Robbie Williams has urged people to show kindness towards celebs who open up about their mental health struggles instead of discounting them as trying to make the topic “sexy”.
The 49-year-old Angels hitmaker has spoken candidly about his own past mental health issues and is set to do so again in his upcoming Netflix documentary.
The four-part docuseries titled Robbie Williams, which hits the streaming giant on November 8, coincides with the 25th anniversary of his solo career.
The series will give an intimate look at his never-before-seen personal archive spanning 30 years, and chart both the highs and lows, including the pressures of fame coupled with his much-publicised battles with drugs and alcohol.
“There is nothing sexy about taking a knife and slashing your own wrists that I did. We need to be careful about what we say and how we say it,” he told the Mirror.Clarifying his words, he added to the publication: “I am on about me slashing my own wrists. The reason I say that is to qualify people are people, whether they are on MAFS [Married At First Sight] or Martin Scorsese's new film.
“We need to be careful what we accuse people of. You think such and such is laying it on thick for attention saying they have autism. It is not OK.”
Williams spoke with The Sun about another brush with death that came about after he went on a six-day bender.
He said that despite vomiting “black bile”, he continued his binge of cocaine and vodka only to realise later how close he was to death.
Williams believed he was “indestructible” but was in fact “on a fast-track to death”, admitting: “I thought I could snort the most, take the most pills, drink the most and I thought that was a superpower at the time.
“I didn't know that was my fast-track to death. You feel like you’re indestructible, I didn't feel I was going to die. It's only subsequently I realise I was close.”
He added: “I stayed awake for six days. I was with somebody with deals to the dealers and it was a six-day bender, and it went very quickly.”
