Robbie Williams has said that the most “difficult” scene in his new biopic leaves him with “shame”.
The film tells the story of the singer’s rise to fame in boyband Take That before embarking on a successful solo career and, in a move that stunned early viewers, Williams is portrayed by a CGI ape.
Despite the initially comedic concept, Better Man does not shy away from the more controversial elements of Williams’s career and the struggles he has experienced in life.
But there is one scene in particular that Williams struggles to watch back – and he recently revealed it caused his ex-girlfriend Nicole Appleton to “weep”.
Williams and All Saints star Appleton dated from 1997 until 1999 and, during that time, the pair got engaged and were expecting a baby. However, the child was aborted following pressure from All Saints’s record company, an ordeal which is covered in the film.
At the film’s premiere afterparty, Williams hailed Appleton as “brave” for agreeing to the moment being in the movie. Reflecting on the scene, Williams told Hello: “The most difficult bit is watching Nicole and what we went through, because she was instructed to get rid of our baby.”
The singer suggested he was unhappy with how he treated Appleton in the aftermath of the abortion, telling the outlet: “With Nic, I did the wrong thing.”
He continued: “It wasn’t that bit, wasn’t the abortion – I didn’t make her do that – but I was a f***ng awful boyfriend, like, really awful, and I was in the height of my addiction and alcoholism. And it breaks my heart every time I watch it, because she’s a complete angel, and there is still shame attached to who I was then.”
Appleton spoke about the situation in her 2002 autobiography, writing: “I couldn’t believe what I had done. I wanted to kill myself. Afterwards, everyone pretended it hadn’t happened.”
In the film, Jonno Davies is the one who wore the motion-capture suit – Andy Serkis-style – to capture the monkey’s movement, and he also provides the voice for all of the spoken dialogue. Meanwhile, Williams himself sings on the tracks in the film.
Better Man, an Australian-American production, will be released on 26 December. It co-stars Steve Pemberton, Alison Steadman and Damon Herriman.
