Sophie Ellis-Bextor apologises over ‘unkind’ Robbie Williams comments

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Eric Garcia

Washington Bureau Chief

Sophie Ellis-Bextor has responded to outspoken fans after her “gobby” past comments about Robbie Williams featured in his new Netflix documentary.

Although the singers are friendly with each other today, Ellis-Bextor and Williams traded barbed words about each other in the late 1990s.

An episode of the former Take That star’s documentary series, Robbie Williams, included a clip of the “Murder on the Dancefloor” vocalist sharing her non-complimentary views on him during a conversation with radio DJ Jo Whiley.

“To me, he hasn’t got any charm about him,” a 19-year-old Ellis-Bextor said in the 1998 clip. “Why people embrace him, I find it baffling and it makes me a bit sad really.”

On Sunday (12 November), she posted a video talking about her comments after they resurfaced in the programme, expressing her long-held guilt for being “unkind”.

“I’m getting a lot of messages from people saying, ‘Wow, you are really not being very kind about Robbie’ – I know,” she explained in the new clip, as her young son Mickey plays in the background.

“I know it wasn’t very kind. It’s going to sound dramatic but in fact, it bothered me for about 20 years that I wasn’t very kind. I’m not raising my kids to not be kind.

“I just wanted to say I know I was horrible, I felt terrible, I said sorry. I didn’t even mean it, and Robbie was incredibly gracious.”

After calling the programme “brilliant” in her caption for the post, the singer further explained that it was a remark that stayed on her mind in the years that followed.

“I didn’t need to see it again to feel bad,” Ellis-Bextor wrote. “I genuinely have felt crappy about how I spoke for the 25 years since I said it. I thought it was clever to be gobby back then but it wasn’t cool then and it’s even worse to see it now. Not proud.”

The “Groovejet” singer also noted that she reached out to apologise to Williams “a few years back”.

“I found an address for Robbie and wrote him a note to say how sorry I was. He was very gracious and forgiving. We ended up meeting last summer and I spent time with him, his amazing wife @aydafieldwilliams and his gorgeous kids. It was lovely to be able to become friends and we have now made some songs together.

“I suppose the moral of this story is, as ever, be kind,” she continued. “To own your mistakes. And if you’re ever cruel, try to make sure it’s not filmed as it’s bloody brutal to see sharp-tongued teenage me after all these years!”

The documentary, which came out on 8 November, has been praised for showing Williams’ more vulnerable side as watches videos from his decades in the spotlight.

It also includes the “Angels” singer admitting to feeling jealousy towards former bandmate Gary Barlow.