Robbie Williams has spoken about how his fame-induced paranoia, along with a false tip from a paparazzo, caused him to end his relationship with Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.
The pop star, 49, is the subject of a new four-part Netflix documentary in which he reflects on his struggles with addiction, mental health and eating disorders during his time as a member of the pop group Take That and as a solo star.
Williams, who also briefly dated Halliwell’s bandmate Melanie Chisolm (Mel C, aka Sporty Spice), started seeing the singer while receiving help from Alcoholics Anonymous.
In the documentary, he describes their relationship as more than a fling, saying it felt ‘magical’.
They spent a lengthy vacation together in the south of France with Williams’ songwriting partner, Guy Chambers, and his wife Emma.
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‘We got on really well, it was fun, and we were just a little gang that were sharing a very magical moment, in a magical place,’ Williams says.
Robbie Williams reflecting on their ‘magical’ romance in his Netflix documentary
Footage from the documentary shows Williams and Halliwell larking around in the sun, and singing on a boat together during one of their trips in 2000.
‘That was a very important holiday for me because I was happy; because I wasn’t before and I wasn’t really for a long time after,’ he told The Sun.
However, the relationship apparently soured after he became convinced that she was telling the paparazzi where they would be.
He claims that one photographer incorrectly told him that she was the reason they were being hounded.
‘It was a very confusing relationship, because she’s a girl and I’m a boy, we are very good friends trying to sort out the wreckage of the past,’ he said.
‘I just found her company very, very easy… There [was] a silliness.’
Williams said that while he doesn’t believe the claim about Halliwell calling the paparazzi now, he did at the time they were dating.
‘It just goes to show what being in the spotlight can do to your psyche, when you can’t trust anybody,’ he said.
Williams has been married to actor Ayda Field since 2010. They have four children together: daughters Theodora and Colette, and sons Charlton and Beau.
