Robbie Williams says he has ‘inside Tourettes’ as he opens up on neurological conditions

Robbie Williams has revealed he has been suffering from ‘inside tourettes’ for years and is a ‘Olympian at masking.’

The former Take That singer, 51, has revealed that he has a neurological condition, as he opened up about his health in a podcast.

The star appeared on the first episode of the new season of Paul Whitehouse and Dr Mine Conkbayir’s podcast I’m ADHD! No You’re Not.

He explained that he experiences Tourette’s tics, but they aren’t physically expressed.

‘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.’

In the podcast, he spoke about having been previously diagnosed with ADHD and depression.

The Angels singer revealed that getting a diagnosis helped for a time, but left him taking various drugs: ‘There was a relief that I’d got it officially diagnosed, but then also there was more a relief that I was getting 200 of these tablets and then I thought the tablets might fix me because you’re always looking for the cure.

‘You’re always looking for the cure for the ailment of the disease inside your head. So I quickly went from taking the pills to crushing them and snorting them!’

He also explained that he also experiences severe imposter syndrome and has become an expert at masking how he is actually feeling while performing.

‘You would think that a stadium full of people professing their love to you would work, but whatever it is, inside me, I cannot hear it. This tour in particular, as a 51-year-old, I’ve approached it differently because I seem to be in the space to approach things differently.

‘I have a very complicated relationship with touring and performing live. People say: “Oh, you’re going on tour? You must be really, really excited.” Not really. I’m terrified. I mask, like I’m an Olympian at masking.

He further explained his bold stage persona: ‘I will look full of bravado and look pompous and look smug and do these grand gestures, which have worked for me because they put my face on the poster and people still buy tickets, but actually what’s happening is I feel like the opposite of that all the time, most of the time.’

He also added that he thinks he still has PTSD from performing with Take That in his youth: ‘I said to the wife while I was rehearsing, I said, I’ve got that PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) stuff about performance, whatever it was in the Take That years and whatever it was subsequently when I got to the top of the mountain and it didn’t fix me. In fact, it made things worse inside me.

‘Whatever all of that stuff was, I still get triggered from it and it still affects me.’

Robbie isn’t the only celebrity to open up about having tourette syndrome. Lewis Capaldi has been open about his diagnosis.

The Scottish singer, 28, took two years away from music in 2023 when he was left unable to sing while performing on the Glastonbury Pyramid stage due to his Tourette’s syndrome.

Billie Eilish also has Tourette’s syndrome and opened up about this publicly in 2018 when she was just 16.

She revealed in a social media post: ‘‘I have been diagnosed with Tourette’s. I’ve never mentioned it on the internet because nobody thinks I’m deadasss.. As well as… the fact that I’ve never wanted people to think of Tourette’s every time they think of me.

‘And my tics are only physical and not super noticeable to others if you’re not really paying attention. (Believe me, having them is a whole different type of misery),’ she said in a long message to her fans.