Robbie Williams, Photo: Abaca / Abaca Press / Profimedia
British singer Robbie Williams told fans that selfie requests cause them “discomfort” and “panic”, after being approached by several people during a recent flight, reports PA Media/DPA, taken by Agerpres.
The interpreter of the hit “Let me Entertain You”, 51 years old, has a well -documented history of depression and has also fought with drug and alcohol abuse, as well as agoraphobia – which, he often says at home.
Williams wrote on Instagram that during an internal flight in the US, when he had not slept too much, he was approached by a fan who wrote a “wonderful ticket”, praising the documentary Netflix detailing his fight with celebrity.
In a long message, he revealed that he told the person that the selfies would cause a “wave of anxiety, because then the entire cabin would have begun to ask” who he is.
“Every time I panic”
Several requests arrived – another person sent him a ticket, and another passenger made him feel “forced” after he approached him and asked for the photo directly, according to Williams.
“Every interaction – with strangers or even with people they know well – fills me with discomfort,” the singer confessed.
“I mask him well. But the social interaction still frightens me. So much that I have not left the city for years. And I had to do it without drugs or drink. Before it seemed impossible. Now I am … OK. But I still terrify inside. Every time a stranger approaches – and there are strangers.”
He urged the fans to respect the “dignity of private life, desires and needs of celebrities”, because it could be “on the phone with his mother, talking about his dementia” or “thinking of his father's Parkinson's disease.”
The singer says he fought for more than a decade with mental health problems
Robbie Williams, who is the second one after The Beatles with most number one albums, having 15 discs in the top of the British charts, released his “Better Man” biographical film last year. The former member of the band “Take That” is played by a CGI chimpanzeu (computer -generated image) – a message about the fact that he feels like a “performance monkey”.
Speaking of the documentary Netflix “Robbie Williams” in 2023, he told the news agency that the series is about the return of “power” and focuses on depression and other problems. “The most revealing aspects are mental health disorders, addictions, agoraphobia, bodily dysmorphia, dyslexia and disccquelcia,” he said.
In November 2024, the singer said he was feeling “wonderful” after leaving a fight for more than a decade with mental health problems.
