Robbie Williams recalls ‘rude’ airport encounter with Cher

Robbie Williams has expressed regret over an uncomfortable interaction with Cher.

The “Let Me Entertain You” singer, 50, met the pop icon, 78, when they were introduced by a mutual friend at the airport where Cher was travelling to the south of France.

Williams turned his back on Cher and went to sit down while she was still speaking – a mistake that is keeping him up at night.

Speaking in a video posted to Instagram, Williams said he had intended to make the conversation as “painless as possible” for Cher.

“Looking for a natural break or ending in the conversation I made my excuses to go sit down,” he said. “This was not for me but for her.”

"Alas, I don’t think Cher had finished talking which made my exiting our brief interaction seem rude," Williams continued.

The former Take That member said he would think about his mistake for “the next 25 years” when “beating myself up at 4am”.

Williams admitted he’d also put his foot in his mouth by assuming Cher was travelling to St Tropez for a shopping trip, telling her to “buy well and barter”.

“Cher looked confused and I went to the toilet mainly to headbutt the wall, lamenting my stupidity,” he said.

It comes after Williams recalled a joke that almost landed him in hot water after a reader objected to it on social media last month.

The singer told The Guardian he had to come off X/Twitter after making a questionable joke about stealing.

“I did a tweet that said: ‘I quite fancy getting into shoplifting. Has anyone got any good suggestions for shoplifting?’” he said.

“The person who runs Gail’s, the bakery, said: ‘This is awful. This is a pop star who lives in a bubble. How dare he?’

Williams added: “I saw the backlash, and I was, like: “I don’t think Twitter is for me.” I got my fingers burned.”