Robbie Williams was advised to undergo an operation that would leave him housebound for eight months.
The popstar appeared on today’s Loose Women to discuss the mystery illness that forced him to cancel tour dates earlier this year.
Robbie, 43, explained he’d been suffering problems with his back during The Heavy Entertainment Show and although he managed to complete the majority of his tour, the pain just became too much.
He’d previously told fans he ended up in an intensive care unit while tests were being run.
“At the best of times I have to be 100 per cent to go on tour as it’s demanding,” he said, detailing a litany of back problems including a slipped disc and arthritis.
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“I was a mess, taking injections to go on each night, and as the tour went on, it just caught up with me.
“I managed to do 97 per cent of the tour but missed out Russia, which is sad, because I wanted to go there and sing Party Like A Russian for them.
“I haven’t cancelled a show since 1998, so I have a pretty good record.”
Robbie said he sought medical advice but wasn’t keen on doctors’ suggestions for an op which would require eight months of recovery.
“They wanted to break two ribs, go in through the back, put a plate on my ribs and then I’d have to lie down for eight months,” he said.
“That would be eight months of me, YouTube and you lovely people [on Loose Women].”
Robbie instead chose to overhaul his lifestyle, embracing a plant-based diet and taking up yoga and pilates.
“I eat meat occasionally but not very often,” he said.
“I wanted to do anything to make my back better and I heard if you eat a lot of meat you can get a lot of inflammation, so I decided to go plant-based. For anyone with back problems, try the same thing out as an operation may not be needed.”
Janet Street Porter, however, chipped in to say her specialist disagrees with that theory, pointing out there are “two schools of thought” about linking meat to inflammation.
She added: “But if it’s worked for you, it’s worked for you.”
Robbie’s appearance on Loose Women came a week after his wife Ayda Field told the panel that he was getting back on track following his health scare.
She said: “I don’t know if any of you guys know, but Rob was very ill.
“Now he’s on the tail end of that and doing very well, so I am in a deep place of gratitude about that.
“He’s now embraced a plant-based lifestyle and is doing yoga and pilates,” she said, quipping: “He’s like the girl I would like to be!”
However, she said Robbie is getting the plant-based diet confused with veganism…
“We watched this documentary about food; it’s a plant-based documentary that encourages you to eat plant-based,” she said. “I’m doing it as well… well, on the weekdays.
“It’s so funny, Rob, when he explained it, called himself vegan and I was like, ‘Babe, you’re wearing a leather jacket. You are not vegan.'”
Robbie revealed in October he was forced to cancel his tour due to a serious and “worrying” illness.
The singer uploaded a video to his YouTube account in order to explain to fans the reason behind his sudden cancellation of his Heavy Entertainment tour.
Sitting in the back garden of his Los Angeles home, Robbie explained: “How am I? Really good. I’ve been recovering from an illness now for the last five weeks.
“Unfortunately, that illness kicked in just at the end of my tour, a tour which was going so well.”
Robbie had to miss multiple dates in Russia due to the illness.
“I needed to finish that tour and I needed to go to Moscow and I needed to go to St. Petersburg and then I got some test results.”
“They were very worrying and I ended up in ICU (Intensive Care Unit), so I couldn’t go.”
Seemingly in good spirits, Robbie even joked, “Russia, I love you. I can’t wait to come down and do the gigs at some point and sing Party Like A Russian with you.”
The health scare has obviously affected the dad of two as he revealed he has changed his diet and lifestyle.
“Now I am vegan, I do pilates every day, I do yoga every day and have a really big burger on a Sunday.”
The former Take That member has been plagued with bad health during his worldwide tour, telling Daily Star earlier this year: “The most difficult thing about creating the tour was my health and my back, I’ve got a slipped disc and it was king of stressful.”
The singer was even forced to perform part of a gig while sitting down because he was in so much pain.
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Glad you’re feeling better, Rob!
Robbie also touched on mental health issues, adding, “I have to be as mentally fit as I can be to take on such a massive undertaking: there’s one million-plus people that are coming to see me and you can’t do that with a bad back, but I have.”
Loose Women airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV.