Take That fans across the country were left so distraught after the band broke up in 1996 that helplines were set up to support the grieving fanbase. Yes, really. The tale of national woe started in July 1995 when one of the band’s most beloved members, Robbie Williams, made a shock exit after a series of personal and professional struggles.
![[Take That - Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald.]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_234106530-1557.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
The remaining members Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald followed hot on his heels in February 1996 with plans to pursue solo careers. Although short-lived, the boy band had made their mark with chart-topping hits such as Pray, Relight My Fire and Everything Changes, As such, the news was a devastating blow to the devoted, wide-spanning fanbase.
![[Jason Orange, Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Howard Donald and Robbie Williams]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_212520294-dc24.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Now fans are taking a trip down memory lane at the ‘hysteria’ that gripped thousands during that era as Robbie released his CGI monkey biopic, Better Man, in cinemas. Especially in response to the ongoing discourse that Robbie, and the band, never quite managed to make it in the US.
![[Take That perform at The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow, 1993]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-2155914982.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
‘In Better Man, they quietly glossed past the TRUE story that when Robbie Williams left Take That they had to open a support hotline for people to call, such were the levels of hysteria around the band. ‘I don’t think Americans quite understand the spotlight these guys were under,’ @jesshawthorn wrote on X.
![[Take That]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-1792557763.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
