I met Robbie Williams through my younger brother, around the time he was experiencing huge success as a solo artist. It had been two years since he had left Take That, and his debut album, Life Thru a Lens, had just been released. He could not have been more famous. Yet for someone who had been in the limelight for most of his life, he was never at ease being the centre of attention. He wanted to be sober and what he really enjoyed doing then, recreationally, was cosy family life, sausages-and-mash-in-the-kitchen kind of stuff.
But, of course, you can’t be as famous as Robbie was without wanting it either. I’d occasionally go on tour with him; he’d usually be quiet and withdrawn before going on stage, bringing the house down with his extraordinary charm and charisma, giving the very many people who saw him this sense of personal connection. When he would finish a set I would often say, “You must have enjoyed that?” He would just shrug.
When Robbie agreed to be on the cover of Vogue with Gisele there was a huge amount of excitement in the office. You could have sold tickets to the shoot. I went along to make sure he was comfortable. It was decided he would pose naked next to her in a sequin bikini; looking back it was a brave thing for someone as sensitive as him to do. He was always being teased in the press about his yo-yo weight. But he was in great shape for this shoot, having spent weeks in the gym…
Like always, he was quiet in the dressing room before the picture was taken. He wasn’t in a good mood – he’d recently had a drink, he told the journalist on set, and it had made him unhappy. He was trying so hard privately to sort himself out and still be the person who had to switch it on for the audience, and in this case the camera. It’s why he liked to separate the two personae, calling himself Robbie in public and Rob to his friends.
Then the pictures happened, Mario Testino being full-on fabulous, Lucinda Chambers putting Gisele in a teeny-weeny sequin bikini and Robbie, standing there with his bottom on show, playing the cheeky chappie for the assorted assistants, editors and entourage, with his Norman Wisdom-style comedic edge. Did Gisele fancy him, he was heard to ask at one point. “Well, actually, she’s seeing Leonardo DiCaprio, so possibly not,” was the answer. But, really, his remark was throwaway and not a true statement of interest.
Then it was over. “You must have enjoyed that,” I said as he left the studio with his posse. Again, he looked at me, and shrugged.
