Robbie Williams wanted to start a clothing line to get away from being the "weird and fat" singer who was obsessed with aliens.
Robbie Williams admits his obsession with aliens made people think he is "weird".
The 'Angels' singer developed a fascination with extra-terrestrial beings after getting "burnt out" by his pop career and decided to turn his attention to fashion when he realised his new hobby was affecting his public image - and making him pile on the pounds.
Speaking about why he launched his label Farrell, he said: "Ever since I was 16 all I have been doing is make album, promote album, tour album... and I did that for 20 years.
"Then I got a bit burnt out and I was looking for something else. I thought that something else was making documentaries about UFOs.
"But that wasn't going to work out for me. It just made me weird and - at the time - fat. Weird and fat, looking at UFOs.
"So I thought I would reverse out of this situation, which was a PR nightmare, and my management put the idea [of a clothing line] to me."
The 38-year-old star - whose wife Ayda Field is due to give birth to their first child in the coming weeks - was ridiculed in the past for his interest in outer-space, notably when he claimed a UFO had visited him in his studio right after he penned a track about aliens.
He said: "I had just finished writing a song called 'Arizona', which is about alien abduction, when there was this glow. It was magic."
