Robbie Williams Says A Hitman Was Hired To Kill Him At Height Of His Fame

Once upon a time, Robbie Williams was one of the biggest popstars on the planet.

Having become a global superstar with Take That in the 90s, he eventually went his own way, selling millions of albums as a solo singer.

However, the 47-year-old has now revealed that it wasn't all fun and games, and that his life was actually in danger at one point.

Speaking to the Mirror, Robbie opened up about the trials and tribulations of being mega famous.

And he told the publication that people were out to kill him.

Robbie Williams was once one of the biggest popstars on the planet. Credi: Alamy

"I’ve never, ever said this, but I had a contract put on me to kill me. I’ve never said that publicly before," he said.

"It went away. I have friends. That stuff is the unseen stuff that happens when you become famous."

He went on: "At one point in my life I was ridiculously famous, Michael Jackson-style famous.

"I became famous when I was 17, doing a boy band when I was 16, the boy band took off. When I was 21 I left and then I had a solo career, sold 80 million albums, held the record for the most tickets sold in a day for a tour and blah, blah, blah…"

The 'Angels' singer explained that the weight of expectation took its toll on him mentally.

Robbie said: "Extreme fame and extreme success meets with anxiety and depression and mental illness.

"There’s a few levels of fame and what it does to you. The first one is 'f**k'.

Alamy

“There’s a couple more I can’t remember but the fourth one is ­acceptance. You sort of rally against your privacy being taken away from you and you rally against it by trying to be normal, trying to be normal but also I’m gonna be small so people don’t beat you up. Like, ‘I’m a d**khead, don’t hurt me.’

"I want to go to the all the normal places I can’t go because people want to kill me. It takes a while to get to acceptance."

Now married to Ayda Field, 42, with whom he has four children, Robbie said he only managed to find some semblance of peace when he was trying to 'break America'.

Alamy

It was while he was doing a press tour of the country that he realised no one really knew who he was in the States, so he had an opportunity to start again.

He added: "So I moved there and turned ­everything down that I was offered in the States.

"Basically, what happens is I live in anonymity here and really enjoy that, then I try to move back to my home country and remember that I have no anonymity there and that makes me feel anxious and depressed and then I move back to the States."

Topics: Robbie Williams, Music, UK News, US News