Weight taunts leave Robbie in pieces
... says the wife who has to put him together again
THEY are high-profile new recruits to of the most tweeted-about shows on television.
But Ayda Field has revealed she has banned her husband and fellow X Factor judge Robbie Williams from social media for the duration of the ITV talent hunt – as she fears insults from online trolls might affect his fragile mental health.
The former Take That star has made no secret of his battles with depression, and Ayda is worried that coping with the scrutiny of becoming a primetime television star for the first time could prove his biggest challenge yet.
As the couple made their X Factor debuts last night, Ayda told The Mail on Sunday how her husband has an unhealthy ‘compulsion’ to seek out vicious things that have been written about him, often about
‘Robbie appears cocky but he’s soft and mushy’
his weight and appearance.
The American actress said: ‘I put him on a computer ban but then he falls off the wagon, he goes down the hole and then I have to pick up those pieces. I will definitely ban Rob from social media during the show.
‘He’ll read some nasty comments and then I have to pick him up, dust him off and remind him he’s an incredible human being.
‘That’s the funny thing – artists and us creative individuals might appear tough but we’re actually humans with feelings. Robbie comes across as... cocky, but inside he’s a little mushy mensch.
‘When people write bad things about him it hurts. I try to teach Rob to stay away from it – sometimes I have more success than others.’
Reality shows such as The X Factor and Love Island have been criticised for failing to adequately care for the mental wellbeing of contestants in an era of vicious online trolling.
Since launching his Instagram account in 2013, Williams has been the victim of many online insults, including being called ‘a fat old dancer’ and a ‘goblin’. It is understood that the 44-year-old finds it particularly difficult to deal with insults directed at his weight.
He has admitted that, at times, he has battled to stay alive, and fought both alcohol and cocaine abuse. Crediting his wife of eight years for ‘making me a better person’, he has said: ‘Left to my own devices, I’m inclined to sabotage everything.’
Meanwhile, the singer has revealed he was ‘terrified’ of his new boss and fellow judge, Simon Cowell, when he first met him. He said: ‘I first met him in 1993 at the offices of his BMG record label, which had just signed Take That. Simon was an incredibly interesting guy who I was scared of.’ Former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson, 26, completes the judging panel, put together at a reported cost of €11m.