Robbie Williams doc on Netflix

[MaliciaKeys]

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.

I get that. The performer. But this is not that. This is him making his mental health into entertainment.

I wonder with reaching out to Lewis Capaldi, he sees himself as a sort of elder statesman of the music industry now and wanted to help. In the same way as Robbie tells the story of Elton John sending him to rehab as a youngster because Elton had been in that position early in his own career.

He looked genuinely happy in the photos of him and his wife when he stepped out of the limelight so he obviously has a desire to perform and stay famous. He comes across to me as extremely insecure.. like he needs to keep coming back to check that he's still liked. The problem with that is that there are always going to be people that don't like you, most of us learn to accept that as we grow up, maybe being so famous and adored (he was like god in my school 1990s) at such a young age screwed him up and made it impossible to get past the stage of a needy teenage boy.
I think Gary felt similar when his solo career didn't take off.. he left Take That with a massive ego and when he realised without the rest of them that his audience was dwindling he really struggled, I read his book and was surprised his wife stuck it out. He spent years just smoking weed and overeating.
Also Mark.. I remember when he went on Celebrity Big Brother and how much it meant to him that he still had a big enough fan base to win (I think he won?) But it later emerged that he had issues with alcohol and infidelity.
I've heard Howard say in interview that he was suicidal after the split but he seems to have a pretty happy family now.
The only one who has walked away and stuck to it is (The chiselled sex god) Jason Orange.

It is a big thing in AA and NA that those with a few years of recovery reach out to and mentor those just beginning.

It was all a bit Elton John (Rocketman) when he was sitting on the swimming pool floor.
I really enjoyed it; yes, it was very 'me, me, me' and 'poor me', but he's Robbie Williams, for goodness' sake!
He is a great performer, but all that money doesn't make you happy.
Lots of things not mentioned. Like Nicole Appleton and her abortion. That was all over the papers when it happened.
I agree, the conversations with Teddy were awful. And the bit where she was playing the piano and singing whilst he looked on admiringly. Bleurgh.

Just finished it this evening and I really enjoyed it. I’ve seen Robbie live a few times and he’s an excellent entertainer.

I thought he was very honest and brave to do the documentary. He certainly doesn’t need the money and seems to be in a good place. He showed humility and self awareness and spoke about his wife in a way I would love someone to speak about me someday.

I have a son the same age as Robbie when he joined TT. I don’t know how he got through it and came out the other side. I cannot even imagine how my son would even try to do what he did.

As for other posters saying he was navel gazing, wasn’t the documentary about his life
and him narrating it?!

It was lovely to see him surrounded by a loving family and I hope he’s found peace within himself now.

One thing that intrigued me a bit was when Robbie first met Ayda and he said that his dealer had just been to see him. He then said that he was sleeping with his dealer but didn’t say if they were male or female.

Just finished it also, I enjoyed it, I would have preferred not to have to see him in his underpants though (shudder). It was sad to see his mental health and addiction struggles, he did everything in excess.

Blaming the british media for the criticism and failure of the crap Rudebox was a bit rich, in all fairness, the only good songs were during his partnership with Guy Chambers and as much as he is a great showman and entertainer, its those early songs which are the reason he is still able to fill a stadium. I don't know if Guy has had many great songs either since they parted company.

Gerry Halliwell was absolutely gorgeous in her day, I didn't realise it at the time.

I think Ayda is a bit of a wild one herself, they seem to be a perfect match.

I think he said 'My dealer had just been - I was sleeping with her'

I think Robbie was an incredibly brave individual who had been thrust into a solo career with a very hard music industry pushing to get maximum profits out of him.

He wasn't a musician, whose confidence grew as his repetoire of songs matured, he was a hired singer and dancer, nothing wrong with that, but the fame clearly affected him in TT, it appeared jealousy of Gary was one of the problems. Que finding him a producer and songwriter who would write some outstanding pop songs, his confidence grew along with the apparent delight of the Barlow/Williams fued with the English press.

He couldn't crack America, and the hits were going to dry up but he ended up getting rid of the one person who could create music to his lyrics. The Rudebox album dived, which brought to light the question, did Robbie really contribute as much as we thought to the hits that had catapulted him to stardom. The Leeds gig was awful to watch, his confidence gone and it appears as though he was suffering from imposter symndrome, something I think which has afflicted many pop stars who have achieved stardom but don't have too much substance to back it up, such as Britanny, Chyerl Cole, Victoria Beckham.

If you have extreme talent, a God given talent such as Beyonce, even then it's hard to stay on the straight and narrow but if you are a mediocre talent then it's going to be horrendous when the demons hit.

I feel sorry for him in a way, his ego grew so big, but it suited the record companies, they made maximum money out of him but he wasn't equipped to stay grouded through his abilities.

