Howard Donald understands Robbie Williams more after seeing his Netflix documentary.
Take That haven't all seen Robbie Williams' documentary
The 'Angels' singer - who quit Take That in 1995 amid tension with Gary Barlow but rejoined for their 2010 'Progress' album and tour - just released a self-titled four-part series in which he looked back on his life and career, and though his former bandmate has only seen the first episode, it's given him better awareness of the struggles Robbie was dealing with at the time and how they affected his behaviour.
Howard, 55, told The Sun newspaper: “I’ve seen the first episode of Robbie’s thing, and it’s great.
“It rewinds to the Nineties. And you know, I sent Robbie an email about it, actually, because back then when Robbie left we didn’t talk about stuff.
You don’t really understand what he was going through with his addictions and it must have been tough. No wonder he was rude and the way he was.
“And all this between Gary and Rob going back-wards and forwards, he wasn’t in a nice place with his mental health.
"Thank God there’s more awareness about it now and it’s been acknowledged. Luckily, I’ve never been in that position.”
Gary, 52, hasn't "got round to" seeing the docuseries yet because he is busy but he's aware that Robbie, 49, offered an apology for their feud.
However, he insisted it wasn't a "new thing" for him as they had resolved their differences some time ago, and the heart-to-heart discussions they had then meant more to him.
He said: “His apology came in 2010, so it’s not a new thing for me. And coming from the human’s mouth is more important.
“A lot of the things I hear are in the documentary, I’ve heard from him directly. So 2010 was an important period for all of us.
"To say, ‘Hey, come on, we did some good here, let’s not have it as a bad memory’. That’s how we look back on it. We try to take the good stuff from it.”
Meanwhile, remaining Take That member Mark Owen - who was closest to Robbie - thinks it was "brilliant" for his friend to have worked on the show, and the 51-year-old star has enjoyed being able to look back on his own history and be reminded of things he'd forgotten about their pop hey day.
He said: “It’s a brilliant thing for him to have done. I was up at his house while he was filming — it was quite tiring for him.
“When I look back at the band then, compared to now, I almost don’t remember parts and I don’t connect to it.
“I remember Rob going to Glastonbury, and Oasis, and the excitement for that.
"But it’s hard to remember how we felt — whether it’s because we were younger, travelling continents all the time.”
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