Robbie Williams is in the best shape of his life at the age of 52. Yet the pop star is still always on alert to cast himself in the best light possible. <\/p>\n
Wearing a bespoke \u201cNeighbours Ramsay St\u201d T-shirt for his interview with Stellar to launch his Australian stadium tour this November, he springs up from his relaxed recline on a sofa in a London hotel suite to ask if the chat is being recorded as just audio, or for TV, too. <\/p>\n
\u201cShit, then I\u2019d better stick my chin out and not have a double chin,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Williams is certainly not alone in wanting to show off his best side, and he\u2019s shocked to learn that some of the world\u2019s biggest performers no longer allow photographers in the pit at the front of the stage specifically to avoid \u201cdouble chin\u201d shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know you could do that. But yeah, I f***ing get it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just highly unflattering, that angle,\u201d he says of this new information, before adding: \u201cThere\u2019s a face lift coming very soon. I won\u2019t get filler or have my lips done \u2013 I\u2019ll just look like me, but a better version of me. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou should see how much those face lifts cost these days as well,\u201d he continues. <\/p>\n
Listen to a new episode of the Stellar podcast Something To Talk About featuring Melanie C: <\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know? Well, I\u2019ll tell you because you\u2019ll be appalled at the thought of a face lift, but you\u2019ll be even more appalled at the cost: US $400,000. It\u2019s shocking, isn\u2019t it?\u201d <\/p>\n
Three decades since launching his solo career and 36 years after being cast in British boy band Take That, Williams remains that rare being: an unfiltered pop star, who can still shock even himself.<\/p>\n
The singer\u2019s 13th solo record, Britpop, was set to be released last October, but he candidly announced that he was delaying its launch after discovering it was due to drop the same day as Taylor Swift\u2019s latest opus, The Life Of A Showgirl.<\/p>\n
The decision was fuelled by his ambition to break one of the UK\u2019s longest-standing chart records. Sure enough, when it landed on January 16, the album did the business \u2013 and he surpassed The Beatles to become the artist with the most number-one albums in UK chart history.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the thing about this career \u2013 you never really get to have a punch-the-air moment. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll you get to do is exhale [with relief] that the bad thing didn\u2019t happen,\u201d he says of why the milestone was so significant. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut with that one thing that week, I was like: OK, I\u2019m going to take moments out of the day and experience what it feels like to have 16 number-one albums, just literal moments of sitting there going [nods with satisfaction].<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the punch-the-air moment is the whole career, really \u2026 It\u2019s how it feels to be able to come and perform in front of that many people still, at the ripe old age of 52.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor people to still choose you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Britpop cover art features a portrait of Williams sporting one of his most recognised outfits: the red tracksuit he wore to the Glastonbury music festival in 1995, when his hair was dyed platinum blond and he was photographed with Liam Gallagher looking a little worse for wear.<\/p>\n
Back then, he was busy killing off the boy-band brand for bad-boy pop star, and was regular fodder for some sections of the British media that were hellbent on tearing him down.<\/p>\n
But in more recent years, thanks to the raw exposition of his mental health battles in the 2023 Netflix documentary series Robbie Williams, the CGI monkey-led musical biopic Better Man in 2024 and frank posts about his life on Instagram, Williams says, \u201cThere are a lot of people who have got bored of hating me.\u201d <\/p>\n
Despite the toll on his mental health, Williams cares less about the haters now.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s this saying that you can\u2019t be a prophet in your own town,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not narcissistic enough to see myself as a prophet, but what that means is that you\u2019re probably going to be hated where you come from.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would think that there are more people that hate me where I come from than like or love me. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat being said, in countries like Australia, it feels like I get a giant hug.\u201d<\/p>\n
The calm in the chaos of his pop star life, Williams says, is his family: his wife of 16 years, US actor Ayda Field, and the couple\u2019s four children, daughters Theodora (Teddy), 13, and Colette (Coco), 7, and sons Charlton (Charlie), 11, and Beau, 6.<\/p>\n
As Williams recently discovered, his DNA runs strong in his children\u2019s veins.<\/p>\n
After the singer received an invitation from Sharon Osbourne to perform a musical tribute to her late husband, Black Sabbath rocker Ozzy Osbourne, at the recent Brit Awards, his daughter Coco\u2019s reaction was \u201cscary\u201d.<\/p>\n
Listen to a new episode of the Stellar podcast Something To Talk About featuring Melanie C: <\/p>\n
\u201cI came off a Zoom, and Coco came to me and said \u2018What was that about, Daddy?\u2019\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Well, a man that was really successful at singing, who\u2019s an absolute legend, he went to heaven, darling.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd his wife has asked me to sing a song at an award ceremony honouring him.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiterally, she said, coldly, but with perfect comic timing: \u2018Was no-one else available?\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was so cold it was actually kind of scary. Like, you\u2019re seven, what do you understand of what you\u2019ve just said to me? Because you\u2019re not supposed to say that stuff and know what it means until you\u2019re way into your late teens.\u201d<\/p>\n
With his next tour kicking off in Germany in June, Williams says he\u2019s looking forward to rekindling his love affair with Australian audiences when he arrives on these shores in November, with one of his biggest stadium tours yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like coming home,\u201d he adds of performing for his Aussie fans, adding that they always deliver the energy he needs to channel in order to put on a great show.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralia has never let me down.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Britpop tour starts in Adelaide on November 7, then tours nationally. Tickets go on sale on Thursday; visit frontiertouring.com\/robbiewilliams<\/p>\n