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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Katherine Heslop

Robbie Williams says wife Ayda keeps painkillers 'behind lock and key' over relapse fears

Robbie Williams' wife Ayda Field locks away the painkillers in their house, the singer has revealed.

The 48-year-old superstar has had several stints in rehab to overcome addictions to booze, prescription pills and other substances, but proudly overcome his issues and hasn't touched alcohol for 20 years.

But the Angels singer said he "still can't be trusted with pills".

He told the On The Edge podcast with Andrew Gold: "Something's always lurking around the corner and I still can't be trusted with pills.

"The wife has to put them behind lock and key... They can be there for 18 months, every single day. Vicodin, whatever, every day, see them, go to bed.

Robbie and Ayda have been married since 2010 (Ayda Field/Instagram)

"One day, for no reason - not being sad, not being happy or not feeling vulnerable, whatever - all of those pills go."

Robbie has been frank about his struggles with addiction in the past, admitting that he started taking drugs to try and cope with the enormous fame he experienced from the age of 16 as a member of Take That.

Speaking on the Bought The T-Shirt podcast this year, he said: "I took drugs to fill in the blanks."

Robbie Williams is candid about his issues with addiction in the past (Getty Images)

"When fame came to me at a very early age, I was 16 when I joined Take That, it magnified all of the negative aspects of who I thought I was.

"Before that I was quite content but I was vulnerable and incredibly sensitive. I felt like I'd been born with an open wound. Then when I was thrown into this mosh pit of show business it magnified the negative aspects of my own self-doubt.

"I took drugs to become the person that the world was telling me I should be. When really I'm an introvert, and it's OK to be an introvert.

"I'm an introvert with extrovert tendencies. I'm an extrovert for a living but I'm an introvert in real life."

Describing himself as "content" now, Robbie said: "There's no binge. The last bastion of negative addictions for me that I can't cope with is food, and I'm getting that down, I'm managing that, I'm managing that addiction."

Next year looks set to be a busy one for the dad-of-four.

Robbie rose to fame thanks to Take That (Talkback Thames)

He will continue the European leg of his XXV Tour, marking his 25 years as a solo artist, and has a long list of other projects up his sleeve, including a talent show and artworks.

He said: "I've written a TV show which is a dark comedy.

"And I've come up with this idea for a talent show that's sort of never been seen before, in a different way."

Speaking about his other creative outlets, Robbie said: "I'm currently drawing and making these funny cartoons... well I think they're funny- I've got six or seven hundred of them."

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