Robbie Williams has disclosed that his former fiancée, pop singer Nicole Appleton was pressured by music industry bosses into aborting their unborn child in the 1990s.
The British music star has been talking openly about the tragedy as the new biopic about his life, “Better Man,” features a section about the abortion, which was included with Appleton’s permission.
Williams is extremely critical of his own role in what happened. While he had no part in coercing Appleton to abort their baby, he said he deeply regrets not doing more to stop the music executives from pressuring her into ending the baby’s life.
In an interview ahead of the biopic premiere, Williams said: “She was made to have an abortion of our child; it’s rough and triggering. This thing about Nic is the most difficult bit of the film for me.”
“Everybody else in the movie — they did something bad and I don’t mind throwing them under the bus. But when it comes to Nic, I was the person that did the bad thing — not talking about her getting an abortion. I didn’t do that,” he said. “But she’s wonderful, kind and brave and wants her part of the story shown.”
Appleton herself has been open about the abortion in the past and about her regret for having gone through with it.
She even claimed the experience left her suicidal. “I couldn’t believe what I had done,” she said. “I wanted to kill myself.”
Williams said the experience at the time “tore” him apart. Talking about the decision to feature the story in the new biopic, he said: “Hopefully this is a healing experience for me — and for her because she didn’t deserve the version of me that she got back then. I feel great shame that I didn’t represent myself in the best way because she deserves the best, and didn’t get it.’