Robbie Williams diagnosed with autism. “Explains a lot”

Robbie Williams diagnosed with autism.

Singer Robbie Williams, who had previously shared the diagnosis of PHDA, now revealed that he was also diagnosed with autism. “It’s my ticket out of prison,” he joked.

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15/08/2026
by

Marina Gonçalves

Robbie Williams was answering some questions at the launch of the autumn/winter collection of his Hopeium clothing brand at Flannels store, and revealed that he was diagnosed with “a little autism,” according to the Daily Mail. 

 

The artist admitted that he is still struggling with “intrusive thinking”, having explained that he learned to “train his brain to be creative” in an attempt to block things that could make him “enter into panic or be afraid.”.

“I have PHDA [Hyperactivity Disorder with Attention Deficit] and I’ve just discovered that I also have a little autism, which I love, in fact, because it explains a lot”, he said, but not forgetting to talk about the theme with its characteristic humor.

“ Now it's my ticket out of prison. And for all the strange things I can say, I can simply add: “I am sorry, I am autistic”

“With PHDA you focus on one thing at 1,000%, but you can’t do it with everything else. Ask my children”, he added. 

“What completely falls in love with me is creating images and inventing funny things. When I am creating images and funny things, I don’t think about myself, because my brain is incredibly creative and can be creative about everything that causes you panic or fear,” he explained later, sharing a recent example.

“ To get an idea of how crazy I am recently I was sitting on a plane and I thought, “what if I can have telekinesis and my intrusive thoughts tell the plane to crash?” That's the kind of crazy I'm dealing with. It is better to train my brain to do something better than to worry about having supernatural powers and crash an airplane.”

In addition to these diagnoses, Robbie Williams – who will perform at the Meo Kalorama festival in Portugal on August 28th – has been fighting various vices since reaching fame in the early 1990s. The successful theme singer “Angels” has been admitted to rehabilitation clinics several times to treat addictions such as alcohol. 

Autism: The recent controversy between Joana Marques and actress Mafalda Matos

To remember that, recently, Joana Marques took to the “Extremely Displeasing”, Radio Renaissance, recent videos of Mafalda Matos where the actress talks about her condition as autistic. After this episode, in tears, Mafalda Matos accused Joana Marques of humiliating her.

The theme was much commented, above all, on social networks and Joana Marques ended up speaking days later, when she was in the podcast “What to do when everything burns”, the Public. 

In the podcast, Joana Marques explained that it is not customary to answer the polemics of these “because otherwise it was an endless work”, but that the idea of satire was the fact that Mafalda Matos defined himself as “autistic, as if it were his only characteristic”.

“ You don't have to agree with me, that's not it, but try to make them see that, whether you like what's said or not, there's never been a joke about autism. I think it is too literal an interpretation and it is a problem with which I am faced several times”, he wrote, adding that “it is very easy to reduce this to “jous with autism” and to this idea that it is forbidden”.

Joana Marques answers the controversy with Mafalda Matos: “There was no joy there”

Joana Marques was on the podcast “What to do when everything burns”, the Public, and reacted to the controversy about the episode of “Extremely Displeasing” about actress Mafalda Matos. “Mafalda and his neurodivergent friends” generated a wave of criticism from caregivers and those with the condition.

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