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Original poster

Robbie Williams doc on Netflix

334 replies

MaliciaKeys · 08/11/2023 15:19

I've just watched it (day off work and it's raining out, don't judge me) and would be interested to hear other people's opinions.

OP posts:
Floopyfloop · 12/11/2023 22:12

He looked so sad and lost after leaving the band.
I saw him in a student ball in 1998. They had booked him before he released angels and to be fair to him, he kept the booking. He was amazing!

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/robbie-williams/1998/gamorgan-university-treforest-wales-5bd8dbc0.html

TypicalCoach · 13/11/2023 07:42

I remember his reunion tour with take that, where he must have demanded to do his own set of his solo stuff during each gig

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_Live

Nice enough but is clearly deluded on his career rudebox was so bad he dropped his mantle from being the top act almost suddenly to being a nostalgia act and feels perennially lost in life almost always looking for an excuse to be sad.

Progress Live - Wikipedia

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_Live

justjeansandanicetop · 13/11/2023 23:40

DustSalad · 08/11/2023 17:43

I was surprised how little they mentioned the Take That years. It just dived straight into his solo career.

I thought he came across as a massive twat. Entitled, arrogant, spoiled, immature. He would probably always have been a prick no matter whether he was famous or not.

I'm only two episodes in and this is my impression as well.

I've always thought that of him, but he's coming across as even worse than I imagined.

He's just so patronising and unpleasant to everyone.

The way he speaks about Gary Barlow is just awful, and the way he spoke to the press about Guy Chambers after they parted ways.

He said something like "I wish him all the best, and there's no sarcasm in that at all, I love him loads" and he just had that stupid expression on his face where you just know he's taking the piss out of whoever he's speaking to and isn't being genuine at all.

I have no doubt it was incredibly tough for him being flung into all that at only 16.....but I think a lot of his demeanour is just him and he'd have that attitude even if he hadn't been famous.

I really wouldn't like to have a conversation with him because I just always expect him to say something offensive / unpleasant. In a lot of the footage of conversations you can tell people just feel incredibly awkward around him because he's so insincere and unpleasant.

Will watch the remaining two episodes and hope they show that he's moved on from that a bit.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Music
Beefcurtains79 · 14/11/2023 06:35

Floopyfloop · 12/11/2023 22:12

He looked so sad and lost after leaving the band.
I saw him in a student ball in 1998. They had booked him before he released angels and to be fair to him, he kept the booking. He was amazing!

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/robbie-williams/1998/gamorgan-university-treforest-wales-5bd8dbc0.html

Edited

Surely he just wanted the appearance fee? Hardly doing it out of the goodness of his heart.

kiki50 · 14/11/2023 06:55

really chuckling at posts asking what Ayda sees in him.
Money people, money! Grin

Nora1978 · 14/11/2023 07:48

Agree with PP’s, he is definitely neurodiverse and possibly has narcissistic personality disorder, you can see it in his obsessing over Gary Barlow and negative press articles, his ocd with the hand gel and the way he struggles with performing. Probably sensory overload and too much pressure. He uses humour and exaggeration to mask and sometimes this disconnects him a bit from the audience because it feels artificial. I don’t think this documentary will particularly do him any favours, it needed a wider perspective and a bit more humour but these things are always interesting in their own way.

User14March · 14/11/2023 07:58

The Doc makes me appreciate the brilliance of David B’s. Not least as VB’s to follow, I think? It’s generally been so well received. How it would land clearly been given very serious thought & over arching goal/s.

Ramalangadingdong · 14/11/2023 10:06

I love MN diagnostics!

A filmmaker asks to make a documentary about you. They make a decision that it will only feature you as a talking head. The filmmaker lobs a lot of questions at you and you try to answer as honestly as you can MN diagnosis: narcissistic personality disorder.

Your young daughter comes into the room while you are being interviewed. You react a little self consciously while trying to be nice to her but wanting to get her out of the room so that you can continue the interview. MN diagnosis:weird

You have young children at home but you are also a superstar who has to shake hands with all sorts of people whose hands may have gone up their nose, up their or others bum or Fanny. You decide to sanitise your hands with gel: MN diagnosis OCD.

You are a working class lad raised in a council house, who by your own confession, got very lucky and became a millionaire, living in a beautiful mansion in a gated community. MN diagnosis: rich cunt.

Original poster
MaliciaKeys · 14/11/2023 12:51

kiki50 · 14/11/2023 06:55

really chuckling at posts asking what Ayda sees in him.
Money people, money! Grin

Yeah I think Ayda would have walked away rapidly after their first date, had she not known he was a multimillionaire. A poor, down on his luck musician, with addiction issues, who vomited on date no.1 wouldn’t have been given a second chance. But Robbie, worth 90 million apparently, was a catch.

OP posts:
Shalopea · 14/11/2023 13:01

TypicalCoach · 13/11/2023 07:42

I remember his reunion tour with take that, where he must have demanded to do his own set of his solo stuff during each gig

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_Live

Nice enough but is clearly deluded on his career rudebox was so bad he dropped his mantle from being the top act almost suddenly to being a nostalgia act and feels perennially lost in life almost always looking for an excuse to be sad.

I don’t think it was like that.if you watch the doco about their reunion (which is a lot better than this one in my opinion, 😁) Robbie was originally really excited about getting to perform all their new hits as a five piece, but the other 4 were a bit protective about the stuff they had done without him. So they made the decision to perform a couple of songs each from their time apart.

