Robbie Williams was "scared" of Simon Cowell for 25 years.
The ‘Candy’ hitmaker may have bagged a judging role on the music mogul’s singing show ‘The X Factor’ alongside his wife Ayda Field and One Direction hunk Louis Tomlinson this year, but he has admitted he’s felt nervous around him since he snubbed the chance to sign his former band Take That in 1993.
Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper, he said: "I was terrified by him and really interested in him as a person. He was an incredibly interesting guy who I was scared of! He had a chance to sign Take That and he passed on it."
However, now that they work closely together on the ITV competition, the 44-year-old singer feels he’s really got to know Simon and "loves" him now.
He explained: "Everybody talks about him being the dark lord of the music industry, but the more I know him, the more I love him. He’s a visionary, he’s a genius and he’s unique. Everybody talks about him being the dark lord of the music industry, but the more I know him, the more I love him."
And it looks like the feeling is mutual as Simon, 58, recently said that having Robbie on the judging panel this year was "the best 10 million" he’s ever spent.
Simon said: "To be honest with you, yes – it’s the best £10million I’ve ever spent. In life you have to do things like this. I’d rather do this than do nothing.
"For me it’s exciting and makes it more thrilling. But with all three of them you can see they’re not just there because they’ve got a pay cheque. They’re really happy they’ve got this job and they’re making a difference."
Robbie Williams was ‘scared’ of Simon Cowell for years
