Robbie Williams has successfully completed 21 days of drug treatment at a secluded facility and is now back at home in LA. He was thought to be at the Meadows Center in Arizona, where Kate Moss was rehabbed after her cocaine scandal, but he was really at the Cottonwood de Tucson clinic, which is hidden away in the desert.
Williams’ spokesperson has confirmed that he is out of rehab. The story claims that he enjoyed “trivia, reading quiz books and looking up amazing facts online” while he was recovering, and that the counsellors at the clinic told him to keep his mind active.
Hello! Magazine has Robbie falling into a pit of prescription drug despair after the great success of his old boy band Take That without him. As Robbie’s career falters and has not reached the level of international success he was hoping for, his ex bandmates are doing well and that is said to have contributed to his depression. Some even accuse him of timing his rehab stay to coincide with Take That’s comeback:
One [music industry source] told Hello! “Rob is a very complex individual. He makes out he doesn’t care about anything – particularly the press – but this is a guy who goes online every day to look at the British papers to see what everybody is writing about him.
“He likes the guys as individuals, but as a band and as Take That he really can’t bear the success they’re having. In Robbie’s world it’s always about him and he sees their success as directly affecting the way people look at him and the fact it highlights the album’s failure.
“This turns the whole Take That story back into a Robbie Williams story. It spoils it for them and it brings it all back to him. This is exactly the sort of mixed bag of emotions Robbie is all about.”
[From Hello! Magazine, print edition, February 27, 2007]
The article goes on to say that all the members of Take That have wished Robbie well, but that they didn’t mention him in their acceptance speech for best single at this year’s Brit Awards. (Where Williams was only nominated for one award that he didn’t win.) Jason Orange of Take that said “We didn’t thank Robbie because it’s about his private situation. It’s not for us to comment… we wish him the best – we love him… He’s going to get through this. It’s sad for him and it’s sad for all of us.”
Take That’s new single “Shine,” the second from their album “Beautiful World,” is now number one on the UK singles charts. Their UK Tour of 29 dates sold out in just under three hours.
Meanwhile the Hello! article paints Robbie as a lonely guy who is deeply affected by criticism and the slump in his career.
People were dissing Robbie in the comments for being addicted to prescription medication, including Paxil, as if that was less hardcore than an illegal drugs addiction. Paxil is called Seroxat in the UK, and is known as a very difficult drug to wean off of with serious side effects for some. The guy was on a cocktail of all sorts of prescription drugs including sleeping pills and painkillers and they were clearly affecting him. Good for Robbie for taking care of himself. Maybe his career will pick up once he gets his head on straight.
Note: UrbanDK is on vacation this week or he would surely cover any Robbie Williams news.
weaning myself off paxil and other anti-anxiety/depression meds was the hardest thing i ever did. harder than quiting nicotine, harder than quiting cocaine, and harder than quiting meth. i was a disaster emotionally and mentally, but my body had actual withdrawl… similar to opiate withdrawl (ha, did you know paxil actually has opiates in it?? yeah, it’s not just in your head, it’s actually hard to kick that DRUG.)
I was on Paxil for about a week. It made me so sick I stopped using it. I asked the psychiatrist I saw for Celexa and she said “oh, I like Paxil CR lately” and gave me samples. I went out into the waiting room and the freaking drug rep for Paxil was there giving samples to the secretaries. I have heard countless stories about how bad it is and am glad that I didn’t use it for longer. My thoughts go out to you, anon, and that’s great that you kicked it.
Take that schmat….Robbie Williams has achieved levels of success, that every artist and band in the world, can only ever dream of. So what if Rudebox doesn’t hit the heights of previous albums, pretty hard challenge to match if you ask me anyway. If Robbie never ever did another thing again, he wiull still remain a fucking legend! The jazz, the colaborations, the #1s, the hits, the chics, the bod, the man, the attitude. Stop being so hard on youself man and relax. Time to go and hang out at Mums joint for a month, I reckon, back to something normal, level, ya know. Or come to my house and I’ll suck you off every morning while you eat your breakfast, fuck you stupid for lunch and give you threesomes for dinner!!!
Love you Robbie, you rock….T x
I commend anyone who has the strength to accept their addictions and go into rehab.
Just because a doctor prescribes a drug doesn’t mean it necessarily is always for your own good. Medicine is a business and everytime they write a prescription, they get paid.
I am studying pharmacology and amazed at the list of side effects for each drug. Plus studying the pharmakinetics of prescriptions drugs shows how it changes the physiology of the body to adapt and crave the continued use.
It takes a tough person to work through the physical and emotional withdrawal as the body is telling you different.
Aw, man. Isn’t Seroxat that iffy drug that if overprescribed makes the user depressed enough to commit suicide?
There have been lots of cases of young people suiciding. I kind of sympathise with him. Kind of.
Okay, yet agian, I want to do Robbie Williams. Hard, long, and dirty.
But whatever slump he has must be a minor one, because my friends overseas are rabid fans and his sales numbers are still very good. Also, my best friend took Paxil for a while, and after hearing voices and losing a 35 lbs. off of her already skinny frame, she went through a very scary withdrawl. I am anti drug medications unless absolutely necessary.