Robbie Williams has revealed he’s been diagnosed with autism – which, he says, “explains so much”.
The former Take That star, who has previously spoken out about having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Tourette’s, shared the news at a Q&A for the launch of his new clothing brand.
Williams, 52, explained: “I have ADHD and I just found out I have a bit of autism as well, which I actually f****** love because it explains so much.
“It is my get-out-of-jail-free card now, and all the weird s*** that I do I just say, ‘Sorry, I’m autistic’.”
The “Rock DJ” singer also delved into how he leans into creative activities to help himself focus. As reported by the Daily Mail, he said: “With the ADHD you can completely and utterly concentrate on something 1000 per cent, but with absolutely everything else, you just cannot do it. Ask my kids.”
open image in gallery“What I’m completely and utterly obsessed with is creating images and making funny things. If I’m creating images and funny things, I’m not thinking about me, because my brain is incredibly creative, and it can be creative about everything in the world that you panic or scared about,” Williams continued.
“For example, this is how crazy I am, recently I was sitting on a plane, and I thought ‘what if I can have telekinesis and my intrusive thoughts tell the plane to crash itself’.
“So that’s the kind of level of insanity that I’m dealing with. It’s best to train my brain to do something better than worrying about having supernatural powers and crashing a plane.”
The NHS defines autism as “a difference in how your brain develops that affects how you see and experience the world”.
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It can impact how a person communicates, as well as how someone thinks, learns and pays attention to things. Autistic people are more likely to have conditions such as anxiety and depression.
During his decades-spanning career, Williams has often spoken openly about his ADHD and mental health struggles.
open image in galleryAppearing on the podcast I’m ADHD! No You’re Not last year, the singer said: “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, 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.”
He also revealed he often has intrusive thoughts, explaining: “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.”
Speaking to The Independent in January, Williams said of his mental health struggles: “It took me nearly a couple of decades to fight through it, and now I’m at the other end and it’s beautiful.”