Robbie Williams WILL rejoin Take That for their 30th anniversary — even if Jason Orange refuses to reform the band’s original line-up
ROBBIE WILLIAMS has insisted he will re-join TAKE THAT – even if JASON ORANGE refuses.
The singer makes the revelation, which will delight the manband’s millions of fans, on the new episode of my Bizarre Life podcast.
Speaking on the episode which can be downloaded now on Apple Podcasts, he explains: “I never have an in-depth conversation with him about the whys and wherefores of.
“I never totally understand why he doesn’t want to do it. I kind of get it. But I never have a conversation with him about him coming back either.
“I’d like the five of us to ride again, obviously. It’s down to J.”
When I ask if he will re-join GARY BARLOW, MARK OWEN and HOWARD DONALD without Jason, he says: “Yeah I would. Don’t know when that would be. I’m constantly having ideas about my own stuff that I want to fulfil.
“It’s a big commitment to re-join the band, go and promo the album for months then go on tour — it’s a whole 18 months out of my life. Last time was the perfect storm in the best way.
“We had this critically acclaimed album, did the biggest tour the UK has ever seen and it was an amazing period in all of our lives.
“I’d like to repeat some of that. I enjoy working with them. I enjoy hiding in public. I enjoy the camaraderie and I enjoy writing songs with them too so why not?”
He explains: “We’re a family in the best and worse sense of families.
“If you hurt a member of the family they stay hurt for the entire life and if you love them they stay loved for the entire part of their lives too.
“So when there’s something so sensitive as making a judgment call on whether Take That ride again as a five piece or not I sort of think, ‘I’ve got to write this email to the boys and let them all down because it’s not the first time I’ve let them all down.’”
MOST READ IN BIZARRE
Robbie felt he needed to make his decision formal after public speculation it was him who was blocking a new Take That album when in fact it was Jason.
He recalls: “I thought, I’m going to get it in the neck again, I’m going to look like the person who’s stopping the fun.
“And I got a bit of a resentment, right? So I’m like, ‘I’m going to look like I’m the nasty bastard again, this is bad.’”
But this time around, it’s Robbie who is giving hope Take That could once again be restored to its original line-up . . .
Read more from Dan Wootton's Bizarre Column
Taylor 'Swife' shame
ROBBIE at times struggles with his role as an elder statesman of pop.
He says: “When I got in the business with Take That we’d go and do the Brits and bump into artists that were maybe 20, 25 years older.
“They’d have this look in their eyes and they’d sort of like call you Derek or something, get your name wrong, not completely know where they were or what they were doing.
“But you’re like, ‘That person sold 60million albums’, you know.
“And then it’s like, OK, I’m at the Brit Awards 20 years later and people are coming up to me and I’m like, ‘All right? . . . err Taylor Swife’ or whatever and it’s like, ‘Oh no, I’m that guy!’.”
But a cheeky dig aimed at Taylor, above, while talking to host JAMES CORDEN at the 2013 bash may have cost him the chance to work with her ex-boyfriend CALVIN HARRIS – after he poked fun at the number of partners she has had.
He admits: “Calvin Harris, yeah, there were emails back and forth but then those emails stopped and I surmise that it might be because I said something slightly bawdy about Taylor Swift.
“But I haven’t sent an email since. I just want him to give me a hit. Calvin Harris: Give me a hit record.”
Biz Bit
ED SHEERAN raised eyebrows when he revealed he’d switched off his mobile phone for a quieter life – but it sounds like Robbie paved the way. Going one step further, Rob reveals: “I don’t have a phone. I do emails.”
ROBBIE ON:
RETIREMENT: This isn’t for Robbie after he tried to quit music for good once before.
He explains: “Yeah, 2006 happened, I went on tour and that just fried my brains and I decided that I retired.
“I didn’t tell anybody because I knew I’d possibly been lying to myself. I took to my home, stayed there and grew a beard, chased UFOs, watched the Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills, Orange County, New Jersey, Atlanta, even Dallas . . .
“And in those three years off my brain turned to Swiss cheese. A man needs a purpose, which is why I came back.”
ILLNESS: Worrying about illnesses causes Robbie to panic.
He says: “I stress about an awful lot of stuff. A whole lot.
“And I also get into these places where I sort of panic and worry about stuff so much that I kind of take myself off to the tropical disease centre.
“It’s like, ‘Have I contracted something while I was in Mexico working for Unicef, is this what it is?’”
QUITTING THE BOOZE: Remaining steadfastly clean of alcohol is one of Robbie’s greatest achievements.
He says: “I haven’t had a drink for 18 years and I’m an alcoholic. I like booze. That’s the one that sort of stayed with me going to meetings, going to rehab, getting this information.
“It’s miraculous because I’m drawn to getting f***ed up . . . whatever the level is.
“It’s like, ‘OK take this, do that, drink this and off we go’.
“And for 18 years I’ve managed. Put 18 years worth of days together since my last drink.
“The truth is for most of my adult life I’ve mainly been sober.”
Biz Bit
THERAPY is an important part of Robbie’s life. He says: “Back in the day, the word ‘therapist’ was looked down on. But now it’s different. I live in California a lot of the time, and everybody’s got a therapist. It’s quite normal.”
MY ultimate celebrity humiliation came minutes after our interview when the expensive couch I was sitting on at Robbie’s house crashed to the ground . . . on the side I was sitting on.
Robbie shared the damage I caused on Twitter – and found a novel use for his new book. . .
Biz Bit
ROBBIE is scared of the Russian government after he released his single Party Like A Russian.
He says: "I'm paranoid but it doesn't mean they're not out to get me. I don't mean the Russians - just people in general."
Bizmeter: How Bizarre
DREAM: I WAS at an art exhibition and there was a huge mahogany ear.
It was amazing. PAUL McCARTNEY had made it and he was telling me about all the revenue streams that he gets from this ear.
So that’s one. But you know, there’s a celebrity nearly every night in my dreams.
PARTY: I WENT to BONO’s house and got hold of a load of mushrooms before. I was looking at the most beautiful painting I’d ever seen, literally taken aback by the beauty of it.
Then Bono appeared, and I’m like, ‘Bono this is the best painting I’ve ever seen’, and he went, ‘Robbie, that’s the window’, and it was.
INTERVIEW: IN Holland, where the lady that was interviewing me was really drunk and she kept calling me a beautiful a***hole.
‘Yeah, but you’re such a beautiful a***hole. Great ****. Awful, brilliant man.’
Like, the backhanded slaps across the face. It was very weird.