Robbie Williams quit Twitter because he's convinced it would have "ruined" his career

Robbie told the Observer newspaper: "I'm not on Twitter. It would ruin my career. The last time I was on it, I did a tweet that said: 'I quite fancy getting into shoplifting. Has anyone got any good suggestions for shoplifting?'

"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?' I saw the backlash, and I was, like: 'I don't think Twitter is for me.' I got my fingers burned."

Robbie went on to insist he was worried his jokes would get him "cancelled". He added: "I'm Robbie Williams, so I'm in a certain box. I'm in a pop star box, and if the pop star starts acting differently from the way a pop star should, then it causes confusion, which I like, but it might also get me cancelled."

However, Robbie is a big fan of Instagram and admits he may spend a bit too much time dabbling on the site.

He said: "Since I am an addict, I guess I'm addicted to social media right now ... "

It comes after Robbie used a post on Instagram to admit he worried he was "ugly" when people stopped questioning his sexuality.

The 'Angels' hitmaker - who has four children with wife Ayda Field - reflected on how the "top search" for his name was people asking if he was gay, but now that "no one seems to mention it".

He was left wondering if it was because men had stopped finding him attractive.

Robbie shared a self-portrait on Instagram, in which he had coloured himself in rainbow stripes, and it bore the words: "For the longest time the top internet search for me was 'Is Robbie Williams Gay?' No one seems to mention it these days. So am I not gay any more?(sic)"

And in his caption, the 50-year-old star admitted: "When ''Robbie Williams Gay'' Stopped being the top Google search my genuine thought was ''Am I ugly now?''

"Not that I've ever thought I was a looker in the first place.(sic)"