Robbie Williams hit by '17th century pirate disease' and forced to overhaul diet

Superstar says he got so undernourished that he was diagnosed with scurvy.

The star had turned last year to an appetite-suppressant drug to lose weight, and shed nearly two stone. But he says: “I’d stopped eating and I wasn’t getting nutrients." He was so vitamin C deficient he was even diagnosed with scurvy.

“A 17th century pirate disease,” Robbie told the . Asked what Ayda said to him when he was getting too thin, he replied: "With , when people say they’re worried about how you’re looking, you’re like: ‘I’ve achieved it.’ When people say: ‘we’re worried you’re too thin’ that goes into my head as ‘jackpot. I’ve reached the promised land.’”

Robbie was opening up to the Mirror's Tom Bryant in ahead of his massive new tour.

In it, he also talked about how he had been hit by depression for the first time in 10 years. And he says he realised that it could be linked to his diet - forcing him to overhaul it.

Robbie says that he found the return of his depression particularly hard to deal with when he thought he had his mental health under control. He was first diagnosed with depression in his twenties, and has , anxiety and agoraphobia.

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He said: “The year started with some ill , which I haven’t had for a very, very long time,” he says “I was sad, I was anxious, I was depressed."

He continued: “It’s been about ten years...I thought I was at the other end of the arc,” he says. “I thought this was the end of my story, and that I would just go walking into this marvelous wonderland. So for it to return was just confusing.” Thankfully, the dark cloud has now lifted.

Robbie also opened up about how his 10-year-son Charlie was his biggest fan...eventually.

“I did this gig in to 125,000 people, the place was going wild, and I’m singing ….but Charlie has just got his head down playing on his iPad,” Robbie laughs.

“But at , I came off, and afterwards, he was just looking at me with these wide eyes, like he had a moment of recognition that his dad was somebody other than somebody that tells him to stop misbehaving or the dad police.”

For the time being his focus is on preparing for his huge stadium tour which kicks off in on May 31, before shows in London, Manchester, Bath and Newcastle. It comes after a frenetic - and highly successful - 12 months for the star promoting last year’s , as well as his upcoming art exhibition Radical Honesty.

“I’ve set myself out with this giant task in my own mind of being the best entertainer on the planet,” he says of the tour. “And I know that sounds egoic and narcissistic, but I’m sure that and didn’t want to be the sixth best football player in the if they were given the opportunity.”

Robbie Williams will tour the UK, Ireland and Europe this summer, opening on May 31 in Edinburgh.

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