FMSucks · 14/11/2023 13:18

@Ramalangadingdong - yep 100% 😆

GellerYeller · 14/11/2023 14:26

@Ramalangadingdong I agree, and I wonder if the whole ‘just Robbie and no other talking heads’ situation is because there are so many other TT documentaries. It would have been a ‘rehashing old ground’ sort of thing.
@Shalopea I also think I’ve seen that interview, and TT do pride themselves on putting on a huge live production. Maybe they saw it as three shows for the price of one-you got TT as a foursome, Robbie then all 5 together. If I remember rightly, they had big name support acts too.

User14March · 14/11/2023 14:30

@MaliciaKeys yes, re: the vomiting alone, most, with boundaries, would have walked (?)

However, A seems intelligent, creative, successful & affluent? She must have had more opportunity & choice than most.

Original poster
MaliciaKeys · 14/11/2023 16:23

User14March · 14/11/2023 14:30

@MaliciaKeys yes, re: the vomiting alone, most, with boundaries, would have walked (?)

However, A seems intelligent, creative, successful & affluent? She must have had more opportunity & choice than most.

Well yes, that’s true but she probably saw the opportunity to become a power couple if she stuck with Robbie and to an extent, she’s succeeded.

OP posts:
Jellycats4life · 14/11/2023 17:28

I also think I’ve seen that interview, and TT do pride themselves on putting on a huge live production. Maybe they saw it as three shows for the price of one-you got TT as a foursome, Robbie then all 5 together. If I remember rightly, they had big name support acts too.

I think the Progress tour was partly a 3 in 1 mega show but it also had quite a weird dynamic. TT opened the show with absolutely zero fanfare. They just walk onstage and launch into their post-comeback songs. Knowing how flamboyant their shows usually are, it was weird.

Looking back it seems pretty clear that the opening of the show was deliberately low-key (and nothing like any of their shows before or since) so as not to upstage Robbie. But when Robbie’s set begins he abseils down from the lighting rig 🤣

Gary wrote in his book that Robbie got cold feet halfway through recording the album and nearly walked away from the whole project. I can imagine they all felt they needed to keep him (and his ego, and his mental health) on an even keel just in case he flaked on them.

Oblomov23 · 14/11/2023 17:41

He's so self absorbed, and quite dim I think.

Jesusitsfreezing · 14/11/2023 20:57

He seemed happy when he was with Geri and his pals

Clarabell77 · 14/11/2023 22:05

Totally agree.

He thought he was better than Guy Chambers, who seemed a really nice guy and as we know is actually a talented musician, the guy was responsible for the success he achieved in his solo career.

I thought it was funny how he and his wife called him a “rock star” a few times. Dream on!

Didnt like him much before, cannot stand him now.

MoonriseKingdom · 14/11/2023 23:25

I have never been a fan and always previously found him incredibly irritating… but I actually felt a lot of empathy for him in this documentary. I think he still seems depressed even if he is in a much more stable position. The happiest he seemed in the whole documentary was when he was in Jamaica writing with Guy Chambers and with Geri. I do agree that there isn’t enough acknowledgment of Guy’s musical talent and how he kept Robbie on track during that time.

The bit I found troubling was some of the scenes with his daughter. I hope she hasn’t found herself in the role of looking after a depressed parent. I’m not sure why they included all those scenes with her when Ayda barely appeared.

decionsdecisions62 · 15/11/2023 05:39

I'm sure in Robbie's head the voice was saying ' a few clips with my daughter will show the world what an amazing father I am' In reality she looked like a very nervous child, treading on egg shells around her narcissistic father.

cheezncrackers · 15/11/2023 10:24

MaliciaKeys · 14/11/2023 12:51

Yeah I think Ayda would have walked away rapidly after their first date, had she not known he was a multimillionaire. A poor, down on his luck musician, with addiction issues, who vomited on date no.1 wouldn’t have been given a second chance. But Robbie, worth 90 million apparently, was a catch.

Show quote history

Yeah, that bit made me laugh, where Ayda was saying something like 'He'd done a load of cocaine, he was clucking, he'd vomited and I thought 'I've got to get you home'. And then after that night he called me and said his management had staged an intervention and he was going to rehab and I was thinking 'But this is my person! I've literally just found him!'.

Who the hell goes on a first date from hell like the one she describes and thinks 'This is my person'??? If he wasn't stinking rich she'd have run a mile and so would anyone else 😂

Original poster
MaliciaKeys · 15/11/2023 11:46

“This is my personal multimillionaire” more like 😂

OP posts:
Jesusitsfreezing · 15/11/2023 15:29

Also think it’s quite weird how they met, someone from his management/he knew said you should meet Ayda, then it was arranged 🤷🏻‍♀️

Original poster
MaliciaKeys · 15/11/2023 16:04

They didn’t even seem to have friends in common. I wonder if his management thought she’d be a stabilising influence on him? Like a sober companion?

OP posts:
Indeedindeed24 · 15/11/2023 20:28

but I actually felt a lot of empathy for him in this documentary.

I felt the same. Couldn't stand him before. I met him once very briefly as I was involved with one of his music video and thought he was an arrogant prat with the constant showboating, but I can now see what a damaged, vulnerable person he is and I think he had good intentions but is uncomfortable in his own skin which he covers over with this arrogant act. I'm currently watching it and feeling rather fond of him and hoping he will be okay. I feel he showed a lot of humility and regret.