Very brave, they pushed him too hard, he had a great deal of luck by pairing with Guy and he had plenty of bravado but really although he's made money the industry has screwed him up, it's all a bit rock or bust., he believed his own publicity and when the publicity turned on him, he believed that too.

I thought he could have also given something back and given recognition to the man who helped him write Angels, it was his defining song.

What does everyone think the motive was to want to be followed round with a camera for years and doing vlogs.. do you think he planned a future documentary?

I was at the Leeds gig and he was phenomenal I do remember him saying something about an injury and that he took it in the arse for Leeds- as in an injection. Just goes to show how well he could hide his demons and have the strength to go on stage thinking everyone hated you which was the exact opposite.
I wasn’t convinced with the doc but watching all the eps saw his vulnerability and complete lack of self worth.
I expected he leans v heavily on his wife, she might have all the trappings but she will have to cope with all his issues so not an easy one.
I really wished she had her face alone too, she was naturally beautiful and would have aged so much better without the awful lips and frozen face

I think some kinds of stardom need constant publicity whereas there are other types of stardom that requires, or allows them exclusivity.

Pop culture is often short lived unless the publicity machine is excellent, so yes I suppose the great minds of publicity were thinking about this decades ago.

Unless Robbie instigated much of the filming, it did seem like he became addicted to living his life (life through a lens, album title) as though on a stage.

Yes, her face was sad.

I’ve just re-read my posts from last night and actually, I come across as an utter knob. Judgey and rude and forgetting Robbie Williams is a human being.

The scene where he was having a panic attack actually on stage was a very tough watch. Imagine having to carry on entertaining 80,000 people feeling like that.

I found the documentary a real eye opener. I’m glad he’s happy now and I didn’t dwell too much on what he was wearing to spoil it for me.

I gave up watching, I’ve seen him live several times and thought he was a fantastic entertainer but my God he’s self-absorbed and not nearly as funny/witty as he thinks he is.

I didn’t feel that tbh. It is too harrowing and he hated looking back at that. As someone who suffers from depression I think it is good that people who have such high profile are willing to expose themselves like that. I don’t tell anyone in my private or work life about my depression although I have spoken to healthcare professionals and I know it is quite dangerous to try to deal with it alone, but I still feel it carries a stigma. Also, when I have talked about it with close family it has been labelled self centredness and, as people on here have said of Robbie, all me me me me. So I keep it to myself. Well done that man for being brave enough to air it.

I really loved Take That and him as a performer and personality.

I thought this doco really suffered from not having any other talking heads apart from him. The review said “claustrophobic” and that was about right. It would have lifted it so much to hear other people sharing fun anecdotes. Getting the other side of the story would have brought emotional depth to it. A bit more 90s nostalgia, the excitement of the rise to fame, anecdotes from TT boys about life on the road etc.

I’ve listened to him and his wife on their podcasts and they are so funny and sparky together. There’s a lot more to the story of how they got together too - he was truly awful to her and ditched her several times as I recall. But they were so funny in telling it on the podcast … that’s what was missing! A bit of light and shade, a bit more humour to puncture it.

As far as sleeping with men goes, I’m not sure, but he has been very open in the past about fancying men. I think he said he fancied David Beckham when he looked at his bare chest he thought “mmm” but then when he got further down he thought, “urgh, he’s got the same bits as me”. Something like that. So who knows.

On episode 3. Once he got rid of Guy Chambers he sort of became like the emperor without his clothes. He really thought he was a sole talent and seemed to only want yes people around him. That was his mistake. Big mistake in what he did to Guy. It shows a level of immaturity. He's been blind to those people that contributed to his success (and treated them really badly too). Such an interesting watch. I remember going to his concert in my early 20's and he was an awesome performer!

It would have been interesting to know why he and Guy fell out, and whether they later made up.

I read into it that Guy was that person who would honestly feedback when Robbie came up with shit music and that Robbie for that reason wanted to do his own thjng as didn't like hearing 'no'.

I think that's probably right. Also desperately wanting to be seen as a good a songwriter as Gary, which he clearly wasn't (and that's ok as neither were the other members of TT).

If Guy meant Robbie wouldn't get the credit/praise as the sole songwriter, he had to go.

I had forgotten that the Leeds gig was streamed live on TV at the time, well done to him for pushing through it.
I also forgot that Jonathan Wilkes always refers to him as ‘youth’ which is just odd to me, is it a nickname or a Stoke thing? Does anyone know?
When TT reformed, they made a point of saying in interviews that they were splitting their rights equally, rather than everything being registered as written by Gary, so they all earned an equal share. Maybe they learned from the past…

I don’t know if youth is a Stoke term but it’s an Afro Caribbean thing meaning youngster or little brother. Robbie is a lot older than Jonathan though so that makes no sense.