Amy Winehouse has gone on the defense after being spotted wandering the streets of London in her bra. She was “sleepy.”

“She was not on an all-night bender,” her U.K. rep tells PEOPLE of Winehouse’s appearance outside her flat at 5:45 a.m. Sunday morning. Winehouse, 24, was sound asleep when she heard a noise outside. Having had friends over earlier in the evening, she wondered if one returned, according to the rep, who said: “She heard all these noises, and she went outside to look and there were all these photographers.”

“She’d been sound asleep, and then there were all these photographers – of course she looked startled.” British newspapers reported the singer – captured in photographs sans makeup and her trademark beehive – was “muttering incomprehensibly.”

“In light of recent reports, it’s easy to make assumptions, but she’s trying to get better and she needs the space to do that.”