Robbie Williams told fellow anxiety sufferer Zayn Malik to be brave and confident to deal with the debilitating condition.
The former Take That singer was talking to U.K. radio station Key 103 about the 23-year-old star, who publicly announced he was dealing with issues to do with anxiety when he pulled out of gigs earlier this year (16).
Zayn hit the headlines when he released a statement after he cancelled his headline set at Capital's Summertime Ball in London in June, revealing he was suffering with "the worst anxiety of my career".
"I cannot apologise enough but I want to be honest with everyone who has patiently waited to see me. I promise I will do my best to make this up to everybody I've let down today. I know those who suffer with anxiety will understand and I hope those who don't can empathise with my situation," he said at the time.
Robbie reached out to the former One Direction member, and gave him some encouraging words of advice. "To young Zayn, well he’s kind of been pulling out of promo and stuff. And I know that he suffers with anxiety. And I think that, the one bit of advice, I know it’s a bit therapy-speak, but I think that people sort of assume that one day you’re gonna find your confidence and you will step into that confidence and it will find you," he said.
"It doesn’t come but what you can be is brave. So, I would say to Zayn, just be brave mate. Just be brave. You might never be confident but you can be brave. That’s (all) I’ll say. Even if you’re scared just do it anyway," the veteran pop star said.
Despite selling millions of records during his time with boyband Take That and as a solo artist, Robbie confessed he still finds it hard to perform to sell-out crowds.
"That’s what makes me nervous. A lot of the time I’m not nervous but when I am it’s debilitating and it’s traumatic," he shared. "I get on stage and most of the time, Robbie Williams turns up and it’s good and we’re swinging and everything’s great. And then sometimes I get up and I’ll just see tens of thousands of people and I’m there alone, by myself and yeah, it’s traumatic and weird."
Robbie insists things are much better now. "It used to happen an awful lot but it doesn’t happen a lot these days. It still can do, and yeah, it’s scary. But most of the time now, I’m not scared at all."
