Robbie Williams has shared his thoughts on the pressures of being under the spotlight as he paid tribute to the late One Direction singer Liam Payne.
The musician died from multiple traumatic injuries caused by falling from a third-floor balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and was pronounced dead at the scene after emergency services responded to a hotel manager’s call about a guest “under the influence of alcohol and drugs” who could “do something that could put his life at risk”. He was 31.
Williams, who rose to fame in the Nineties with boyband Take That and went on to mentor One Direction on X Factor, shared his final interaction with Payne – an email exchange from June 2022 that sees Williams giving the singer advice and telling him he is “proud” of him.
In the email messages shared by Williams, Payne tells the “Angels” singer his support “means the world”.
“I’m nervous as hell about it but I won’t back out, you have my word, wish me luck,” Payne says, to which Williams responds: “F*** yeah… go get it… very proud of you. Massive x.”
In the post’s caption, Williams began: “How to make sense of the Liam Payne tragedy?
“Obviously, my first feelings towards his passing were like everyone else. Shock, sadness and confusion. And to be honest as I write these words that’s where I still am.”
Williams, 50, went on to say Payne’s struggles with being under the spotlight were similar to his own, and that he tried to reach out and support him.
“I still had my demons at 31. I relapsed. I was in pain. I was in pain because I relapsed. I relapsed because of a multitude of painful reasons. I remember Heath Ledger passing and thinking ‘I’m next’. By the grace of god and/or dumb luck I’m still here.”
Williams, who has long been vocal about his own experience with the difficulty of fame, as well as alcohol and drug addiction, then listed different lessons for people to take away from Payne’s death, such as “we don’t know what’s going on in people’s lives” and “be kind.”
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“BEFORE WE REACH TO JUDGEMENT, A BIT OF SLACK NEEDS TO BE GIVEN,” he wrote in capitals. “BEFORE YOU TYPE ANYTHING ON THE INTERNET, HAVE A THINK ‘DO I REALLY NEED TO PUBLISH THIS?’ BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE DOING. YOU’RE PUBLISHING YOUR THOUGHTS FOR ANYBODY TO READ. EVEN IF YOU DON’T REALLY THINK THAT CELEBRITIES OR THEIR FAMILIES EXIST.
“THEY F***ING DO. SKIN AND BONE AND IMMENSELY SENSITIVE.”
He continued: “The internet will unfortunately carry on being the internet. The media will unfortunately carry on being the media and fame will carry on being fame.
“As individuals though we have the power to change ourselves. We can be kinder. We can be more empathic. We can at least try to be more compassionate towards ourselves, our family, our friends, strangers in life and strangers on the internet.”
He added that even “famous strangers need your compassion”.
Williams concluded by calling Payne a “handsome talented boy” and said his death was a tragic and painful loss for not only his family and friends, but the rest of the world.
The Take That star sang “She’s the One” alongside Payne and One Direction bandmates Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik, during the 2010 X Factor final.
After the band came third in the competition, they were signed to judge Cowell’s record label Syco Entertainment. The group went on to achieve international success in the proceeding years, becoming the first boy band in US chart history to record two No 1 albums in the same calendar year.