Robbie Williams’ battle with the incredibly dark side of fame

Robbie Williams has put his life under the microscope with his new biopic Better Man.

Better Man tells the singer’s origin story, from his childhood with his mum and his once estranged dad to rocketing to fame in pop band Take That at age 16 to quitting the group and making it big as a solo artist. It truly stands out as a musical biopic, with Williams portrayed as a CGI chimpanzee.

The music legend — who is the father to four children that he shares with his wife Ayda Field Williams — doesn’t shy away from showing the dark side of fame in the musical biopic Better Man.

Nicole Appleton’s abortion

Arguably one of the most upsetting and shocking scenes in the film is young Nicole Appleton being pressured into aborting Williams’ baby by music industry bosses.

Williams hailed his ex, The All Saints singer, “f**king brave” for allowing him to include the “difficult” moment in the film.

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“Nicole Appleton is f**king brave for allowing us to tell that bit of the story,” he said at the premiere for Better Man held in Leicester Square.

Their whirlwind romance played out in the year of 1997. Williams had sought Appleton’s permission to include the heartbreaking moment in the film and he hit out at the music bosses while on the promotion trail.

On the red carpet, he told HELLO! earlier on that night: “The most difficult bit is watching Nicole and what we went through because she was instructed to get rid of our baby.”

He added: “I didn’t make her do that — but I was a f****** awful boyfriend, like, really awful, and I was in the height of my addiction and alcoholism. And it breaks my heart every time I watch it because she’s a complete angel, and there’s still shame attached to who I was then.”

Appleton attended the Better Man premiere in support of her ex-boyfriend.

Addiction

Other hard-hitting sequences in the Better Man film include Williams’ own struggle with drug addiction and mental health struggles. Reflecting on this in a chat with The Telegraph, he said: “I genuinely think that I’m very lucky to be alive, and I wonder how much in part that is because I didn’t break here. And there has been a safety that I don’t feel anywhere where I am famous.” The singer has been sober for more than 20 years now.

Williams always speaks his mind and he is authentic in his portrayal of his life. Addiction is something that the singer also addressed in his Netflix documentary out earlier this year.

While promoting Better Man, Williams also likened fame to being like the drug LSD. He told The Guardian: “I first took LSD when I was 15 and I shouldn’t have taken LSD when I was 15. I shouldn’t have taken fame. It’s the same thing. I’m glad I did, and I’m glad I’m through the other side, and I’m glad I’ve experienced what I’ve experienced, and achieved what I’ve achieved, but it is a drug like LSD.”

The music industry needs to change

Poignantly Better Man is coming out on Boxing Day amid conversation about what more can be done to protect young pop stars. The conversation was sparked by the death of One Direction star Liam Payne at just 31 years old.

Out of respect for the late star’s family, Williams didn’t speak directly about Payne but he addressed the topic of what needs to change in the music industry.

Asked about does the music industry need to do more to protect young pop stars, Williams said: “I think that things are already changing for the positive. We were in the dark ages, when it comes to talking, thinking, representing mental health as a problem. Now we’re not.”

Yet Williams wants to be part of a positive change to come for the next generation of popstars.

He added: “I want to be part of a change. What change that is I don’t know yet but it’s going to need creative people to get in a room and figure it out.

“Cos I have been asked that. ‘What do I think the change should be?’ I don’t know man. But I can say something positive about this generation we’re living through. Things have changed. What once was in the dark is now no longer in the dark. That is huge.”

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