Robbie Williams may be known for his cheeky chappy ways throughout both his time in Take That and his solo career, however, those days of messing around are long gone now that he is a dad of two.
The Kids singer opened up about feeling the pressure of needing to succeed for his family while speaking to Chris Evan on his Radio 2 Breakfast Show recently.
The star, who struggled with substance abuse and depression for years, admitted that his wife Ayda Field and his children – Teddy, four, and Charleton, two – have helped him feel a sense of purpose, something he felt he didn’t have before they arrived into his life.
"Before the kids and the wife, it [his career] wasn't just a job," he said on the radio show.
"It was trying to fill in all the blanks that were in the soul. And that didn't make sense. I got to the top of the mountain and it was like, 'Ow, I'm still in pain'.
"Then the wife came, then the kids came, and now it all makes sense... because souls are depending on me.”
Comparing how he was before he became a husband and a dad to life now, the 42-year-old went on to say that he doesn’t have the luxury of being able to fall off the rails now.
"My wife depends on me, my kids depend on me. I haven't got the excuse to fall of the rails, to maybe not turn up to this interview, to watch what I'm saying.
"It's a blessing."
But it seems the pressure of having to be a hit actually helps him propel forwards, as he went on to say: “My brain idles at neuroses and worry and panic. The run-up to this album has taken three years and I've written 75-plus songs.”
"But every time I've been into the studio, it's been under the heavy weight of: 'You're coming back, you're doing an album, this had better be a hit, you're 42, you're fat, you're eyes are droopy, go and write a bigger chorus'.
"It's an uncomfortable place to be [but] it propels me forward."
Robbie married Ayda in 2010 and welcomed their first child, Teddy two years later. Son Charlton arrived in 2014.
