Robbie Williams hits back at ex-Take That manager’s drug claims in boyband documentary saying ‘I don’t like you’
ROBBIE Williams has called out former manager Nigel Martin Smith over claims he makes about the star's drug use in new documentary, Boybands Forever.
The BBC documentary lifts the lid on life at the height of the 90s boyband era, with former pop stars talking about the ups and down of their fame at such a young age.
Among the interviewees is Robbie – who shot to fame in Take That alongside Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald – and Nigel Martin-Smith, the band's manager at the time.
In a lengthy open letter posted on Instagram today, Robbie addresses Nigel and several of the claims he made in his interviews.
Among them, he accuses Robbie of overplaying his alcohol and drug abuse, with the manager downplaying any role he may have had on the group's personal struggles.
Robbie bluntly tells Nigel in the letter that he "loves him" for what he helped him achieve, but "didn't like him" – urging the manager to own up to some responsibility in what happened to the members.
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"I was equal parts terrified and excited to be sharing a screen with you again, excited to see where we both are on this journey, and terrified, in case old emotions would be triggered, and I'd still be in a place of anger, hurt or fear," Robbie wrote.
"As it happened, it would appear that time has done its thing, and I guess the wisdom it brings has taken its mop to a few nooks and crannies here and there, I guess not every nook has been bleached."
Robbie then uses direct quotes Nigel made during the documentary, and dissects them them one by one.
"If you are following the story closely, you can't help but notice a pattern emerge. Boys join boy band. The band becomes huge. Boys get sick," Robbie continued.
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"Some are fortunate through a series of self examinations and helped to overcome their experience. Some never quite managed to untangle the mess of the wreckage of the past."
"I'm not breaking anyone's anonymity by sharing the side effects of boy band dysphoria that relate to just us lads," he said. "Everyone has publicly put this on record.
"Howard - contemplated suicide when the band ended. Mark - addiction, alcoholism and rehab. Gaz - bulimia. Me - I think that one is well documented. And Jason - whatever effect take that had on him is so painful he can't even be part of it."
To Nigel's claim in the doc that Robbie "blamed him for his drug taking and behaving like a w****r", the singer replied: "I will also remind you that the person acting like a w****r was 16 when he joined the band and 21 when he left. That was the last time I saw you.
"I hope I have more grace and understanding when and if any of my own four children at such a vulnerable age behave in the same manner."
Robbie concedes that his addiction would have likely happened whether he was in a boyband or not, taking responsibility for his own choices as acknowledging that, at points, he was "mean, callous and unkind" to anyone involved in Take That.
However, he added that he wished his former manager would express some humility, with Nigel saying in the doc he refused to be known as "some big, nasty, evil b****d".
"It's okay to admit your shortcomings," Robbie wrote. "No one is going to sue you for not knowing or understanding the psychological effects everything was having on everyone. We were outliers.
"Just concede a few points here and there, because no one's going to buy the version of perfection and upright behavior that is your current M.O."
He ends the letter by crediting Nigel for the sacrifices he made for the sake of the band, his work ethic in getting Take That off the ground, and his "chutzpah" in taking big swings to make it in the industry.
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He also encouraged other readers to show Nigel some love.
"Nigel, I do love you, but sadly, it's also true that I don't like you," he wrote. "The two I am coming to find aren't mutually exclusive."
