shell
04-22-2006, 07:04 PM
28/08/04
She's the one for Robbie -The Sun
IT'S not Nicole Appleton, Rachel Hunter, Anna Friel or Tania Strecker. In fact, the girl of Robbie Williams' dreams is ... his childhood sweetheart.
The millionaire singer dated pretty Rachael Gilson during his teenage years in Stoke-on-Trent.
And in his revealing new autobiography Feel, out next Wednesday, he admits he is still besotted with her more than 15 years on.
Robbie has famously dated some of the world's most beautiful and glamorous women - but he says it is former flame Rachael who fills his dreams every night.
He says in the book: "She was first, you know."
At one point he even uses the pages to talk to Rachael directly: "I'd ride six miles on my mountain bike to come and see you - which I did."
Robbie, now 30, adds: "She had a short black haircut pretty much like mine now, but a bit longer.
"I'm still very fond of Rachael. I think there's like a 'we can possibly still get it on' kind of thing.
"She loves me. She's just the sweetest, most unassuming, nice-natured, good-hearted, prettiest thing in Stoke-on-Trent."
Alas for lonely Robbie, Rachael had a boyfriend when the book was written late last year.
But he insists: "She doesn't love him as much as me."
The troubled star enjoyed a fleeting, carefree romance with Rachael - now 29 - when they were in their mid-teens.
He tells how he would visit her house in Stoke and hang out. On sunny days they would play tennis.
Rachael was a promising musician from an early age and even helped Robbie to learn a couple of chords on the guitar.
She also taught him how to play Prince's song The Cross - a track Robbie had never heard before.
The pair split in 1989 when Rachael moved to Manchester to start a modelling career.
Robbie had just joined Take That and was about to become part of pop history.
Despite high-profile romances with Geri Halliwell, Tania Strecker, Nicole Appleton, Anna Friel, Rachel Hunter and, most recently, new girlfriend Valerie Cruz, he has never been able to shake off his feelings for Rachael.
He even penned a romantic song about her concerning the innocence of teenage love - Win Some, Lose Some.
The lyrics include the lines:
She touched my face and called me her lover,
I never thought that I'd need another,
Now it's gone, now it's gone
Robbie included it on his second multi-million selling album I've Been Expecting You.
Today their lives could not be more different.
While Robbie lives alone in his sprawling Los Angeles mansion, Rachael is a part-time model with the Nemesis Agency in Manchester.
She enjoys a busy social life and lives with two male pals in the Withington area of the city.
Last night Rachael said she was touched by Robbie's dedication to her but remained coy about their romance and did not want to comment on his feelings for her.
Elsewhere in the autobiography Robbie reveals he went on secret dates with Hollywood stunner Cameron Diaz.
He also talks about his feelings after he lost out to Justin Timberlake in the battle for her heart.
She's the one for Robbie -The Sun
IT'S not Nicole Appleton, Rachel Hunter, Anna Friel or Tania Strecker. In fact, the girl of Robbie Williams' dreams is ... his childhood sweetheart.
The millionaire singer dated pretty Rachael Gilson during his teenage years in Stoke-on-Trent.
And in his revealing new autobiography Feel, out next Wednesday, he admits he is still besotted with her more than 15 years on.
Robbie has famously dated some of the world's most beautiful and glamorous women - but he says it is former flame Rachael who fills his dreams every night.
He says in the book: "She was first, you know."
At one point he even uses the pages to talk to Rachael directly: "I'd ride six miles on my mountain bike to come and see you - which I did."
Robbie, now 30, adds: "She had a short black haircut pretty much like mine now, but a bit longer.
"I'm still very fond of Rachael. I think there's like a 'we can possibly still get it on' kind of thing.
"She loves me. She's just the sweetest, most unassuming, nice-natured, good-hearted, prettiest thing in Stoke-on-Trent."
Alas for lonely Robbie, Rachael had a boyfriend when the book was written late last year.
But he insists: "She doesn't love him as much as me."
The troubled star enjoyed a fleeting, carefree romance with Rachael - now 29 - when they were in their mid-teens.
He tells how he would visit her house in Stoke and hang out. On sunny days they would play tennis.
Rachael was a promising musician from an early age and even helped Robbie to learn a couple of chords on the guitar.
She also taught him how to play Prince's song The Cross - a track Robbie had never heard before.
The pair split in 1989 when Rachael moved to Manchester to start a modelling career.
Robbie had just joined Take That and was about to become part of pop history.
Despite high-profile romances with Geri Halliwell, Tania Strecker, Nicole Appleton, Anna Friel, Rachel Hunter and, most recently, new girlfriend Valerie Cruz, he has never been able to shake off his feelings for Rachael.
He even penned a romantic song about her concerning the innocence of teenage love - Win Some, Lose Some.
The lyrics include the lines:
She touched my face and called me her lover,
I never thought that I'd need another,
Now it's gone, now it's gone
Robbie included it on his second multi-million selling album I've Been Expecting You.
Today their lives could not be more different.
While Robbie lives alone in his sprawling Los Angeles mansion, Rachael is a part-time model with the Nemesis Agency in Manchester.
She enjoys a busy social life and lives with two male pals in the Withington area of the city.
Last night Rachael said she was touched by Robbie's dedication to her but remained coy about their romance and did not want to comment on his feelings for her.
Elsewhere in the autobiography Robbie reveals he went on secret dates with Hollywood stunner Cameron Diaz.
He also talks about his feelings after he lost out to Justin Timberlake in the battle for her heart.