Robbie Williams reveals how he and wife Ayda Field use humour to talk to their children about his addiction battle as he admits he 'would have died' if he hadn't gotten sober
Robbie Williams has revealed how he uses gallows humour to speak about his drug and alcohol issues with his four children, with his eldest even playfully calling him 'Narcissistic Dad’.The former Take That star, 51, has been candid about his battles with addiction at the height of his fame, which saw him go to rehab in 2007 after taking speed, acid, heroin, cocaine and 'heart-stopping' amounts of prescription drugs.He has now been sober for over two decades, happily married to wife Ayda Field and the father of four children - daughters Teddy, 12, and Coco, seven, and sons Charlie, 10, and five-year-old Beau.In a new interview, Robbie explained how he and Ayda use humour as a tactic when talking about his previous substance abuse with their kids, enabling them to be aware of his wild past without grasping the severity of it.Detailing his years of heavy drinking and drug use in the 1990s to The Sunday Times, the singer said: 'There were 18 months of acute alcoholism and addiction. 'And when I reached rock bottom, I got a spade and dug a basement. If I had carried on, I would have died.' Robbie Williams has revealed how he uses gallows humour to speak about his drug and alcohol issues with his four children, with his eldest even playfully calling him 'Narcissistic Dad’ The former Take That star, 51, has been candid about his battles with addiction at the height of his fame, which saw him go to rehab in 2007 after taking speed, acid, heroin, cocaine and 'heart-stopping' amounts of prescription drugs (seen in 2000) He has now been sober for over two decades, happily married to wife Ayda Field and the father of four children - daughters Teddy, 12, and Coco, seven, and sons Charlie, 10, and five-year-old Beau (pictured)When asked if his children were aware of his past struggles, he said: 'It all exists in a very humorous place. 'All the addictions, alcoholism, ADHD, dyspraxia, dyslexia, dyscalculia, self-obsession and narcissism - Teddy, in her iPad contacts, has me under ‘Narcissistic Dad’. 'So we exist in this place of humour and they wouldn’t understand how problematic real life is, but my wife’s and my love language is taking the p**s out of each other and we have this gallows humour that the kids are picking up on.'Last year, Ayda lifted the lid on why the couple don't 'ever shy away' from talking about Robbie's past with their kids, and revealed how much their eldest, Teddy, knew about her father's life in the spotlight.Appearing on Loose Women last October, the actress explained: 'I think we've always had an organically open relationship. 'I don't think there's ever been a moment where we've sat Teddy down for example and said: "Your father is an addict, he did drugs, he slept with lots of women". Obviously there was the documentary on Netflix as well. 'I think there are things that come up in our lives and we have very age-appropriate conversations about their father's story and what he's been through, and what we've been through as a couple, and I don't think we ever shy away from that.'We always are considered in how we approach it but I think in our house we're very honest and Teddy is aware her father is an alcoholic and a drug addict and that's why daddy doesn't touch these things.'Ayda said that Teddy knows 'a lot about Robbie's story to the right degree' and that they intend to tell their other children as they get older, to save them finding out from someone else.Join the debateShould parents openly discuss their darkest struggles with kids or protect them from harsh truths? In a new interview, Robbie explained how he and Ayda use humour as a tactic when talking about his previous substance abuse with their kids, enabling them to be aware of his wild past without grasping the severity of it (seen last December) Last year, Ayda lifted the lid on why the couple don't 'ever shy away' from talking about Robbie's past with their kids, and revealed how much their eldest, Teddy, knew about her father's life in the spotlight (seen with Teddy last month)She explained: 'For us we just kind of organically address these situations so they're not all of a sudden out in the world and someone points at them and goes: "Oh that documentary I saw about your dad being a drug addict".'Robbie previously admitted he was just '24 hours away from death' at the height of his addiction, which saw him taking a dangerous cocktail of drugs.He said in 2009: 'I would do 20 Vicodin in a night. I might have been 24 hours away from dying. Then I'd take Adderall, which was like speed for people with ADHD. I'd be doing colossal, heart-stopping amounts of that.'It was the American addiction. Prescription pills. It wasn't the best period of my life. You see Anna Nicole Smith goes off - pills. Michael Jackson goes off - pills. And Heath Ledger. I can relate to all of that.'In his 2023 Netflix documentary, Robbie told how he turned to drugs for 'safety' after struggling in Take That, and detailed how his addition made his life 'spiral out of control'.'I was ingesting everything I could get my hands on - ecstasy, cocaine, drinking. I'm literally drinking like a bottle of vodka a night before going into rehearsals, so that's happening every night,' he revealed.'We are looking at somebody in freefall, addicted to cocaine and alcohol. It's impossible to help myself, it's impossible to stop.'He continued: 'I don't think there's a chance to feel anything other than hungover and then not hungover because you are yet again in the process of creating a future hangover. Robbie previously admitted he was just '24 hours away from death' at the height of his addiction, which saw him taking a dangerous cocktail of drugs In his 2023 Netflix documentary, Robbie told how he turned to drugs for 'safety' after struggling in Take That, and detailed how his addition made his life 'spiral out of control' 'Everybody knew I was in trouble, but they didn't care, I'd gone past the point of no return. My life had spiralled out of control so severely that my manager understood what needed to happen, I needed to be carted off to rehab.'I used to drink and do drugs because it helped me not feel this way, when you strip that away all the everything comes up that you’ve been suppressing and I’ve been suppressing that for years. I’m depressed and I’m mentally ill.'Robbie, who was diagnosed with depression in his early twenties, went on: 'People at this point still thought that if good things are happening to you and you're successful, what is there to be upset about?'I had to go on stage in front of thousands of people feeling like you’re on the hundredth floor, the room’s burning and you either stay in the room or burn to death or you jump out of the window to your death. It’s that uncomfortable.'
