ROBBIE GOING ALL OUT TO BE BIG IN AMERICA
ROBBIE Williams has told of his torment at not being recognised as a star in America.
The former Take That singer hopes his sold-out Las Vegas residency will finally launch him in the States at the age of 44.
Robbie has extended his residency at the luxury Wynn Hotel and Casino with six extra shows next year.
But he said a depressing walk through a shopping centre left him feeling like a nobody in the US. He said: “I was walking through the mall in the Valley and I was looking and nobody knows who I am.
“They don’t stare because they don’t know who I am.
Crack
“I was like: ‘I don’t like this. I want this to change. I don’t want to walk through this c**p mall’.”
Robbie – who is a judge on The X Factor with his wife Ayda Field, 39 – said he regretted not trying harder to crack the American market earlier in his career.
He said he initially enjoyed strolling through the streets unnoticed after moving to Los Angeles.
He admitted: “I stopped promoting my albums and stopped doing anything else.
“I went: ‘I need a place where I am not famous because that would be the most sane thing to do.’
“And that is what I did, I just lived over there and nobody knows me. Now I have changed my mind and I really regret it.”
The dad of three said his first attempt to win over America in the late 1990s came as he battled drug and mental health issues.
But his Vegas residency could finally see a breakthrough in his fortunes in the US.
Many across the pond consider the multi-million selling artist a one-hit wonder for his song Angels.