Robbie Williams talks drug death encounter

Robbie Williams took "colossal, heart-stopping" amounts of prescription drugs and didn't care if he died.

The former Take That singer – who checked into an Arizona rehabilitation centre in 2007 – has confessed his addiction to medicines and powerful painkillers became so severe he believed he was hours away from death.

He told Britain's The Sun newspaper: "At the time you don't give a s**t if you pop your clogs. I must have been very, very close. I would have carried on, to be honest. You get to the point that far into your addiction, you're not bothered whether you live or die, because that's where it takes you.

"It was the American addiction. Prescription drugs… I would do 20 Vicodin in a night. It was a painkiller. Then I'd take Adderall, which was like speed for people with ADHD. I'd be doing colossal, heart-stopping amounts of that. You can buy Sativa, which is basically LSD for five minutes. It's powerful stuff.

"I was on my way out. I might have been a couple of days of 24 hours from dying."

The 35-year-old 'Bodies' singer finally entered rehab on his 33rd birthday - after his team urged him to seek help.

He explained: "My managers were supposed to see me on a Wednesday. I had a big blow up on Monday night and then on Tuesday I was on a sofa coming in and out of consciousness. Then I heard their voices and I thought, 'It's Tuesday. I bet you I'm going to rehab today.'

"They came in and I think they were expecting a fight. They sat down and said, 'Rob, you look f**king awful.' I said, 'I'll go rehab, you don't have to say f**king nasty things to me.' They had a plane waiting for me. I was sitting on this plane kicking the seats, I was so angry with myself."

Robbie admits his problems with addiction first started when he was a teenager and worsened during the early days of Take That.

He said: "When I started going clubbing at 16 we were on acid. Then it progressed into cocaine. Before the acid, heroin.

"I haven't had a drink for 10 years. It's a f**king miracle. I was a horrendous drunk.

"When I was 19 and went to the MTV Awards and did some Ephedrine, a stimulant, cocaine and some ecstasy. I was supposed to be doing this performance and there was black bile coming up. Our manager got a doctor in. After that I thought, 'I've got a problem. S**t.' I was 19."