Robbie Williams recalls “doing shrooms at Bono’s house”
Robbie Williams has recalled the time he got high on magic mushrooms at Bono‘s house. Watch the clip below.
During a recent interview on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, the pop star answered a fan question about whether he had ever taken shrooms, and what his “favourite experience” was while on the drug.
This prompted a big “namedrop” from Williams, who went on to talk about a time he spent with the U2 frontman in his younger years.
“I was doing shrooms at Bono’s house, and it was very late – well, very early in the morning,” the singer remembered.
“And I was walking down one of his corridors, and I saw this painting which was the most beautiful painting I’d ever seen. I was like, ‘Of course, Bono’s got the most beautiful painting you would ever see, because he’s Bono’.”
He went on to explain that Bono then appeared beside him “as if by magic”, adding: “I’m like, ‘Bono, this is the most beautiful painting I’ve ever seen’. And he said, ‘Robbie, that’s the window’.”
Williams continued: “And it was. It was the window.”
After telling the story of his experience with hallucinogens, Williams was asked about his 25-year sobriety – with Cohen noting that this was “a topic in the movie”.
“My life changed when I got sober, and then changed again when I met Ayda [Field, his wife], and then changed again when we had our first [child] Teddy,” he said, before saying that his life keeps improving thanks to Ayda.
Watch the interview in the video above.
The star is portrayed by a CGI monkey in Better Man (voiced by Jonno Davies). In a three-star review of the movie, NME wrote: “This is ‘Rudebox’ on film: some of it good, some of it very bad, all of it a bit of a mess.
“Still, the monkey musical is a big swing that no-one else would have taken. You can’t fault the chutzpah or the ambition. If it makes back its reported budget, we’ll eat $110m worth of bananas.”
The review noted how Williams is “plagued by self-doubt, depression and addiction” at times in the film.
Last week, it was reported that Better Man had endured a difficult opening weekend in US cinemas.
Williams released a reflective new single called ‘Forbidden Road’ from the biopic’s official soundtrack last November. Earlier this month, the singer shared his thoughts on the song being disqualified from the Oscars 2025 shortlist for Best Original Song.
He has since expressed his desire to “make a new Rat Pack album”. Williams said last April that he had “written loads of songs” and was feeling “full of purpose and loving life”. He later revealed that a new album would be coming soon.
Speaking to NME last month, the pop icon responded to reports that Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi would be appearing on a track from his new “guitar rock” album.
“And Glenn Hughes! I wanted to make the album that I’d make if I’d left Take That now, knowing what I know,” he said. “This particular song encapsulates that perfectly.
“Unfortunately and fortunately for me, pop songs turned up along the way, too. I’m like: ‘Ah, fuck – a hit!’ This [track] is massive guitars, as you can imagine. It’s adrenaline-filled and balls-to-the-wall. That one in particular is my favourite song off my new album – that I’ve just announced is happening!”
NME then asked when the track and album would be out, to which Williams responded: “I dunno – let’s see how well the film does.” You can watch the video interview in full above.
Williams is set to embark on a huge tour across the UK, Ireland and Europe this year. The announcement came shortly after he’d hinted to fans that he would be hitting the road again “soon”. Find any remaining tickets here.
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Tom Skinner
NME
