Williams rails at drug claims of his former Take That boss

‘I take exception to your version of my truth, says the singer

- JACOB STOLWORTHY

Robbie Williams has hit back at an “assertion” made about his drug addiction in a new documentary about boybands.

On Saturday, episode one of the three-part Boybands Forever placed the spotlight on the struggles members of Take That and East 17 faced while riding high in the charts. Williams, whose most controversial moment will be depicted in a forthcoming biopic about his life, appeared as a talking head on the documentary, which also featured Nigel Martin-Smith, who managed Take That in the 1990s when Williams was a member of the group.

In the BBC programme, Williams addresses his drug addiction, which began when he was in the band. Mr Martin-Smith claims that the singer was “smart and quite clever” to blame his drug-taking on being “in this band where he couldn’t have girlfriends or couldn’t go out.” At one stage, he says Williams acted like a “wanker” and that the singer painted him as “evil” – but Williams has now hit back at this assertion in a post shared on Instagram yesterday, accusing Mr Martin-Smith of “gaslighting” him.