The documentary series Boybands Forever provokes a reaction, particularly from the main stakeholders. The day after the episode devoted to Take That was broadcast on the BBC, Robbie Williams wrote a long open letter to former Take That manager Nigel Martin-Smith on Instagram.
And the tone is set from the first sentences. It is clear that the one who had a flawless solo career after the setbacks when leaving the group that made him famous is slightly exasperated.
Focus
“I was both terrified and excited to be on screen with you again,” he begins. “It seems time has done its work, and I suppose the wisdom it brings has mopped a few nooks and crannies here and there. I guess not all the nooks and crannies were cleaned well. »
In the documentary devoted to the boy band, the manager denounces the attitude of his young foal, “who was intelligent and clever enough” to blame his drug use on the group. In response the interpreterAngels said, “My drug use was never your fault. My reaction to the twisted world around me is my own.”
Limelight and mental health
“The way I chose to self-medicate is and has been something I will monitor and manage throughout my life. It's part of my constitution and I would have had the same illness if I had been a taxi driver. I got there faster because I had the financial means while trying in vain to counter the turbulence of the matrix washing machine of pop stardom,” added Robbie Williams.
The singer then takes a mental assessment of the group members. And it's an understatement to say that fame has had a definite negative impact on each of the members. “Howard – thought about suicide when the band broke up; Mark – addiction, alcoholism, rehab; Gas – bulimia; Me – I believe this part is sufficiently documented; Jason – whatever effects Take That had on him, they're so painful he doesn't want to hear about it anymore,” he listed.
Recalling that he was only 16 when he joined Take That, the artist explains that he then experienced his first depression, and that he would have appreciated better management from the person who was responsible, i.e. the manager. “Instead of a stern word and a pointing finger, an arm around the shoulder and a kind word would have been much more tactful,” he laments.
Robbie Williams reserved one last arrow for his detractors. “Personally, however, I do not accept that my trauma of the time is represented as a figment of my imagination or as a tool to curry favor with a general gullible public,” he concluded.
