Robbie Williams has revealed that he has been battling with a form of Tourette’s.
The Angels singer has previously been open about his struggles with his mental health, including being diagnosed with ADHD.
Now, in a new interview, Robbie has shared that he has been dealing with ‘inside Tourette’s’.
Speaking on Paul Whitehouse and Dr Mine Conkbayir's podcast I'm ADHD! No You're Not, the 51-year-old revealed that he recently took an autism test, which came back negative but confirmed that he has “autistic traits”, including anxiety triggered by getting out of bed.
The former Take That star then went on to note: “I've just realised that I have Tourette’s, but they don't come out.”
Robbie continued: “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.”
Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological condition that causes movement and vocal tics. Awareness of the condition has been raised in recent years by Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi, who returned to the spotlight this summer after taking a two-year break to deal with his diagnosis.
In his interview, Robbie went on to admit that Tourette’s does affect his mindset towards performing.
“You would think that a stadium full of people professing their love to you would work as [a distraction], but whatever it is inside me cannot hear it. I cannot take it in,” he shared.
“I have a very complicated relationship with touring and performing live. People say, ‘Oh, you going on tour? You must be really, really excited.’ Not really. I'm terrified,” the father-of-four continued.
“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,” Robbie added.
