Monkeying with Superstardom: Why 'Straight Gay Man' Robbie Williams Couldn't Pass Up 'Better Man'

"So do you love me now?
Or did I let you down?
You said you wanted all my secrets
So I showed you all my demons"
– From "Forbidden Road," song from "Better Man"

"That's me. I'm a straight gay man!"
– From a chat with artist Robbie Williams

Brit pop superstar Robbie Williams, no stranger to controversy, daring, and sheer nerve, has taken another bold leap, under the masterful direction of Michael Gracey ("The Greatest Showman"), with the wildly original, batshit crazy, strangely moving new film "Better Man."

Based on the topsy-turvy-topsy-again (mix and repeat) life of the singer/songwriter, the madly extravagant, yet deeply personal, movie follows Williams from his childhood to being selected as one of five teens in the chart-busting boyband Take That to his astonishing solo career. Along the way he becomes addicted to booze, drugs, and fame. He's simultaneously giddy and anxiety-ridden on stage. He believes in himself too much, and... not enough.

Williams' Golden-Globe-nominated song, "Forbidden Road," co-penned with Freddy Wexler & Sacha Skarbek, made the Oscar shortlist last month, but was then disqualified for allegedly appropriating elements from Jim Croce's "I Got a Name."

"Better Man" is a stunning, genre-blending visual treat that takes audiences on that meteoric high and then sucker punches them when the subject begins to crash and burn, only – like a glorious Phoenix – to rise again into the stratosphere, though forever having that cloud of self-doubt and insecurity hanging over him. Adding to the mania, Williams is portrayed as a CGI monkey throughout the film!

The recent 4-part Netflix docu-series "Robbie Williams," also probes the artist's turbulent life.

As a solo artist, Williams has had seven UK #1 singles, 14 of his 15 studio albums reached #1 in the UK, and he's broken records with tour ticket sales. He's the recipient of 18 Brit Awards, among many other accolades. The magnitude of his success all over the world is staggering – oddly, except in Japan and the U.S.

Williams is currently in the middle of a worldwide tour. Cities and dates at this website.

EDGE had the pleasure of a chat with the singular artist about the new film.

EDGE: On my very first trip to London, in 2001, I was introduced to your music. There was something about your honesty, about how you always gave it your all – and still do – that really spoke to me.

Robbie Williams: Well, first of all, thank you very much. I am genuinely grateful that what I was beaming out, you picked up – as a very sensitive individual who needs people to recognize them and tell them they exist... When you say things like that, it touches me on a level that I'm very grateful for.

EDGE: Watching this batshit, crazy, brilliant biopic, it made me want to see you in an original film musical. Why hasn't that happened yet? And will it?

Robbie Williams: An original film musical. There are so many ideas that have yet to transpire, and yet to happen, and I suppose that I'm at the behest of the universe and people. I've got so many ideas of what I want to do that exist outside of the entertainment industry, because I kind of feel as though I've completed music, and now my attention is elsewhere. But that being said, I'm open to any idea, and who knows what this film is going to trigger for people, and who knows what this film is going to mean for me going forward. If one of those ideas is an original musical, then I am totally in.

EDGE: Let's discuss "Better Man," and how this wild collaboration with Michael Gracey first came about.

Robbie Williams: I became friends with Michael Gracey having met him at a party. My wife's best friend's father is Michael Gracey's lawyer... I met Michael, and we got on straight away, hit it off like a house on fire. And one thing led to another. The other thing that happened was that he asked me if I wanted to do a biopic about my life. And I am a professional attention seeker, and this was an opportunity too good to pass up. And here I am.

EDGE: And the monkey. I thought of "Me and My Monkey," a great Robbie song. Whose idea was it? And did you embrace it right away?

Robbie Williams: I guess that Michael Gracey understood that the genre of the biopic is now long and exhausted, and we needed a point of difference. He came up with this unique idea and then sold it to me, and it didn't take much. I was totally in, straight away. What is unusual is how contentious it has become in people's minds. I don't get how contentious it is, because I'm a great believer and a great fan of not everything having to make sense. The weird thing about the movie is that you forget about the monkey after eight to 12 minutes, and from then on in you have an experience that you've never had before. And it works on a level so profound that it makes more sense than a human playing a human. It's very strange.

EDGE: There's so much joy in this film. I think it captures your high highs, but also the low lows. The second half is pretty dark.

Robbie Williams: Yeah, it really is. It's the Greatest Hits of my trauma and grief for the TikTok generation.

EDGE: Much like the Netflix docu series where we see your incredible honesty. You, watching your life, and reacting to all of these (seismic) things. We don't get this from celebrities.

Robbie Williams: Well, I've spent my life, A. showing off to make myself known to the world – to forge a way in the industry that I find myself in – and, B. at the same time, trying to sabotage myself in so many different ways. It's been my raison d'etre and M.O. to figure out why I feel and think and react to the world in the way that I do. And whilst I'm trying to figure out why I feel and think and react to the world in the way I do, I'm telling people of my findings. I suppose that I'm a journalist, and my main subject is me.

