Pop favourite Robbie Williams has revealed he was “unable to leave the sofa” for three years as he battled agoraphobia.
The 45-year-old ex Take That singer has admitted the anxiety disorder left him housebound – and claims it meant he had to turn down a £15 million offer to host American Idol.
Robbie is reported to have told The Sun he needed time to ‘get his equilibrium back’ after his career success went “stratospheric”.
“It was my body and mind telling me I shouldn’t go anywhere, that I couldn’t do anything. It was telling me to just wait – so I literally just sat and waited,” he said.
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The former X Factor judge continued: “I was agoraphobic from around 2006 to 2009. Those years were just spent wearing a cashmere kaftan, eating Kettle Chips, growing a beard and staying in.”
However, dad-of-three Robbie – married to Ayda Field since 2010 – credits hearing The Killers’ song Human on the radio as a pivotal moment in his life.
He recalled: “I remember listening to that Killers song and something in that moment made me think, ‘I had better get my [bleep] in gear, put an album together and tour.'”
Explaining he had to work out how to become an entertainer because performing no longer seemed “natural” – comparing the process to that of car crash victim learning to walk again – Robbie also credited getting the call from his Take That bandmates as being crucial to his return.
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He told the tabloid that he was not sure he would have come back to entertainment at all if he hadn’t rejoined the boy band for the 2011 Progress reunion tour and album.
Robbie had quit the chart-toppers in 1995 to go solo amid rumours his partying had driven a wedge between him and other Take That members Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald.
He now believes the Government should introduce therapy into schools – and make it a mandatory requirement for pupils.
“Everybody should be made to have it in the same way we are all made to do PE at school,” he said.
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