Robbie the recluse

Fifty-five million album sales (not even including his Take That days), more number ones than you can shake a stick at, billion-dirham recording contracts and a string of A-list girlfriends later, and ROBBIE WILLIAMS has turned into a tubby, unkempt shell of his former self.

Having become a virtual recluse at his LA mansion and ditched his actress girlfriend, AYDA FIELD, celeb pals are said to be worried about the once sociable star…

Doesn’t leave his house
Sources close to the star have revealed Robbie hasn’t left his LA mansion in over 12 weeks, and refused to attend the recent MTV VMAs. Last seen looking bearded and unkempt, Robbie has apparently been devoting his time to trying to discover if aliens exist.

Why? “Rob makes an album, tours, has a nervous breakdown,” revealed pal, NKOTB’s Danny Wood. “Then he makes an album, tours, has another nervous breakdown. That’s what he is supposed to do and that’s what people expect from him.”

Piled on the weight
Robbie’s battle with the bulge has been well-documented, and he famously put on weight after he quit Take That and the strict boy band dieting. And after he disbanded his football team, LA Vale, last year, after discovering that a pair of his teammates had ripped him off to the tune of Dhs1.3 million, he stopped doing any exercise.

Why? Almost completely friendless anyway, the money rows saw Rob lose all of his teammate pals amid a series of huge rows. “He ordered them all out of his house and told them not to come back,” said a pal.

Hurt over criticism
The 34-year-old is said to still be bitter after his last album, Rudebox, was critically panned and failed to sell as well as his previous offerings, and he cancelled his 2006 tour of Asia, citing exhaustion. And Robbie himself proclaimed in 2006, “I’ve got to… see if I want to be part of the machine any more, because I don’t see me singing again.”

Why? Needy and attention-loving, the failure of Rudebox hit him hard. But Danny Wood insists, “Don’t start chucking your record players out of the window, there’ll be another album.”