Robbie Williams Admits To Living With Tourette's Syndrome
According to the report by DailyMail, the pop superstar, 51, claims his Tourette's are 'intrusive', with outbursts kept inside, yet his thoughts are so intense that not even performing for tens of thousands of screaming fans can drown them out.
Diagnosed with ADHD and having battled several
addictions since rising to fame in the early Nineties, the Angels hitmaker Robbie
Williams has endured multiple spells in rehab, notably for alcohol and drugs.
Speaking on the first episode of the new
season of Paul Whitehouse and Dr Mine Conkbayir's podcast I'm ADHD! No You're
Not, released Thursday, Robbie Williams admits he recently took an autism test,
which came back negative but revealed 'autistic traits' including anxiety
triggered by leaving his safe space, his bed.
Plus, in the deeply personal chat, the singer
also admits he's still terrified of touring despite playing in front of
sold-out stadiums and arenas for decades as a solo singer, and before that, as
part of boyband, Take That.
It follows the popularity of his
Oscar-nominated film Better Man, which depicted Robbie's struggles with fame,
addiction, and impostor syndrome, illustrated by his character being portrayed
as a CGI chimpanzee
On his latest health condition, Robbie Williams
said: 'I've just realised that I have Tourettes, but they don't come out.
'They are intrusive thoughts that happen, I
was just walking down the road the other day, and I realised that these
intrusive thoughts are inside Tourettes. It just doesn't come out.
'Not only that, you would think that a
stadium full of people professing their love to you would work as (a
distraction), but whatever it is inside me cannot hear it. I cannot take it
in.'
Tourette syndrome is an inherited,
neurological condition which can be characterised by involuntary sounds and
movements called tics.
The condition has also impacted fellow chart
star Lewis Capaldi, which was one of the reasons why he took a hiatus from
music back in 2023 after his tics prevented him from completing a performance
at Glastonbury.
Like the Scottish singer, Robbie says his
mental health has also deeply affected his touring and playing live - and
admits he still struggles to cope with the demands of life on the road.
He explained: '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,
right? I'm terrified.
'I mask like I'm an Olympian at masking
because what I managed to do, to my detriment as well, is 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.'
Robbie Williams says he has 'PTST' from
performing with Take That and during his Noughties heyday 'when I got to the
top of the mountain and it didn't fix me', admitting 'it still affects
me.'
He says his wife Ayda, 46, tries to reassure
him, saying "you might never get to be able to play in a stadium again.
How lucky are you?," but that still can't prevent Robbie's anxiety
creeping out.
Robbie has been married to Ayda since 2010,
and the couple share four children, Theodora, Charlton, Colette, and Beau, and
he has described fatherhood as a 'beautiful journey.'
The record 18-times BRITs winner says he's
been diagnosed with ADHD three times, the reason behind his numerous diagnosis
being he 'forgot' each time he was told he had the condition.
He explained: 'So the first one was around
2006, where I saw these things, ADHD, on the Internet. I'm like, "all of
those things are me." Wow.
'And then I started to hear that you could
get some medicine that behaved a bit like speed, right? Adderall.
'So, I go see the guy and I'm like, "I
already know I'm all of these things. I already know that." So, I'll go
and say this, then you give me the thing. And he gave me the thing.
'There was a relief that I'd got it
officially diagnosed, but then also there was more a relief that I was getting
200 of these tablets and then I thought the tablets might fix me because you're
always looking for the cure.
'You're always looking for the cure for the
ailment of the disease inside your head. So I quickly went from taking the
pills to crushing them and snorting them.'
Now more aware of his mental health, Robbie
says he recently took an online test to see if he was autistic and to find out
if he had any other symptoms of the condition.
He said: 'It turns out I'm not (autistic),
but I've got autistic traits. And it's around, social stuff, it's about
interaction.'
Robbie said he wanted to gauge an
'understanding of why I feel so uncomfortable in my skin,' especially when he
leaves his bed.
He added: 'When I'm in bed, that's my comfort
zone. Anywhere outside of that bed is my discomfort zone.
'It's getting better. It was awful through my
horrendous twenties, bad through my thirties, my forties started to get better
and I'm on an upward curve, but I'm still uncomfortable in my skin and much
like I have sought out medication to fix it. I'm constantly still looking for
the reason and the whys.'
Robbie's appearance on the hugely popular I'm
ADHD! No You're Not podcast not only marks the start of a new series, but the
launch also coincides with ADHD Awareness Month in October.
The podcast has previously seen a whole host
of stars including Stephen Fry, Katie Price, Lee Mack, Denise Welch and Jimmy
Carr talk about their own ADHD experiences.
Comedian and self-confessed ADHD sceptic Paul
Whitehouse came up with the idea with his wife Dr Mine Conkbayir, an early
year's specialist in neuroscience with late-diagnosed ADHD.
Other guests to feature in the new season of
the podcast include Sam Thompson, Sara Pascoe, Lucy Beaumont, Theo Pathitis,
and Deborah Frances White
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