Robbie Williams, 46, has revealed the reason he gave up seafood and started focusing on a plant-based diet.
In a recent radio interview, he talked about his eating habits, revealing that he was eating too much seafood, which led to mercury poisoning.
“I was eating fish twice a day and I’ve got the highest mercury poisoning the doctor has ever seen,” Williams said, according to Mirror UK.
“Do you know what I thought when I heard that? ‘I’ve won!’ That’s how my ego works, ‘I’ve got the highest…did you say the highest? Thank you,’” the former Take That member continued. “I literally won the mercury award.”
Williams went to give credit to his wife, Ayda Field Williams, 41, for encouraging him to get his mercury levels tested.
“I got my mercury tested because my wife’s neurotic and she gets all sorts of tests all the time,” he said. “Anyway, thank God, ’cause I could’ve dropped dead of mercury and arsenic poisoning.”
After finding high levels of mercury in his blood, Williams “went plant-based the next day.”
Mercury poisoning may affect the nervous system, leading to neurological symptoms such as nervousness or anxiety, irritability or mood changes, numbness, memory problems, depression and physical tremors, according to Healthline.
People with mercury poisoning may also experience symptoms such as muscle weakness, metallic taste in the mouth, nausea and vomiting, changes in vision, difficulty breathing, and difficulty walking or standing straight.
In 2017, Williams revealed another health scare when he was found to have some “abnormalities” in heart and brain scans.
At the time, he told The Sun, “I had blood tests done, and I had various scans including ones of my heart and my brain, and there were some abnormalities found, including something on my brain that looked like blood.”
“It’s very weird to go from being on tour to suddenly being in intensive care, but that’s where I found myself,” he added.
He also said at the time, “I’m a very anxious person, and that had also taken hold of my life, and I needed to find a way to deal with it. Once you’ve been on the planet for 43 years, you realize that, even if you’ve got everything that I have, you’re not invincible. So from now on, I’m going to look after myself a lot more carefully.”
Williams married Field in 2010. They share four children – Theodora Rose, 8, Charlton Valentine, 6, Colette Josephine, 2; and Beau Benedict Enthoven, who they welcomed via surrogate in February. The article organically appeared on PEOPLE.
