ROBBIE WILLIAMS is sitting alone in a sprawling hotel suite at Crown Towers, almost 40 stories above the Melbourne skyline. “It’s as if Scrooge McDuck in the ’80s had a hotel suite of his own,” says Williams, admiring the stunning view and the sheer size of the blank TV that reflects his silhouette. It’s 8.30 on a Thursday night. A half-eaten plate of sushi sits in front of him, alongside a giant platter of oranges.
Williams is two days out from cancelling a concert and going into self-isolation due to COVID-19. Just like the rest of us, he’ll try his best to shield himself and loved ones from an invisible, indiscriminate menace. It’s unchartered territory for everybody but it’s perhaps a particularly novel experience for Williams, a man more used to grappling with a formidable collection of internal demons – depression, anxiety, alcoholism, drugs, body dysmorphia, sex addiction and agoraphobia – that have haunted him throughout his iconic 30-year career. “I’m addicted to anything that changes the way I feel,” he says plainly. “You know, I haven’t had a drink for 20 years. I haven’t done cocaine for a long, long, long time. But I will always drift towards self-sabotage. There’s a magnetic North. And in that magnetic North is just self-destruction.”
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