Sarah Harding reveals ‘real connection’ with Robbie Williams after bonding over fame ‘struggles’

Sarah Harding has reflected on her ‘real connection’ with Robbie Williams after they bonded over their ‘struggles’ with fame.

In an extract from her new book Hear Me Out, the Girls Aloud singer, 39, recalled how she and the Rock DJ hitmaker, 47, bonded when they met at a BRIT Awards after party in 2003. 

Sarah explained she shied away from Robbie’s romantic advances because she was in a relationship with ex-boyfriend Mikey Green at the time – but now sometimes thinks she’d ‘like to rewind, just to see what might have been’.

In the extract, serialised by Metro, Sarah detailed their conversation at the Universal Music party, when Robbie had just won the best British male solo artist award at the BRITs.

She wrote: ‘We got on really well; in fact, I felt a real connection between us. During our chat, I asked him how he dealt with the pressure of fame and celebrity, explaining how I was struggling a bit.

‘He admitted to me that he also found it challenging and overwhelming sometimes. We spent a lovely time together, and I liked him, but I didn’t think anything else of it. ‘

Sarah said that following their chat, Robbie asked for her phone number through a mutual friend, and although she was ‘flattered’ and may have been ‘tempted’, she declined because she was dating Mikey.

In order to see the blonde beauty again, the Angels crooner then turned up when Girls Aloud were recording an episode of Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.

Unfortunately, Sarah didn’t realise his intentions until it was too late, and didn’t get wind of bandmate Kimberley and some of their dancers hitting a club with Robbie after the TV recording.

In her book, Sarah said: ‘I regret missing out that night. I liked Robbie very much, and I’d have liked to have got to know him better then, even just as a friend.

‘Mind you, can you imagine what might have happened if I had got together with him, given both of our histories? What a couple we’d have been, tearing around town!’

Sarah then resigned herself that things ended the way they did ‘for the best’ but confesses that she sometimes thinks she’d ‘like to rewind, just to see what might have been.’

After Sarah competed on Popstars and landed a spot in Girls Aloud, her two-year relationship with mechanic John Turnbull didn’t survive her new-found fame.

She fell into the arms of fellow Popstars contestant Mikey Green in 2002, but within a couple of years was single again

During the years that followed she was briefly linked to the likes of footballer George Best’s son Calum and Welsh T4 presenter Steve Jones.

She also crossed romantic paths with Jennifer Lopez’s ex-husband Cris Judd and dated Hollywood actor Stephen Dorff.

In 2011, DJ Tom Crane, her boyfriend of four years, proposed in the Maldives. He ended things later that year, six months before their planned wedding.

In 2017 she won the final series of Celebrity Big Brother, but a three-month relationship with fellow housemate, U.S. reality star Chad Johnson, ended because of the long-distance nature of their relationship.  

Robbie Williams married Ayda Field in 2010, and the couple are doting parents to Beau, one, Coco, two, Charlton, six, and Teddy, eight.