Robbie Williams has reflected on his “confusing” but “magical” relationship with ex Geri Horner.
In his self-titled Netflix docuseries, the 49-year-old singer recalled their holiday with his songwriting partner Guy Chambers and his wife Emma, to the South of France in 2000.
Footage shared from the break showed Williams and the Spice Girl, 50, enjoying sun-soaked boat trips while in good spirits.
Opening up about their fling, he explained: “It was a very confusing relationship because she’s a girl, I’m a boy, and we are very good friends trying to sort out the wreckage of the past.
However, the Rock DJ hitmaker admitted their romance was doomed from the beginning as he had just started treatment for his addictions.
He began: “Our relationship starts when I’m in AA – you’re told not to get into a relationship in the first year, and I get it – I can’t even look after a cactus let alone somebody else.
“I found her company very, very easy, there is a silliness.
“We got on really well, it was fun, we were a little gang sharing a magical moment in a magical place... we were every fond of each other, I’ve got them, they’ve got me.”
Struggling to adjust with his global fame, Williams confessed he believed speculation at the time that Horner was calling the paparazzi while they were trying to enjoy their extended break.
The singer explained that a paparazzo he spoke to blamed Horner, which he said “ruined” the memory of their time together.
He reflected: “Now I don’t think that’s true for one second, but at the time I did believe it.
“It just goes to show what being in the spotlight can do to your psyche, when you can’t trust anybody.
“It ruined in some way the memory of such a joyous part in my life.”
While their relationship was short-lived, Horner has spoken fondly of their time together, previously discussing how Williams urged her to get help for her bulimia after leaving the Spice Girls.
Speaking on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories in 2010, she shared: “I was worried I’d get fat. I would binge and then felt fatter and would make myself sick. It was awful.
“Robbie knew about my bulimia and he advised me to get help. He told me to go to rehab and that possibly saved my life.
“The bulimia would have got worse without it. I will always be grateful to him, always.”
Adding of their friendship, she said: “I became really close to Robbie after leaving the Spice Girls and it was a very poignant friendship.
“I was lonely and felt he was the only person on the planet who could understand me because of his experiences with Take That. We understood each other. But I didn’t really go out with him. I am happy and healthy now.”
Elsewhere in the doc, he reflected on his turbulent relationship with All Saints star Nicole Appleton, 48, after they met on Top Of The Pops in 1997.
Looking back on the nine-month relationship, during which the couple split multiple times, Williams admitted he was in “no fit state” to commit.
He shared: “She was kind and fun and sweet, you know she’s just a good soul. With my relationship with Nic, it was very important to me to learn to become the man I was supposed to be.”
However he revealed he wasn’t ready for a relationship then, explaining how after joining Take That at just 16-years-old, “nobody graduates from childhood fame well balanced”.
He continued: “The years of finding yourself, maturing and growing up that everybody has it taken away from you.
“I guess that I'm trying to convince myself that I'm the kind of person that is ready for that kind of commitment, I know I'm not.
“I couldn't look after myself. I was in no fit state to offer myself as a partner and the relationship with Nic ended a few months after this.”
