For the best part of thirty years, Robbie Williams has been delighting audiences around the world with his musical genius and phenomenal performing skills.
Whether it was taking to the stage with Take That back in the early 90s, through to launching his own thriving solo career, Robbie has continued to captivate fans with his music and impressive stage presence.
But one area of his life that many fans have been left curious about, is his love life, with many intimate details of his romances over the years having been kept private.
However, as part of his new Netflix documentary, Robbie has finally opened up about the ins and outs of his rise to fame, including some of the high profile romances in his life.
Among these romances, was his whirlwind love affair with All Saints singer Nicole Appleton, which latest for a number of months back in 1997 - and even lead to a very spontaneous telephone proposal of marriage!
Although the romance ultimately didn’t last and Robbie has since found love with his wife Ayda Field, it hasn’t stopped fans from being curious about what exactly happened between Robbie and Nicole.
Here, we take a closer look at all the details from their short-lived 90s romance.
First Meeting
In the first episode of Robbie’s documentary series, the star looked back on his nineties romance with Nicole, 48 with home video footage showing the couple in the early days of their romance.
It was here that fans learnt that Robbie and Nicole first met while appearing on Top of the Pops back in 1997 and soon struck up a friendship which blossomed into something more.
However, despite a promising start, during their nine month long relationship, the couple split multiple times, with Robbie even recalling how he was in “no fit state” to commit to a meaningful relationship at the time.
He said: "She was kind and fun and sweet, you know she's just a good soul. With my relationship with Nic, it was very important to me to learn to become the man I was supposed to be.”
Marriage Proposal
One memorable highlight of his relationship, was the now infamous moment in which Robbie asked Nicole to marry him over the phone - something which may well have served at the kiss of death to their relationship.
A clip of the call was shared in the show, which saw Robbie ringing Nicole to ask her the all important question while he was travelling on the road, however sadly the relationship didn’t last for too much longer after that.
In a voice over, Robbie said: "I guess that I'm trying to convince myself that I'm the kind of person that is ready for that kind of commitment, I know I'm not. I couldn't look after myself I was in no fit state to offer myself as a partner and the relationship with Nic ended a few months after this.”
Baby Heartbreak
Another aspect of the couple’s relationship, is their heartbreaking decision to undergo an abortion after Nicole fell pregnant with Robbie’s baby.
Recalling Robbie's reaction to the pregnancy at the time, Nicole said: "Robbie Williams put his hand on my belly and told me, 'This baby is saving my life.'"
However, following pressure from her record company, Nicole made the difficult decision to terminate her pregnancy - a choice Robbie supported.
The singer was also supportive of Nicole’s decision to share such a personal aspect of their life in her book, however Robbie did confess that he had found it hard to relive that pain again.
He previously told the Daily Mail : "I was completely behind her... If there's something that's so deep-rooted within yourself that you feel it would feel better to you that you exorcised it and got it off your chest, because secrets can make you sick and secrets can make you feel terrible... then I'm completely behind her.”
