"I felt connected to her in terms of the darkness and the searching for something other than the hell she was living in," Blige told Billboard. "I know that's what she was searching for. Because that's what you're searching for when you're doing drugs and alcohol-you're trying to get out of that hell that's in your head."

The topic of Winehouse came up when Blige was asked about some British soul singers who influenced her as she recorded her new album, The London Sessions.