Robbie Williams is speaking out after a mysterious white substance was seen falling out of his mouth and onto his mic during an interview ahead of his 2026 FIFA World Cup Final performance.
“Just like to apologize for the object that fell onto the microphone yesterday. It was deeply unprofessional and people worried about me,” Williams, 52, said in a Monday, July 20, Instagram video. “But it’s OK ‘cause I have several more.”
In the clip, Williams then laughed as he stuck out his tongue to reveal two more mints.
“Just woke up and feeling…. Mint 😀 x,” Williams captioned the video.
Williams’ video comes one day after he made waves online when eagle-eyed fans noticed a mint popping out of his mouth while he spoke to a German TV station at the Sunday, July 19, championship game in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
In the viral clip, Williams picked up the small lozenge from the microphone without skipping a beat. He then held the mint in his hand before rubbing his forehead, with the bit getting stuck on his face.
Williams was on hand on Sunday to perform the official 2026 FIFA World Cup anthem “Desire” alongside Nicole Scherzinger and Laura Pausini as part of the World Cup closing ceremony.
The musician, for his part, has been candid about his struggles with substance abuse in the past.
“I was a fully-fledged, fully-blown, self-medicating addict,” Williams told The Irish Times in 2022, recalling his life in the ‘90s. “So unfortunately, it wasn’t a lot of fun — which is why I’m a sober person right now.”
He continued, “But it wasn’t as heady and as exciting as you might believe in movies and stuff. It was just sad and depressing and tiring, and y’know… the heart ached. And I was lost.”
Four years later, Williams reflected on his sobriety journey.
“I haven’t drunk in 25 years,” he told Spanish paper El País earlier this month. “That part isn’t difficult for me. The difficult part is dealing with life as it is. But now I trust myself. I don’t think that because I have a day of anxiety I’ll go out and do cocaine and relapse. I’ll simply sit with it and live with it. I know myself and trust myself more than before.”
Williams went on to admit that he “probably wouldn’t have started drinking or done drugs” if he could do something differently from his time in the group Take That.
“But then again, I’m all of these things because I did,” he explained. “I don’t know, if I had a time machine, that I would change anything. I just wouldn’t be as affected by mentally ill grown ups.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
