Robbie Williams documentary director: "You can hear how shocked I was"
"The reality is that, inside, Rob was hurting."
Director Joe Pearlman has revealed one key moment that shocked him when filming with Robbie Williams on his self-titled documentary.
The four-part series offers a "raw and honest" look into the life of the pop star, who many people may have formed an opinion on based on headlines and old videos, but Pearlman set out to change the preconceived idea people may have of Williams.
The docuseries follows present day Williams as he watches back hours of never-before-seen footage from his days in Take That, to launching his solo career, to his Close Encounters tour.
In the documentary, we see Williams watch footage of his time in Take That and experience his newfound fame, but he tells Pearlman that it wasn't until after that that he was "genuinely happy".
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When asked just how shocked he was to hear that from Williams, Pearlman revealed why he was in disbelief.
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, Pearlman said: "You can hear how shocked I was in the show. You really can, because we've seen some incredible highs you're talking about.
"Early Take That, which... obviously Take That was very problematic for him [Williams] in different ways.
"But this moment of fulfilling your dreams, the thing that you've always wanted to do coming true for you, launching your solo career and being one of the biggest artists in the world and playing Glastonbury and being accepted by the crowd that you thought were going to hate you and these relationships that happen to you all these things.
"But the reality is that, inside, Rob was hurting, he was in a huge amount of pain and struggling day to day."
As viewers see in the documentary, Williams speaks candidly about his struggles with mental health, something he said he was "berated" for when speaking about it in the '90s.
Speaking to press including RadioTimes.com, Williams said he was "berated and belittled" when he tried to talk about his mental health struggles.
Williams said: "I remember in the '90s when I tried to talk about what was going on with me, I was berated and belittled and told to pull my socks up, and what that does is actually isolates you even more.
"I know celebs are celebs, but they're people too. I'm not the hero that they wanted, but I'm the hero that they need. And I'm gonna stand up for all celebs."
Read more:
- Robbie Williams review: The pop icon like you’ve never seen him before
- Robbie Williams says he's "sorry" for how he treated Gary Barlow in new doc
Pearlman went on to explain that this documentary gives an insight into what life is really like for celebrities, which is far from what people may expect.
"I think that sort of says it all about celebrities, doesn't it? We expect you to be happy and because you have the privilege, the money, the house and the cars," he said.
He added: "It's as simple as that we're humans. There's nothing normal about that. There's nothing normal 100,000 people standing in front of you screaming your name back at you. There's nothing normal about that. So imagine what that does to a person."
Robbie Williams is available to stream on Netflix now. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight.
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