Amy Winehouse used to make secret visits to Barbara Windsor's home so the unlikely duo could practise lines from her EastEnders scripts.
According to her best friend Tyler James, the late singer would sneak off from her treatments for alcohol addition in a private hospital to go see Barbara.
On the tenth anniversary of the Back to Black singer's death at just 27 years old, Tyler reminisced on Amy's trips to the EastEnders actress' house.
“When she met Barbara it was as though she became a new nan figure for her," he said.
“Amy was in and out of private hospitals being treated for addiction to alcohol but it was easy to sneak out and Barbara lived round the corner."
“Amy would always give her a massive hug when she saw her. You saw pictures of Amy looking off her head and out of her mind, but when she was with Barbara her upbringing and manners for someone older were on display," he continued to The Sun.
Barbara and her husband Scott Mitchell would make Amy and Tyler tea and snacks before they got to rehearse.
He added: "Barbara was very aware of her problems and we’d all talk about how Amy would become like me — that she’d get there too, that she’d beat alcohol. Barbara was very supportive of that."
Tyler had been friends with Amy since the pair were in their early teens, with him recently opening up about the amount of money she spent on drugs.
He revealed that towards the end of 2004 was when the star started to "lose the plot".
They shared a flat in Camden, London, and Amy had started to show the signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Tyler said in a column for The Mail On Sunday that Amy confessed to spending half a million pound on drugs.
She had told him: "I spent about 500 grand on drugs, it’s a mug’s game. I could’ve bought a house. I could’ve bought you a house."
The iconic singer died at home aged 27 on July 23 2011, with coroners confirming that her blood alcohol content was more than five times the legal drink-drive limit.
