Robbie Williams has admitted for the first time that he has been secretly living with Tourette’s syndrome.
The pop superstar, 51, claims his Tourette’s are ‘intrusive’, with outbursts kept inside, yet his thoughts are so intense that not even performing for tens of thousands of screaming fans can drown them out.
Diagnosed with ADHD and having battled several addictions since rising to fame in the early Nineties, the Angels hitmaker has endured multiple spells in rehab, notably for alcohol and drugs.
Speaking on the first episode of the new season of Paul Whitehouse and Dr Mine Conkbayir’s podcast I’m ADHD! No You’re Not, released Thursday, Robbie admits he recently took an autism test, which came back negative but revealed ‘autistic traits’ including anxiety triggered by leaving his safe space, his bed.
Plus, in the deeply personal chat, the singer also admits he’s still terrified of touring despite playing in front of sold-out stadiums and arenas for decades as a solo singer, and before that, as part of boyband, Take That.
It follows the popularity of his Oscar-nominated film Better Man, which depicted Robbie’s struggles with fame, addiction, and impostor syndrome, illustrated by his character being portrayed as a CGI chimpanzee.
Robbie Williams has admitted for the first time that he has been secretly living with Tourette’s syndrome
The superstar claims his Tourette’s are ‘intrusive’, with outbursts kept inside, yet his thoughts are so intense that not even performing for screaming fans can drown them out (pictured November 2024)
Diagnosed with ADHD and having battled several addictions since rising to fame, the Angels hitmaker has endured multiple spells in rehab, notably for alcohol and drugs (pictured with wife Ayda in December 2024)
On his latest health condition, Robbie said: ‘I’ve just realised that I have Tourettes, but they don’t come out.
‘They are intrusive thoughts that happen, I was just walking down the road the other day, and I realised that these intrusive thoughts are inside Tourettes. It just doesn’t come out.
‘Not only that, you would think that a stadium full of people professing their love to you would work as (a distraction), but whatever it is inside me cannot hear it. I cannot take it in.’
Tourette syndrome is an inherited, neurological condition which can be characterised by involuntary sounds and movements called tics.
The condition has also impacted fellow chart star Lewis Capaldi, which was one of the reasons why he took a hiatus from music back in 2023 after his tics prevented him from completing a performance at Glastonbury.
Like the Scottish singer, Robbie says his mental health has also deeply affected his touring and playing live – and admits he still struggles to cope with the demands of life on the road.
He explained: ‘I have a very complicated relationship with touring and performing live. People say, “oh, you going on tour? You must be really, really excited.” Not really. I’m terrified, right? I’m terrified.
‘I mask like I’m an Olympian at masking because what I managed to do, to my detriment as well, is I will look full of bravado and look pompous and look smug and do these grand gestures, which have worked for me because they put my face on the poster and people still buy tickets. But actually, what’s happening is, I feel like the opposite of that all the time.’
Speaking on the first episode of the new season of Paul Whitehouse and Dr Mine Conkbayir’s podcast I’m ADHD! No You’re Not, Robbie admits he recently took an autism test
Robbie says his mental health has also deeply affected his touring and playing live – and admits he still struggles to cope with the demands of life on the road (pictured September 2022)
The singer says he is ‘terrified’ to play live, but has become an ‘Olympian’ at masking his struggles on stage (pictured July 2025)
He rose to international fame in the boyband Take That in the early 1990s, but quit the group to pursue a solo career (pictured 1992)
Robbie says he has ‘PTST’ from performing with Take That and during his Noughties heyday ‘when I got to the top of the mountain and it didn’t fix me’, admitting ‘it still affects me.’
He says his wife Ayda, 46, tries to reassure him, saying “you might never get to be able to play in a stadium again. How lucky are you?,” but that still can’t prevent Robbie’s anxiety creeping out.
Robbie has been married to Ayda since 2010, and the couple share four children, Theodora, Charlton, Colette, and Beau, and he has described fatherhood as a ‘beautiful journey.’
The record 18-times BRITs winner says he’s been diagnosed with ADHD three times, the reason behind his numerous diagnosis being he ‘forgot’ each time he was told he had the condition.
He explained: ‘So the first one was around 2006, where I saw these things, ADHD, on the Internet. I’m like, “all of those things are me.” Wow.
‘And then I started to hear that you could get some medicine that behaved a bit like speed, right? Adderall.
‘So, I go see the guy and I’m like, “I already know I’m all of these things. I already know that.” So, I’ll go and say this, then you give me the thing. And he gave me the thing.
‘There was a relief that I’d got it officially diagnosed, but then also there was more a relief that I was getting 200 of these tablets and then I thought the tablets might fix me because you’re always looking for the cure.
The record 18-times BRITs winner says he’s been diagnosed with ADHD three times, the reason behind his numerous diagnosis being he ‘forgot’ each time he was told he had the condition
Now more aware of his mental health, Robbie says he recently took an online test to see if he was autistic and to find out if he had any other symptoms of the condition
‘You’re always looking for the cure for the ailment of the disease inside your head. So I quickly went from taking the pills to crushing them and snorting them.’
Now more aware of his mental health, Robbie says he recently took an online test to see if he was autistic and to find out if he had any other symptoms of the condition.
He said: ‘It turns out I’m not (autistic), but I’ve got autistic traits. And it’s around, social stuff, it’s about interaction.’
Robbie said he wanted to gauge an ‘understanding of why I feel so uncomfortable in my skin,’ especially when he leaves his bed.
He added: ‘When I’m in bed, that’s my comfort zone. Anywhere outside of that bed is my discomfort zone.
‘It’s getting better. It was awful through my horrendous twenties, bad through my thirties, my forties started to get better and I’m on an upward curve, but I’m still uncomfortable in my skin and much like I have sought out medication to fix it. I’m constantly still looking for the reason and the whys.’
Robbie’s appearance on the hugely popular I’m ADHD! No You’re Not podcast not only marks the start of a new series, but the launch also coincides with ADHD Awareness Month in October.
The podcast has previously seen a whole host of stars including Stephen Fry, Katie Price, Lee Mack, Denise Welch and Jimmy Carr talk about their own ADHD experiences.
Comedian and self-confessed ADHD sceptic Paul Whitehouse came up with the idea with his wife Dr Mine Conkbayir, an early year’s specialist in neuroscience with late-diagnosed ADHD.
Other guests to feature in the new season of the podcast include Sam Thompson, Sara Pascoe, Lucy Beaumont, Theo Pathitis, and Deborah Frances White.
- I’m ADHD! No You’re Not is available on all podcast platforms every Thursday at 6am