EDGE: I want to ask about your appreciation for the Rat Pack. Can you discuss how they inspire you?

Robbie Williams: Well, there is a magic that is created when people use humor and silliness to elevate and alleviate your human experience. They also happen to be from a time where glamor existed and people were allowed to be stars in every sense of the word, so cynicism had yet to take hold – the media's need and want to cancel, eviscerate, destroy, and kill everybody, if not physically kill, emotionally kill. They existed in a period of time where everything was more naive, and there was something intoxicating about glamorous grown-ups behaving in a silly way to make you happy – also, at the same time, having extreme talent. So, the beauty in that, and the magic of that, was very believable, because they believed it.

EDGE: You were a nominee at the Golden Globes.

Robbie Williams: Yes. I was there.

EDGE: Was it fun?

Robbie Williams: It is what the entertainment industry is. It's a beautiful lie. And you can notice the lie and not consent and be cynical towards it, or you can notice the lie and embrace it and find it titillating and humorous, while at the same time feeling like a sex worker... as you're lining up saying, "Pick me, pick me. pick me." The entertainment industry as a whole has done such a great job in selling this lie. We love this lie. It's intoxicating. What goes on behind the scenes, before and after these events and sometimes during, are the most interesting aspects – way more interesting than the show itself. How it feels for everybody concerned – if it's not your first time where you're just taking it in, you're beguiled by it – after a while, at these things, you sit back and process it and look at what it is. And, basically, you're in training to be a police horse and not react to the overwhelming stimuli that is happening to you. It is unnatural. It is unhuman. It is weird. And also, at the same time, you're lucky and honored to be invited to the party. So, it's highly unusual, as every aspect of this industry is.

EDGE: "Forbidden Road," the song you were Globe nominated for, was disqualified from the Oscar shortlist. That's got to be frustrating. What is your reaction?

Robbie Williams: I am a deeply, deeply introverted [person] that does an extrovert's job for a living. I am also incredibly married to this project. It is so important to my life, and it is a gift for me and my family and my career. So, if I'm lucky enough and asked to turn up to something that will be conflicting in my soul, once again, to behave like an extrovert in an introvert's setting, I will do it for the film and my family... I find one aspect of it gratifying, and I am full of gratitude that I'm part of the conversation. Also, at the same time, I don't want to go. [Laughs] Here's two things that I feel: One is, "Oh, what a shame." The other one is, "Great! I don't have to go!" That is not what I'm supposed to say, I suppose. And I don't want anybody who runs these award ceremonies to think that I don't want to be part of the conversation, because I do. But, at the same time, I'm a journalist whose main subject is Robbie Williams, and this is how I'm reacting to it in the moment.

EDGE: I want to ask you about my country, and how we never seem to appreciate you the way the rest of the world does. What is our problem?

Robbie Williams: So, there is no problem. There have been thousands of acts that come to America, and they do the late-night shows, and they do the rounds of radio interviews. And I would say out of a thousand of those acts, 978 of them make no impact at all. My journey here, when I came, is more profound, because of the profound level of success I have everywhere else. I just happen to be one of the 978 acts that made no impact here at all. And it wasn't because America looked at me and shut its doors. It was just that they didn't notice I'd happened. And that's okay, too. Another thing about it is, I never broke Japan. But nobody mentions that.

Here's the thing, though, I've lived in America for 24-25 years, and I'm in love with your country. I'm in love with what it means to be American. I'm in love with what Americans think it is to be American. I'm in love with your country for how it treated me and healed me as a non-famous person that needed to learn how to be a human and to become sober. I'm grateful for the lifestyle here. I'm grateful for finding my American wife. I'm grateful for my American children. I'm grateful for the entertainment that America has afforded me and the rest of the world all my life. There is a lot that I have to be grateful to America for that exists outside of success in my chosen industry.

EDGE: Hoping "Better Man" changes all that.

Robbie Williams: Fingers crossed. That'd be fun. Now I'm old enough, wise enough, and cause less chaos for myself and those around me to appreciate the benefit of what that could do for me, but we'll see.

EDGE: I want to touch on your being a queer icon without needing to be gay. Maybe gay men hope you're gay because you speak to everybody who feels alienated and different.

Robbie Williams: You know, in a day and age where we can choose and represent ourselves in whatever way we see fit... I genuinely choose to be a straight gay man. That's me. I'm a straight gay man! I can do everything that I would need to do to be gay, apart from sleep with a guy. I am in! I'm not selling myself as an ally, which, of course, I am. I'm not pandering to a bit of society that needs pandering to. I'm telling you my honest thoughts. You've never met a gayer straight guy.

Robbie Williams's "Better Man" is currently in theaters.