Robbie Williams: “Unlike lots of celebs, I only take a private jet if I really need to”

The singer-songwriter loves Austria and Vegas – but nothing beats British holiday camps.

Golf is my recent addiction

What I need from a holiday depends on what addiction I’ve got at the time. Golf is an acceptable middle-aged addiction. The 1990s would have been very different! Just give me a golf course and I’m happy. It gives me purpose. I get to raise my serotonin levels, walk for five miles, better my handicap. There’s also meditation involved because I’m just thinking about the next shot. I’ve got a chequered past with the sport, but my handicap is currently 12. Since lockdown I’ve been playing online – it does the job but obviously it’s not the same.

Some of the best holidays have cost me nothing!

My dad worked as an entertainment manager and compère at holiday camps, like Perranporth, Great Yarmouth and Scarborough. I used to live with him for three weeks in the summer. I’ve spent tens of thousands on holidays since then and those early days were still the best. Simple pleasures are what I aim for. I don’t do vulgar displays of wealth.

We love to ski

Normally we’d go at least once a season. I love Aspen, Zermatt for the views, Courchevel, Lech and Ischgl. Any place that my wife Ayda sees on the TV, she just points at and says, “We’ve got to go there.”

I’ve just learnt to go, “Yes darling”, because, as the saying goes, “Happy wife, happy life”. But if we went everywhere she wanted to, I would never be working again in my life.

Pre-pandemic, I was on the road a lot. In 2019 alone I went to Formentera, Ibiza, Marseille, Romania, Dubai, the United States, Australia and Austria.

Before my wife came along, living in Los Angeles was like a vacation

I wasn’t adventurous and didn’t feel the need to go anywhere. She smoked me out of the house and then the kids smoked me even further out. I would have been a happy Howard Hughes hermit if it wasn’t for them.

I love Mustique because it offers privacy

I have never seen a paparazzo there and you can breathe and let your stomach out. Apart from its outstanding beauty and hospitality, what also makes it unique is that it’s cashless. You don’t need any money or credit cards because you sign for everything.

The family comes with me while I’m on tour as we love being a unit

The kids are homeschooled, but they do plenty of activities and sports with other kids their own age. We’re terrified of raising maladjusted brats.

Hawaii has been one of our favourite family holidays would only take a private jet if it was a necessity. I’m not perfect, but I try in little ways.

Two years ago, we went there to celebrate my daughter Coco’s first birthday. We went ziplining, swimming with dolphins and night-snorkelling with manta rays. My sons Teddy and Charlie also had their first golf lesson there. As long as I have my laptop, mobile and antidepressants in my hand luggage, then I’m happy! My needs are few.

Travel disasters? I’ve had plenty But none of them are publishable in a respectable paper!

Pre-children, one of the most remote places I’d visited was Tetiaroa in French Polynesia

It’s a small island near Tahiti, which was once Marlon Brando’s private island before being turned into a private luxury resort. It’s a drag to get to – taking a day and a half of travel – but the people are great and the villas are faultless. However, I need a bit more action, whatever it is, or a golf course. And there was neither.

Austria is one of my favourite places to perform

When I first went in the 1990s, I was told not to be fazed if the audience wasn’t very warm. But I had the best audience ever. They treated me like I was a rock god, like the best version of Michael Jackson, and it’s been the same way every time I’ve gone back. I also love performing in Germany, Ireland and Australia.

A bit of action

Opposite: Robbie’s love of golf has led to a J.Lindeberg collab. This page, from top: Ski-ing, Switzerland; swimming with dolphins, Hawaii; Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is like Marmite – you’ll either love it or you’ll hate it

Everyone knows what Vegas is about and what it has to offer. I would say go, get it out of your system and you might be pleasantly surprised!

I’m trying to be more conscious of my carbon footprint

Unlike a lot of jet-setting celebs, I

There’s nothing I hate about travelling ...now that you can get a WiFi signal just about anywhere

The Crowne Plaza in Melbourne is one of my favourite hotels I love the waterfront views, its proximity to lots of great restaurants and shops, and its grandness. It feels like I’m going home when I go there. CT

Interview by Sarah Ewing