By Alanah Eriksen
In mourning: Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace on talks about her friend Amy Winehouse on This Morning Overcome with grief, she was last seen curled in a ball unable to contain her emotions outside tragic pal Amy Winehouse's home in Camden.
Now, former Big Brother contestant Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace has spoken out on morning television about her 'wonderful, talented friend'.
The 32-year-old glamour model, who did not attend yesterday's private funeral, also said she had received messages of abuse over claims she encouraged Amy's wild ways.
But Amy fans have dismissed the appearance as a publicity stunt by a woman whose career is flailing.
And her close pal Kelly Osborne has alluded to Aisleyne's appearance, saying friends are cashing in.
Aisleyne told ITV's This Morning: 'It's devastating. I'm heartbroken anyway, losing Amy. I just want her back. But to have this thrown at me, and all the internet hate that I'm getting now.
'The messages have been just vile and it's hard because it's not true. There's not a scrap of truth in it.'
Reports surfaced after Amy's death on Saturday afternoon that neighbours had seen her fall out of a taxi after a night out with Aisleyne.
'A certain journalist said that I was seen with her a few days before... he also said that I need to ask myself what I was thinking, being in that situation with Amy when she was perhaps quite fragile.'
But she told hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford that she had not seen Amy for two months.
Tearful: Aisleyne breaks down as she talks about her 'wonderful, talented, friend'She added: 'The papers are saying the last time I was with her we were drinking. In fact the last time I was with her was in her house, in her kitchen, we were drinking tea and having a girlie gossip as I would with any friend. Just talking about guys.
When asked if she had spoken to Amy about her battle with drugs and alcohol, Aisleyne said: 'I've dealt with addiction in my own family.
'It's hard to speak to the person about it. What I will say is, it's not glamorous it's not exciting. There are a lot of people suffering from addiction and the first step is to admit it.'
But she insisted Amy had beaten the battle.
'She got herself completely well and she did the impossible, which was to get clean.
'I'm just so proud of her for getting past it and overcoming it. She did the impossible as I say and she really did.'
Aisleyne struggles to control her emotions outside Amy's home in Camden on SundayAmy fans have taken to Twitter to vent their frustration at the interview.
One wrote: 'Didn't take my nemesis Aisleyne Hogan-Wallace long to cash in on the publicity of Amy Winehouse's death by appearing on This Morning, I see'.
Another said she was making the death 'all about her' while another wrote that she just wanted 'to be famous again'.
Kelly Osborne joined the debate, saying: 'Any 'friend' of amy's talking 2 the press/tv are not her actual friend's. her real friends have more dignity then to get $ 2 talk about her!'
Amy died on Saturday, aged just 27.
The jazz singer was found dead at her Camden home. A post-mortem examination failed to establish a cause of death and toxicology reports will take a couple of weeks.
Aisleyne was seen outside the house in floods of tears on Saturday. Unable to stand up, she fell to the ground and curled into a ball.
She said this morning she had earlier been with one of Amy's best friends who got a call about the death.
'She got the call and we went straight to the house. It didn't sink in. These things sort of comes in waves. You believe it and then you don't and then you think 'This is not real, it's not happening, she'll be fine'.'
Aisleyne is consoled by friends as she curls into a ball outside Amy's homeAisleyne and Amy struck up an unlikely friendship three years ago, with the pair regularly spotted together in London.
'We met years ago through a mutual friend,' Aisleyne said.
'She'd seen me on Big Brother, at my worst, and she wanted to meet me. Our mutual friend set it up. I was very honoured to meet her. When we met, we just clicked straight away and it was a friendship rather than being in awe of her.'
When asked about what Amy was like as a person, she was on the verge of tears.
'She's a fantastic woman who made everyone comfortable,' she said.
'She was very loving... Amy was a very homely girl and just loved to love.'
Aisleyne urged people to remember Amy for 'her amazing talent and how beautiful a person she was'.
Models on Aisleyne's Irish reality show Celebrity Salon have said they had been comforting her following the death.
source:dailymail
