Robbie Williams has opened up about a health battle he’s been quietly living with for years - Tourette’s syndrome.
The music legend revealed on the first episode of Paul Whitehouse and Dr Mine Conkbayir’s podcast ‘I’m ADHD! No You’re Not’ that his Tourette’s has been constant and intrusive in his life.
“I’ve just realised that I have Tourette’s, but they don’t come out,” he said. “They are intrusive thoughts that happen.”
I was just walking down the road the other day, and I realised that these intrusive thoughts are inside Tourette’s. It just doesn’t come out.
Williams added: “Not only that, you would think that a stadium full of people professing their love to you would work as (a distraction), but whatever it is inside me cannot hear it. I cannot take it in.”
According to Tourette’s Association NZ, TS is a “neurological disorder characterised by repetitive and involuntary movements and vocalisations known as tics.”
“Tics are sudden, rapid, and stereotyped movements or vocalisations that occur repeatedly, and can range from simple movements or sounds (motor or vocal tics) to actions involving multiple muscle groups or words and phrases (complex motor or vocal tics).”
They add: “It's important to note that the severity and combination of symptoms can vary widely among individuals with TS.”
Williams also shared he recently took an autism test, which came back negative - but he does have “autistic traits,” like anxiety about leaving his safe space… which, apparently, is his bed.
He didn’t shy away from talking about the touring side of his life either, and his complicated relationship with being on the road.
“I have a very complicated relationship with touring and performing live,” he said. “People say, ‘oh, you going on tour? You must be really, really excited.’ Not really. I’m terrified, right? I’m terrified.”
“I mask like I’m an Olympian at masking because what I managed to do, to my detriment as well, is I will look full of bravado and look pompous and look smug and do these grand gestures.”
“But actually, what’s happening is, I feel like the opposite of that all the time.”
Williams is just one of a handful of celebrities, including Lewis Capaldi and Billie Eilish, who have all opened up about life with Tourette’s in recent years.
