Pop star Robbie Williams has revealed he experiences what he terms "inside Tourette’s", describing himself as an "Olympian at masking" the neurological condition.
The 51-year-old shared his recent realisation on the podcast, I’m ADHD! No You’re Not.
He explained: "I’ve just realised that I have Tourette’s, but they don’t come out.
“I was just walking down the road the other day and I realised that these intrusive thoughts are ‘inside Tourette’s’."
Tourette syndrome, as defined by the NHS, involves sudden, repetitive sounds or movements, known as tics, often triggered by factors such as stress, excitement, or tiredness.
The singer, who kicked off his Britpop tour in May, also opened up about his mental health and his relationship with performing live on the podcast hosted by Welsh comedian Paul Whitehouse and early year’s specialist in neuroscience Dr Mine Conkbayir.
He said: “You would think that a stadium full of people professing their love to you would work, but whatever it is, inside me, cannot hear it.
“This tour in particular, as a 51-year-old, I’ve approached it differently because I seem to be in the space to approach things differently.
“I have a very complicated relationship with touring and performing live. People say: ‘Oh, you going on tour? You must be really, really excited.’ Not really. I’m terrified.
“I mask, like I’m an Olympian at masking.
“I will look full of bravado and look pompous and look smug and do these grand gestures, which have worked for me because they put my face on the poster and people still buy tickets but actually what’s happening is I feel like the opposite of that all the time, most of the time.
“It’s getting better. I would say it’s gotten better from 45 onwards. This particular tour that I’m now in, I’m very pleased to say, for me, is that I’m dead excited to do my show that I’m doing tomorrow and I was excited to do one last week.
“I said to the wife while I was rehearsing, I said, I’ve got that PTSD stuff about performance, whatever it was in the Take That years and whatever it was subsequently when I got to the top of the mountain and it didn’t fix me. In fact, it made things worse inside me.
“Whatever all of that stuff was, I still get triggered from it and it still affects me.”
The singer went on to credit his wife, Ayda Field Williams, for changing his perspective about performing live, emphasising how lucky he is to do the job that he does and that he may not get the chance to play a stadium again.
He said: “There was something about that moment in particular that just changed the perception, and the gratitude came in for where I am, who I am, what I’m allowed to do, what they allow me to do, what I experience.
“And in that moment, thinking about maybe never being able to do it again because of waning popularity or death or whatever it is, in that moment, it just changed my perception.
“But 80,000 people never changed my opinion about me.”
Prior to launching his solo career, Williams was part of the group Take That which was behind the hit songs Pray, Everything Changes and Sure.
He left in 1995 and released his chart-topping debut album Life Thru A Lens in 1997.
Other number one albums by the singer include I’ve Been Expecting You (1998), Sing When You’re Winning (2000), Escapology (2002), Intensive Care (2005) and Rudebox (2006), with his most recent album, Britpop, coming out on October 10.
I’m ADHD! No You’re Not is available on all podcast platforms every Thursday at 6am.
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