British music star Robbie Williams has revealed that his former fiancée, pop singer Nicole Appleton, was pressured by music executives into aborting their preborn child during the 1990s.
Williams’ admission came as a new biopic about his life, “Better Man,” includes the storyline about the abortion, which was shared with Appleton’s permission. Williams said that while he was not responsible for coercing Appleton to abort, he wishes he had done more to step up and stop the executives at All Saints’ record company from pressuring her.
‘She was made to have an abortion of our child; it’s rough and triggering,” he said ahead of the premiere. “This thing about Nic is the most difficult bit of the film for me.”
“Everybody else in the movie — they did something bad and I don’t mind throwing them under the bus. But when it comes to Nic, I was the person that did the bad thing — not talking about her getting an abortion. I didn’t do that,” he said. “But she’s wonderful, kind and brave and wants her part of the story shown.”
READ: Maya Henry, former fiancée of Liam Payne, says she was once pressured into abortion
Appleton has previously spoken about the abortion, mentioning it in her 2002 autobiography, where she wrote that Williams thought the baby was “saving his life.” After she aborted at four months pregnant, she said the experience left her suicidal. “I couldn’t believe what I had done,” she wrote. “I wanted to kill myself.”
“Writing about it made me confront it all, and I’m so glad I did,” she said. “It was there, but I’d never told anyone the details. It was like I was saying, ‘Now do you understand why my confidence disappeared?’ ”
Appleton wrote that after the abortion, she felt isolated, as “everyone pretended it hadn’t happened.” Williams, however, said it “tore” him apart. The couple broke up following the abortion.
Williams said he hopes sharing their story will help them both heal from the trauma of abortion.
‘Hopefully this is a healing experience for me — and for her because she didn’t deserve the version of me that she got back then,” he said. “I feel great shame that I didn’t represent myself in the best way because she deserves the best, and didn’t get it.’
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