Gary Barlow has reflected candidly on the cost of early fame, describing pop stardom at a young age as “highly unhealthy” and admitting that Take That’s meteoric rise placed the band in an abnormal, pressurised world before they were equipped to handle it.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, the Take That frontman looked back on his early twenties, when he became the group’s principal songwriter and de facto leader, and acknowledged the imbalance of power and pressure that shaped that era.
“There’s a lot of hubris in my story, definitely. I don’t want to sit here defending my actions,” Barlow said.
“We were really young guys, and none of us knew the future.”
Barlow found fame at just 20, but when Take That first split in the late 1990s his solo career faltered and he withdrew from the spotlight, later opening up about battles with bulimia and depression. He now says the industry environment itself played a major role.
“I was extremely ambitious, and I was in a scenario where people encouraged you, because the more ambitious I was, and the more money I made, the more money they made,” he said.
“The situation was unhealthy to start with. Being a bloody pop star at 20 is highly unhealthy. You can’t compare it to normal life.”
The comments come ahead of a new three-part Netflix documentary about Take That, which explores both the band’s success and the darker sides of fame. Barlow admitted the second episode, which focuses on that period, was particularly difficult to revisit.
“It took me about a week to get through that second episode,” he said.
“It was a really hard watch. A lot of the things in it, I haven’t thought about for a long time, and they’ve stayed with me.”
The documentary also addresses the impact of the split on the wider band. Howard Donald has previously spoken about struggling with depression at the time and admits fame has never sat comfortably with him.
“As much as I am blessed with the success, fame for me is a real struggle,” Donald said. “I don’t think I’ve ever got comfortable with it, even now.”
Take That have continued as a trio since 2014 following the departures of Robbie Williams and Jason Orange. Barlow joked that the group has reached its minimum size.
“I think three is as small as we’re gonna get,” he said.
Mark Owen added: “We could change it to Take Two.”
“That’s not a bad name,” Barlow replied.
