Singer Robbie Williams has revealed that before returning to his music career in 2009 with the release of his album, 'Reality Killed The Video Star', he had to decided to retire and the three-year break between records marked that time period. 

He made the confession during a new interview with Q magazine and explained that when he bowed out of the spotlight it was because he had retired, but just chose not to announce it publicly: "Actually what happened was I'd retired. I didn't say anything but I'd retired."

Williams went on to explain that the industry was intimidating him and he was unsure of how he fitted into it all, so knew he had to take himself out of the situation in order to figure it out:

"I'd lost all my confidence and I was really f***ing scared of the world and scared of my place in it and scared of the industry. You know when Superman loses all his powers in 'Superman II'? I felt as though I'd given up my powers and couldn't do the thing that had commanded 135,000 people at Knebworth. All of a sudden, I didn't know how to do it. I'd got an album together but I was terrified to promote it."