- Music
- 28 Jun 17
The ex-Take That singer has offered a grovelling apology to Jim Page for a bizarre rant in which he claimed the legendary guitarist was grappling with mental health issues.
The two superstars are neighbours in west London and they had a falling out over Robbie's renovation plans for his home, which is being described as a "mansion" by the UK tabloids.
Robbie reportedly splashed out a staggering £17.5m in 2013 for the late film director Michael Winner's palatial home. And earlier this year builders hired by Robbie were fined £5,000 by the local council for making too much noise while carrying out the home improvements.
The falling out happened after Robbie slammed Jimmy Page for complaining about the works being carried out on his new home. "Jimmy has been sitting in his car outside our house, four hours at a time. He’s recording the workmen to see if they’re making too much noise," he claimed in an interview last November. "The builders came in and he was asleep in his garden waiting. It’s like a mental illness.”
But Robbie has now offered a public apology for his remarks. In a statement issued through a PR company, he states: I would like to offer my sincere apologies to Jimmy Page, my neighbour, for my comments made before Christmas about him in relation to my recent building works, in which I likened alleged behaviour on his part to suffering from a mental illness. Jimmy Page has explained to me that certain specific factual assertions which I made were in fact not true and I am happy to accept what Jimmy Page says.
“I understand why Jimmy Page will have found my comments offensive and I apologise for any hurt that they have caused him and his family as a result. I did not intend my comments – which, so far as I am concerned, were made privately – ever to be published. I regret that the press went on to report them and I hope that the press will now remove them.”
As Robbie sings on this song 'Shame', there are three versions of every story: "yours, mine and the truth."