Robbie Williams officiates wedding at Better Man screening

On By Littum

Robbie Williams took on a surprise role as a wedding officiant at a screening of his new film Better man in New York.

On January 12, blogger Ezra Cubero shared photos on X/Twitter showing Williams, 50, standing in front of a couple while wearing a leopard print coat.

“Today Better man Q&A in NYC, Robbie Williams was vulnerable, receptive to the crowd’s energy, took time to have a heart-to-heart with his daughter, and then a man in the audience asked him as an ordained minister to officiate a marriage with his fiancée. Unbelievable,” he wrote.

Introducing the couple, who had been together for five years, Williams discovered that the groom, Haldun, shared the same name as his Turkish father-in-law.

Footage of the moment shows the “Rock DJ” singer holding a jumbo-sized slushie as he declares: “By the power that absolutely no one has given me – it’s not legally binding, but it’s legally binding in your heart and your heart and my heart, ” before you get to “I dos”.

He then pronounced the couple as husband and wife to cheers and applause from the audience and gave them both a hug.

The British pop star has been an ordained minister since 2002, when he obtained a license over the Internet to marry two of his best friends: guitarist Billy Morrison and his partner, Jennifer Holliday.

Morrison said Hello! at the time: “Having my mate Robbie perform the ceremony means everything to me. He managed to make it extremely powerful. My bride walked down the aisle to Aerosmith’s ‘Sweet Emotion’. Robbie ended the service with the traditional, “You must now kiss the bride.”

Unfortunately, Morrison and Holliday have since divorced.

Williams has been busy promoting his film Better man, which depicts the Take That star as a CGI chimpanzee.

The CGI chimpanzee (played by Jonno Davies) as Robbie Williams in 'Better Man'
The CGI chimpanzee (played by Jonno Davies) as Robbie Williams in ‘Better Man’ (Entertainment at film distributors)

In addition to narrating the film and providing vocals, Williams contributed the original song “Forbidden Road,” which he recently learned had been disqualified from the Academy Awards.

The track is nominated for Best Original Song at the Golden Globes, but a report in Variety suggests it may have been considered out of the running for the Oscars due to its melodic similarities to “I Got a Name,” a song performed by Jim Groce in the 1972 film The Last American Hero.

Williams was asked about the disqualification while appearing on the red carpet at the Golden Globes last week.

“Listen, the rules are the rules and you have to follow them,” he said. “And that would have been nice, but as an introvert, it’s another party I’m not going to.

“I went through it, I’m on the other side and it’s all good. I’m at the Globes and they’re showing me lots of love,” he continued, before thanking the interviewer for “being annoyed with (his) behalf”.

Despite positive reviews, the Michael Gracey-directed film reportedly struggled in its opening weekend in the US, with Black reports that the project “tanked” with a $1M debut. It fared marginally better in the UK, where Williams is better known, opening to £1.7m. against a budget of £100m.

Better man is in theaters now.