Robbie Williams hails ex-girlfriend “brave” after sharing “traumatic” abortion experience in his upcoming biopic

Image credit: Paramount Pictures screengrab via YouTube

Robbie Williams has hailed his ex-girlfriend Nicole Appleton as “brave” for allowing their story of how Appleton was pressured into aborting their baby by her record company to be shared in his upcoming biopic – an experience he has described as “traumatic” and “triggering”.

According to The Sun, Take That star Robbie Williams and All Saints star Nicole Appleton met in December in 1997 on Top of the Pops, where Williams “fell madly for Nicole”, but has recently said that he was “in no fit state” to commit to her due to his drink and drug abuse.

Scenes in his upcoming biopic, Better Man, which is due to be released on Boxing Day, show the couple decorating a nursery after they discover that Appleton is pregnant. Williams had reportedly said to Appleton at the time, whilst placing his hand on her belly that “this baby is saving my life”. However, this glimmer of hope tragically ends when Appleton is seen entering an abortion clinic at four months pregnant, after she was pressured by her All Saints record company into an abortion. Their relationship came to an end in 1999 after the abortion, however both are currently in happy marriages.

Williams has said that both himself and Appleton approved of the biopic’s script featuring this part of their relationship, where during the afterparty for the films’ premier in London, he called her “brave” for “allowing us to tell that bit of the story.”

During the screening in LA, Williams said that “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.”

Speaking after the premier in LA, Williams said about Appleton: “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.”

“So I FaceTimed her after she came out of the screening and it was a blub-fest. It was tears, tears, tears. In the middle of being able to talk, all we could say was, ‘Triggered,’” he added.

In another interview on his biopic with The Guardian, Williams spoke about the impact of the abortion, calling it “insane” that Appleton was made “to terminate a life because of being in a pop band. And because I lived through it, you’re kind of numb.” He added that the experience was incredibly sad and “traumatic, mainly for Nic, but also for me because I thought I was going to be a father in that moment and was happy to embrace that.”

Back in 2002, Appleton opened up in an autobiography about the abortion and how it impacted her.

“I couldn’t believe what I had done. I wanted to kill myself,” she said, adding that “writing about it made me confront it all, and I’m so glad I did.”

Williams and Appleton are among a range of pop stars that are beginning to open up about the pressure to have an abortion and the impact it has had on them. Former Pussycat Doll star Kaya Jones has recently shared how she was pressured into having three abortions during her career, and spoke at this year’s All Ireland Rally for Life about her regret over the abortions and how the music industry exploits women. 

Britney Spears has also opened up about her “agonising” abortion experience after being pressured by her then boyfriend Justin Timberlake, as well as her younger sister Jamie Lynn who revealed she was pressured by her family to abort her daughter when she became pregnant at 16. Other revelations have come from Italian actress Ornella Muti and late Irish singer Sinead O’Connor.

Sandra Parda of the Life Institute commented saying: “This is heartbreaking to see how much the loss of a precious unborn child has impacted both Robbie Williams and Nicole Appleton, but we applaud their bravery, alongside other celebrities, for opening up and sharing their experience of the devastating consequences abortion really brings.”

“Society acts like a child will ruin a woman’s life, but this is not the case. Stories like these should be sending a crystal-clear message: women need to be offered love and support to welcome their unborn child when facing an unexpected pregnancy, not be forced into an abortion.”