Inside Robbie and Sophie Ellis-Bextor's feud from 'dish face' insult to apology

13 November 2023 , 10:36

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Inside Robbie and Sophie Ellis-Bextor's feud from 'dish face' insult to apology

British pop star Sophie Ellis-Bextor has had a long-running feud with former Take That star Robbie Williams, and now the celebrity duo's bitter dispute from the nineties has resurfaced in Robbie's newly-released Netflix documentary series.

The four-part docuseries, which lays bare his battles with drugs, alcohol and mental health issues, has sparked an apology from Sophie, 25 years after their first clash - which she admits she now regrets. The Murder On The Dancefloor singer was just 19 years old when she was asked to support Robbie on his first solo tour after he left the boy band in 1995.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor branded Robbie Williams a 'tart' and a 'prat' back in 1998 (FilmMagic)

The pop singer has since shared her regret and apologised for the comments (Dave Benett/Getty Images for Uni)

But Sophie declined the slot and went on to rub salt in the wound by branding Robbie a 'tart' and a 'prat', leading the star to hit back with an insult of his own. Getting personal, he infamously said Sophie had a "face like a satellite dish and my nan's ankles". The fall-out between the pair lasted years, with Sophie admitting in 2018 that she wasn't proud of it.

She told the Daily Mail at the time: "I think I need to apologise to him. We had this slightly weird altercation when I hadn't really worked out that there are things you say that sound quite funny to your mates but in black and white it just doesn't look good." She continued that Robbie was "right to be cross" and revealed she had already privately apologised to him, but would "do it again one day".

And the singer has, over two decades later, after a clip of their feud was shown on Robbie's new self-titled doc. She took to Instagram on Sunday to say sorry again, posting a video of her talking to the camera. "In 1998, aged 19, I was very rude about @robbiewilliams and the clip of me being horrid is included in his brilliant Netflix documentary," she said. "I didn't need to see it again to feel bad. I genuinely have felt crappy about how I spoke for the 25 years since I said it."

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Sophie revealed she has spent some time with Robbie and his wife Ayda Williams

Giving her reasons for the Robbie insults, Sophie continued: "I thought it was clever to be gobby back then, but it wasn't cool then and it's even worse to see it now. Not proud. Not how I'm raising my kids. That being said, I wanted to reach out and apologise so a few years back I found an address for Robbie and wrote him a note to say how sorry I was. He was gracious and very forgiving.

"We ended up meeting last summer and I spent time with him, his amazing wife @aydafieldwilliams and his gorgeous kids. It was lovely to be able to become friends and we have now made some songs together." She ended the post by saying: "I suppose the moral of this story is, as ever, be kind. To own your mistakes. And if you're ever cruel, try to make sure it's not filmed as it's bloody brutal to see sharp-tongued teenage me after all these years! Yikes. P.S. - watch the documentary. It's great."

Sophie, 44, is a singer and songwriter and appeared on The Masked Singer in 2020. The mum-of-five is married to fellow musician Richard Jones and the couple have five sons together. Robbie, 49, has four children with his wife of 13 years, American actress Ayda. The star has said that making his documentary was like "watching a crash you were involved in", adding that he nicknamed it "trauma watch".

Nia Dalton