Robbie Williams shares footage of moment he proposed to Nicole Appleton over phone as he admits he was ‘incapable’ of commitment

Robbie Williams reflects on his turbulent relationship with All Saints star Nicole Appleton in his revealing new Netflix documentary.

The Take That star, 49, has opened up about his career and relationships in the four-part series, and in episode one he looked back on his Nineties romance with Nicole, 48.

Home video footage shows the pop couple in the early days of their romance after meeting on Top Of The Pops in 1997.

Footage then shows the moment a smitten Robbie, who was in the middle of his hugely successful solo career at the time, proposed during a short telephone conversation.

Reflecting on the nine-month relationship, which saw the couple split several times, Robbie explains how he was ‘not fit’ to commit.

Life Thru A Lens: The Take That star has opened up about his life and career in the four-part series, and in episode one he reflected on his Nineties romance with Nicole

Using footage from the early weeks of their romance, Robbie says it was inevitable that his and Nicole’s paths would cross thanks to their parallel pop careers.

“She was kind and fun and sweet, you know she’s just a good soul,” Robbie says in the documentary. ‘My relationship with Nic made it very important for me to learn to become the man I needed to be.’

But he admits he wasn’t ready for a relationship, explaining how after joining Take That at the age of 16, “nobody rounds off childhood fame in a balanced way.”

‘The years of finding yourself, maturing and growing up that everyone takes away from you.

Robbie is then seen on a quick phone call while on the road, proposing to Nicole.

“I guess I’m trying to convince myself that I’m the kind of person who’s ready for that kind of commitment, I know I’m not,” Robbie says in voiceover.

‘I couldn’t take care of myself. I was unable to offer myself as a partner and the relationship with Nic ended a few months later.’

Robbie describes how he felt ‘like a child in an adult world’ at the time.

He had enjoyed huge success in his post-Take That career with the release of Angels in 1997, but struggled with an ongoing addiction to alcohol and drugs, which started in his boy band days.

For example: Reflecting on the nine-month relationship, Robbie, who was in the middle of his hugely successful solo career at the time, explains how he was ‘not fit’ to commit

Throwback: Home video footage shows the pop couple in the early days of their romance after meeting on Top Of The Pops in 1997

Not a suitable state: “I guess I’m trying to convince myself that I’m the kind of person who’s ready for that kind of commitment, I know I’m not,” Robbie says in voiceover

‘I took everything I could get my hands on: ecstasy, cocaine, drinking. I literally drink like a bottle of vodka the night before I go to rehearsals, so that happens every night,” he says.

Nicole revealed her side of the relationship and breakup in her 2002 autobiography Together, in which she wrote how she became pregnant with Robbie’s baby but had an abortion under pressure from All Saints’ record company.

Recalling Robbie’s reaction to her pregnancy at the time, she said: ‘Robbie Williams put his hand on my stomach and said to me, ‘This baby saves my life.’

Robbie supported his ex’s decision to write about the abortion in her autobiography, but later admitted that reliving it had ‘torn him apart’.

Nineties power couple: Talking about footage from the early weeks of their romance, Robbie says it was inevitable that his and Nicole’s ‘paths would cross’ thanks to their parallel pop careers

“I fully supported her… If there’s something that’s so deeply ingrained within you that you feel like it would be better for you if you exorcised it and got it off your chest, because secrets can make you sick and secrets can make you sick. feel terrible… then I fully support her,” he previously told the Ny Breaking.

Nicole dated Liam Gallagher two years after splitting from Robbie, with the two marrying in 2008 and welcoming their son Gene, now 22.

The former couple divorced in April 2014 after splitting in 2013 when she discovered he had fathered a child with American journalist Liza Ghorbani.

Nicole is now in a ‘beautiful second marriage’ to Stephen Haines and mother to Gene and her daughter Skipper, three.

Robbie, meanwhile, shared four children with his wife of 13 years, Ayda Field.

Robbie Williams, a four-part documentary series, is available on Netflix.