Robbie Williams, 51, opens up on fresh depression battle for first time in 10 years as singer shares health admission
Robbie Williams has revealed he suffered his first bout of depression in over a decade, which he believes may be linked to significant weight loss from appetite suppressants.
The 51-year-old singer has admitted he was left feeling “confused” when his mental health issues returned at the start of this year.
“The year started with some ill mental health, which I haven’t had for a very, very long time,” Williams said. “I was sad, I was anxious, I was depressed.”
Williams, who was first diagnosed with depression in his twenties, admitted he thought he had his mental health under control after 10 years without major issues.
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“I thought I was at the other end of the arc,” he explained. “So for it to return was just confusing.”
The singer’s mental health struggles coincided with a particularly difficult time for his family’s health.
His mother, Janet, has dementia, his father, Pete, has Parkinson’s disease, and his mother-in-law, Gwen is battling cervical cancer.
Despite these challenges, Williams explained that his depression wasn’t directly linked to these family health issues.
“My wife would say, ‘if your depression could talk, what would it say?'” Williams shared during his interview with the Mirror. “It wasn’t saying, ‘it’s my mum, or dad or your mum.'”
“It wasn’t saying ‘it’s life, or tickets or the tour or the pressure or whatever.’ None of that. It just is. It’s just this pervasive feeling.”
Williams and his wife Ayda are grappling with feelings of guilt about whether they’re doing enough for their ill parents.
“It can be overpowering,” he admitted.
Williams began to suspect his diet could be contributing to his depression after using an appetite-suppressant drug to lose nearly two stone.
“I’d stopped eating and I wasn’t getting nutrients,” he explained. He was so vitamin C deficient he was even diagnosed with the “17th-century pirate disease”, scurvy.
The star revealed his body dysmorphia complicated his weight loss journey.
Williams is now focusing on his upcoming stadium tour, which kicks off in Edinburgh on May 31.
The tour will then move on to shows in London, Manchester, Bath, and Newcastle.
It comes after a busy 12 months for the star, who has been promoting his autobiographical film Better Man and his upcoming art exhibition Radical Honesty.
One gig Williams won’t be taking on in the coming 12 months is the Super Bowl halftime show in the USA.
Earlier this year, the former Take That sparked a frenzy among his fans when he took to X to tease that he’d been asked to follow in rapper Kendrick Lamar’s footsteps and perform at next year’s American Football extravaganza.
However, after the post garnered worldwide attention, Williams returned to social media to set the record straight and confirm his initial post was merely a joke.