SARAH Harding has revealed how she turned down a date with Robbie Williams – and regrets not giving him a chance. The Girls Aloud singer’s autobiography, Hear Me Out, came out today, and inside Sarah details how rebellious pop star Robbie pursued her in the early noughties. She writes: “I was often attracted to rogues […]
SARAH Harding has revealed how she turned down a date with Robbie Williams – and regrets not giving him a chance.
The Girls Aloud singer’s autobiography, Hear Me Out, came out today, and inside Sarah details how rebellious pop star Robbie pursued her in the early noughties.
She writes: “I was often attracted to rogues and rebels back in the day, and yes, they seemed to like me too. So you won’t be surprised to hear that I dated one or two during my time in the band, or, in some cases, almost dated!”
Sarah and Robbie hit it off at Universal Music’s Brit Awards after party in 2003.
The Take That singer was at the height of his solo career success, scoring the Best British Male Solo Artist that night.
Sarah continues: “We got on really well; in fact, I felt a real connection between us. During our chat, I asked him how he dealt with the pressure of fame and celebrity, explaining how I was struggling a bit. He admitted to me that he also found it challenging and overwhelming sometimes. We spent a lovely time together, and I liked him, but I didn’t think anything else of it.”
She was shocked a week later when Robbie tried to get her number through a mutual friend.
“I got a call from one of our TV team at Polydor,” Sarah writes. “My friend Robbie wants your number,’ he said. ‘Who’s your friend Robbie?’ I answered. ‘You know, Robbie.’ ‘Robbie who?’ ‘Who do you think?’ he said. ‘You were talking to him for ages at the Universal do.’
“‘F**k off,’ I said. ‘Robbie Williams?’ Wow! I mean, I hadn’t even been in the band that long – only a few months, in fact – and here was one of the world’s biggest music stars asking for my number.”
Despite their connection, and the flattery of being pursued by one of the biggest stars in pop, Sarah let the opportunity slide.
She was in a relationship with ex-boyfriend Mikey Green at the time and felt it would have been unfair to him to explore things with Robbie.
Determined to hang out with Sarah again though, Robbie turned up unexpectedly at ITV Studios where the girls were performing on Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.
The Millennium singer dropped by their dressing room to say hello, but amid the excitement from her bandmates, Sarah struggled to speak to him.
“I even remember him trying to wangle a few minutes alone to talk to me. The rest of the girls were so excited that he’d come for a visit so it was hard to even get a look in. It’s funny, when I’d been on my own with him at the Universal party, I’d felt utterly relaxed, but with the other girls in the mix, I’d reverted to feeling like an ugly duckling. So unconfident.”
Kimberley Walsh and the Girls Aloud dancers went to a club with Robbie after the show, while Sarah missed out.
After hearing how much fun they had, Sarah was deflated.
“I regret missing out that night. I liked Robbie very much, and I’d have liked to have got to know him better then, even just as a friend,” she writes.
Both Robbie and Sarah have had well documented battles with drink and drugs in their careers, and she thinks it was probably for the best that fate kept them apart.
She says: “Can you imagine what might have happened if I had got together with him, given both of our histories?
“What a couple we’d have been, tearing around town! Perhaps it was for the best, after all. Although I sometimes think I’d like to rewind, just to see what might have been.”
Robbie went on to marry wife Ayda Field with whom he has four kids: Teddy, eight, Charlie, six, Coco, two, and Beau, one.
While Sarah has been less lucky in love, with ill-fated relationships with ex-fiancé Tom Crane, DJ Mark Foster, and most recently US star Chad Johnson.
