-winning singer in secret in Miami in May 2007, spoke of his sadness at their combined spiral into addiction.

He said his ex-wife was "very funny, very clever and very loving" but seemed intent on squandering her talent on drink and drugs.

The 27-year-old, who was granted a divorce from Winehouse earlier this month on the grounds of her adultery, told of how he feared she might die following one particular binge in August 2007.

He told how he frantically tried to revive her with the kiss of life after she collapsed following a three-day binge of drink, crack cocaine and heroin.

"It was nearly midnight and I'd finally got her upstairs. We were sitting on the bed talking. Her eyes suddenly went blank," he told The Sun.

"She started having a fit on the bed. She slid down onto the floor before I could stop her. She started quivering again and it suddenly grew into what seemed like a full-blown epileptic fit.

"I was panicking. I didn't know how to help her. I was out of it on drugs as well - and was sobbing and crying out: 'Amy!'

"I knew it was important to stop her choking, so I turned her over on to her side, putting her in the recovery position.

"Then I pulled her tongue out of her mouth so she wouldn't bite it.

"She had an awful look on her face, just frightened and pale.

"I knelt over her as she kept on fitting. But then suddenly she just passed out and stopped breathing.

"It was the most frightening thing I had ever seen.

"I felt sure I was watching her die right in front of me.

"I didn't know what to do or how to save her.

"I held her to me - and I thought she was dying in my arms.

"But somehow I managed to open her mouth and breathe air down her throat. At first nothing happened. So I did it again. I was feeling for her pulse because I thought her heart might have stopped.

"Then she spluttered - and I saw her chest rise.

"I was still sobbing and panicking but I just felt this huge relief that she was alive."

He claimed that his wife immediatedly begged for more drugs and did not recognise him, asking instead for her friend Juliet Ashby, who rushed to the couple's home in Camden, north London, to help.

Winehouse was taken by taxi to London's University College Hospital, where she collapsed in the casualty department reception and was put on a drip.

The binge had started three days earlier at a pub near Heathrow after Winehouse flew back from the US where she had been celebrating the success of her last album, Back to Black.

The album, in which the singer repeatedly told of her love for her husband, sold five million copies wolrdwide and featured the top ten single Rehab.

Winehouse and her husband's group were reportedly joined at one stage by drug addicted rock singer Pete Doherty.

Fielder-Civil, who admitted to the Sun that he too was addicted to drugs, said the group had been taking large quantities of crack cocaine and heroin in the days before his wife collapsed.

"Amy hadn't slept for three days and I could tell she was in a state. I'd been trying to make her go to bed all day but she wouldn't," he said

He claims he also begged her to give up her drugs habit.

"I loved her so much, I couldn't bear for her to die in front of me," he said.

"She had everything going for her. But she ended up behaving badly just to shock. After a while that just becomes a bore. I'd warned her to stop. But she always wanted to keep taking the drugs.

"Amy is a fun girl. She's quite wild, but it's only on drink and drugs with her.

"It's just a shame because she's very funny, very clever and she's very loving. I can think of all these good points about her.

"But she just put everything going for her - all that talent and personality - and hid them behind drink and drugs.

"I think having seizures and just carrying on - that is pretty shocking, pretty hardcore behaviour. It's not something I would be able to do."

Even though the couple are now divorced, Winehouse appeared in court to answer an assault charge last week under the name Amy Civil, wearing her Tiffany engagement ring. She was acquitted of the charge and told reporters outside: "I'm relieved. I'm going home."

Friends claim she is desperate to see her ex-husband again and last week wrote on her Facebook page: "I ain't changin my last name."

Fielder-Civil was jailed after being convicted of assaulting a pub landlord and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. He has been released from jail and lives with his parents in Newark, Nottinghamshire.

A spokesman for Winehouse would not comment on the story.