Billie Piper Says Childhood Friend Amy Winehouse Was Bullied at School: 'It Wasn't the Easiest Ride'
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"She liked to push buttons, and do weird stuff," Piper said of the late singer on Jessie Ware's 'Table Manners' podcast
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Billie Piper attends the world premiere of 'Scoop' at The Curzon Mayfair on March 27, 2024 in London; Amy Winehouse arrives at the ELLE Style Awards at the Roundhouse Theatre on Feb. 12, 2007 in London.Billie Piper is opening up about her friendship with Amy Winehouse.
On the Tuesday, April 2 episode of Jessie Ware's podcast Table Manners, the actress/singer, 41, opened up about how the late R&B/soul singer was "bullied" at school growing up.
Throughout Piper's conversation with the "Selfish Love" performer, 39, and her mother Lennie, she recalls relocating to London at 12 years old to attend the Sylvia Young Theatre School, where one of her friends was Winehouse.
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Billie Piper at an afterparty in London in March 2024Related: Lily Allen's Mom Recalls Worrying Fame Would 'Destroy' Her Daughter Similarly to Amy Winehouse
“She was always cheeky,” the I Hate Suzie star recalled. “She was always like that, you know. She would do abstract stuff, and I really loved it.”
Piper added: “She could do everything. Super clever, super bright, unlike any other girl at that school.”
Lennie asked if the "Rehab" performer could "act," to which Piper replied: “Yeah, she could do everything. Super clever, super bright, [she was] unlike any other girl at that school.”
She then addressed the challenges that Winehouse faced in school and how she didn't have "the easiest ride."
“She got bullied quite a lot at school because she was doing her own thing, and she liked to push buttons, and do weird stuff," Piper said.
She added: “And I had a lot of space for that, but not many of the girls did. It wasn’t the easiest ride.”
Winehouse, who died in 2011 at age 27 from accidental alcohol poisoning, is set to be the subject of the upcoming biopic Back to Black, which will star actress Marisa Abela.
In an official synopsis, the film is described as the "extraordinary story of Amy Winehouse’s early rise to fame from her early days in Camden through the making of her groundbreaking album Back to Black that catapulted Winehouse to global fame."
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Amy Winehouse at Hyde Park in London in June 2008Related: Back to Black Full Trailer: Industry Star Marisa Abela Portrays Amy Winehouse's Tragic Downfall
"Told through Amy’s eyes and inspired by her deeply personal lyrics, the film explores and embraces the many layers of the iconic artist and the tumultuous love story at the center of one of the most legendary albums of all time," the synopsis continues.
Back to Black is directed by filmmaker Sam Taylor-Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey) and the screenplay was written by Matt Greenhalgh.
In addition to Abela, the film will star Eddie Marsan, Bronson Webb, Ansu Kabia and Harley Bird.
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