Robbie Williams felt as though he was "too f***ed" himself to help Zayn Malik when his team reached out to him.
Robbie Williams for GQ Hype
The 'Rock DJ' hitmaker has revealed that someone working for Zayn called him in a bid to help the former One Direction star cope with his anxiety and other demons.
Although Robbie accepts that he was "a poster boy for broken people" he didn't have the heart to tell Zayn, 26, that things go downhill in showbiz and won't necessarily get better.
The 45-year-old singer told GQ Hype magazine: "When Zayn was going through it, his people reached out to me to give him a call to help him. And I was thinking, 'Help? But I'm f***ed too.' I didn't want to f***ing phone the kid and tell him there's no hope. You don't want me on that phone call going, 'Hey, I know you're only 24 right now but it can only get worse. It is going to get f***ing worse.' "
Robbie has felt great the last 18 months and actually would get in touch with Zayn now if the opportunity arose.
He said: "I'd take that phone call now, yeah. But at that particular time, you don't want me on that phone call."
Robbie has previously battled drug and alcohol abuse but has now been sober for 19 years.
He can remember some of the lowest points of his substance abuse, including how he spent one Christmas Day high on speed whilst visiting sick children with Take That.
He said: "We went to visit a children's hospital. I'd been in the pub all night, and I necked a gram of speed and just carried on. I'm in a children's hospital off my head on speed ... and then the dramatic come down. Like a huge, huge comedown later on that day. So that was the Christmas in Take That I remember."
The 'Let Me Entertain You' singer admitted that living in Los Angeles had put him in the way of temptation but those days are behind him now, especially as he spends a lot of his time at his home in England with his wife Ayda Field and their three children.
Robbie said: "Weed is a bit like a chocolate bar. If there's a Kit Kat in the room, I'm going to eat the damn Kit Kat. In LA, weed is now like having a coffee."
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