From bad boy to Better Man

Pop star Robbie Williams reflects on hedonism and healing for biopic

- John Lui

Shortly after his departure from British boy band Take That in the mid-1990s, the press began labelling Robbie Williams a "bad boy", based on reports of wild parties, substance abuse and stormy relationships with former band members and management.

The pop singer says being viewed as debauched pleased him, because the rock stars he admired lived dissolute lives.

"I wanted to be a bad boy. I jumped onto the hedonism train. All of my heroes were very, very naughty," says Williams. He was speaking to journalists at a virtual interview in December 2024, ahead of the release of Better Man, a musical biopic based on his life. It opens in Singapore cinemas on Jan 9.

After he hit rock bottom and sought therapy, he saw that, like many who turn to drugs and other addictions, he sought pleasure to dull the inner pain.

"If you boil it down, being very naughty is just mental illness escaping. It's people reacting to the trauma of childhood and the trauma of the world," says the 50-year-old.

Pleasure-seeking rock stars are stereotypically gaunt and glamorous. In one of several self-mocking moments during the interview, he says that before he went into recovery, out-of-control behaviour gave him a body no rock star would want.