Robbie Williams: 'I Paid £1.5m To Leave Take That'

Robbie Williams has claimed that he had to pay £1.5m in order to leave Take That.

The pop star has been relating the story of his departure from the boy band back in 1995 for BBC Radio 4's Mastertapes - and reckons he lost money overall in his time as a member of one of Britain's most famous pop acts.

He said: "For reasons I can't go into because certain people like suing me - and they like winning - there was a big need for me to get out of my contract and out of that record company.

"I think I made a million or something in Take That and then it cost me a million and a half to get out of the deal.

"So as a 20-year-old I ended up coming out of Take That owing £500,000."

And the 39-year-old has opened up about the personal circumstances surrounding his departure from the group.

Asked if he had quit or been fired, he said: "It was a bit of both. At the time I was drinking really heavily - and very young.

"I said to the boys, 'This will be my last tour.' We went for a curry the night before everything happened and we were taking a competition winner for a curry. It mustn't have been a very nice evening for them!

"I went back to the hotel and got drunk again, got up the next day, went into rehearsals and I wasn't in a very good way."

But he claims it was not his idea for him to leave before the previously agreed time.

"During the afternoon, Jason Orange said, 'Bob, we need to sit you down and have a chat.'

"'So you're going to leave after this tour and what we've decided is, we think it's best you go now, so we can prove we can do this as a four-piece. What do you think?'

"That was the opening of the door. That's all I needed."

The full interview will be broadcast this evening on Radio 4 at 11pm.

Robbie recently declared that he regretted going to rehab and dating Geri Halliwell.