{"id":443645,"date":"2026-01-28T20:21:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/443645\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T20:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:21:14","slug":"take-that-documentary-robbie-williams-details-early-alcohol-abuse-and-effect-on-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/443645\/","title":{"rendered":"Take That documentary: Robbie Williams details early alcohol abuse and effect on group"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robbie Williams<\/a> has opened up about a dark period in his life during his time in boy band Take That<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the Netflix documentary of the same name, the now\ufeff-51-year-old<\/a> shared, “I was so depressed.<\/p>\n

“I was going back to my hotel, downing a bottle of neat vodka. And I would just drink myself into oblivion.”<\/p>\n

Watch the video above\ufeff<\/p>\n

Robbie Williams has opened up about a dark period in his life during his time in boy band Take That. (Getty)<\/p>\n

Williams admitted he was “physically and mentally” gone.<\/p>\n

“I was 19, 20, and I was, you know, in the middle of being a raging alcoholic,” he added.<\/p>\n

“It was the worst for my alcoholism at that time.”<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Celebrity chef reveals ‘carnage’ of $7.8 million scandal<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Rose Byrne and Jacob Elordi score BAFTA nominations<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Jules Neale discusses move to Perth<\/a><\/p>\n

William’s issues started affecting the group, which exploded to fame in the ’90s. (PA Images via Getty Images)The singer admitted he was “physically and mentally” gone. (Getty)<\/p>\n

The \ufeffBetter Man star shared that his mental health was so bad he couldn’t get out of bed “without probably downing a bottle of vodka.”<\/p>\n

He’d go to rehearsals in this state, being unfit to participate, he recalled. \ufeff<\/p>\n

“My body would be full of crap, and my head’d hurt, and I couldn’t take in information at the best of times,” Williams said.<\/p>\n

His fellow bandmates also recalled the period of time, with lead singer Gary Barlow feeling sorry and “embarrassed” he missed the “off-the-rails stuff” Williams was doing.<\/p>\n

“No one was looking side-to-side to see how everyone was,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We were just going forward.”<\/p>\n

Howard Donald recalled Williams “jumping up and down on the stage with his bulbous eyes with all this f—ing energy.”<\/p>\n

“He did look like he was on something,” the now-57-year-old said.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of 9honey, subscribe to our newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"JasonHis bandmates feel sorry for not catching the signs earlier. (Getty)<\/p>\n

Jason Orange shared that as Williams became \ufeff”more rebellious and more belligerent”, he became less interested in Take That and its success.<\/p>\n

Williams’ issues with addiction and mental illness led to tensions within the group, and eventually his departure in 1996.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Major bands that have made a comeback years later<\/p>\n

By 2010, he made amends with his bandmates and rejoined the group. He then left again the next year to forge a solo career.\ufeff<\/p>\n

If you or someone you know is in need of support for mental ill health contact Lifeline on 13 11 14<\/a>. For substance abuse support contact \ufeffthe National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline on 1800 250 015<\/a><\/p>\n

Nine Entertainment Co (the publisher of this website) owns and operates the streaming service Stan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE<\/a>: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robbie Williams has opened up about a dark period in his life during his time in boy band…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":["post-443645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}