Robbie Williams 'in tears' on stage in Sydney as he shares addiction struggle

17 November 2023 , 14:00

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Robbie Williams 'in tears' on stage in Sydney as he shares addiction struggle

Robbie Williams made an emotional speech to his fans in Sydney earlier this week as he opened up on his battle with addiction and claimed that fans in Australia helped him through a dark time.

The 49 year old superstar who was performing to 38,000 fans at Sydney's Allianz Stadium, has made no secret of his substance abuse - and viewers saw the harsh reality of his life at the height of his drug addiction and mental health woes, in his Netflix documentary. But now, live on stage the former Take That star told fans how his visit to Australia to film his biopic Better Man, during the pandemic last year, played a pivotal role in his attempt to find happiness.

Robbie Williams becomes emotional on stage in Sydney Australia

He said: "I came and did a few shows in Oz for Better Man and just became overwhelmed with the fact that these seats get filled with human beings that come to my show. It made me remember and realise that in those deepest, darkest moments, where this voice was the loudest." He added: "One of the main things that kept me on the planet was the fact that you guys turned up for me and you think that I'm okay.When there was little to no evidence in my own head, I could see it in your faces."

Towards the end of his heartfelt speech, he thanked his Australian fans for helping him through his darkest time. He continued: "Thank you for helping me when you didn't know you were. I am the happiest I have ever been … I f***ing love you, Australia." Robbie who is now a married father of four spoke about the fact that he was constantly trying to ignore an inner voice in his head during his days in Take That during the early nineties.

And he used drugs and alcohol to silence the pain, which led him to addiction. He said: "I drank and I took drugs to numb the pain, and also just stop the voice from caving my head to be honest with you because I do drink, and drugs, that was a quick one way trip Into hell and eventually I had to stop drinking. I had to stop taking drugs or else I was gonna die..." Robbie became sober 24 years ago but this forced him to deal with his mental health issues, which was equally as painful.

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He added: "What happens is, when you stop drinking, you're left with the person that you are. And the person who I really was, was depressed and isolated. I didn't know how to socialise... I didn't know how to be a human." Earlier this month, Robbie's wife Ayda Field revealed that their children fly economy while she and Robbie travel first class as a way of teaching them the value of money.

She said: "My kids fly economy whenever we fly. I turn left and they turn right. That’s terrible. I mean, people will think I’m such a d***." She continued to tell The Sunday Times: "There’s no interest in raising brats. My kids will know [economy] is where they will sit in a plane until they can pay to put themselves in a different part of the plane." The couple, are parents to Teddy, 11, Charlie, nine, Coco, five and Beau, three.

Lucretia Munro