Marisa Abela felt ‘physically and emotionally exhausted’ after Winehouse role

Marisa Abela says she “felt physically and emotionally exhausted” as well as empty in the wake of her role as Amy Winehouse.

In Back To Black, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, Abela played the late singer-songwriter’s whirlwind rise to fame in London as she battled with drug addiction before her death in 2011.

The biopic had the backing of the Amy Winehouse Estate, and took its name from Winehouse’s Grammy-winning album.

Abela, who is the cover star of Elle UK’s digital magazine, told the publication: “I didn’t go method for Amy, but you just can’t help it infiltrating your life.

“There are so many important acts of self-care that you just forget to do when you’re working. So when I was done, I was just a bit empty.

“I had been working for eight months on the Amy film and I was physically and emotionally exhausted.”

She added that “it couldn’t have been any other job”, except the third season of Industry, that she would return to acting for so quickly.

Abela, who plays the rich graduate and polyglot banker Yasmin Kara-Hanani, will be seduced by Kit Harington as Lord Henry Muck, the chief executive and founder of a green tech energy company, in the latest series of the financial drama.

She also spoke about her West End actor partner, Jamie Bogyo, and his proposal in Primrose Hill, London.

She says: “Thankfully, the England game was on (during the Euros), so it was completely dead. He’s the most supportive, generous, kind, funny and amazing person. He’s the best, I’m so lucky.”

Abela says that she leaned on Bogyo following public scrutiny after images of her as Winehouse was released.

She added: “I literally fell asleep in (his) hug and woke up in the morning in the exact same position. That was honestly the moment that I thought, ‘I can’t wait to marry him’.”

Abela is the daughter of actress Caroline Gruber, who was recently seen in the play The Arc: A Trilogy Of New Jewish Plays at the Soho Theatre, and director Angelo Abela.

She says after her parents split, her mother “worked so hard to make sure my brother and I never wanted for anything, but she also did not give up on the thing that made her happy” which she called the “bravest, most powerful thing”.

For more see elle.com/uk/Marisa-Abela.