The ongoing feud between Robbie Williams and Jimmy Page is the best kind of petty and meaningless celebrity beef: The type with absolutely no geopolitical ramifications. Instead, these are just two very rich musician types whose mansions are next to one another and who are constantly getting into legal battles over the rich-guy version of HOA violations.
These two have been sniping at each other for years. Nearly a decade ago, Robbie Williams, the devil-may-care British bad-boy pop-star type and former Take That member, wanted to make a bunch of renovations to his mansion in London’s Holland Park neighborhood. Jimmy Page, the legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist, lives nearby in a mansion that’s been made to look like a castle. He wrote to officials to block Williams’ plans, arguing that they could threaten the structural integrity of his own home — which, I must repeat, has been made to look like a castle.
Williams’ renovations were approved over Page’s objections. A little while later, Williams claimed that Page had gone “mentally ill” in his attempts to block Williams’ construction plans and that he was actually spying on Williams. Williams then apologized, but the feud continued. At a Chelsea Council meeting, Page successfully convinced authorities to delay Williams’ plans to build a swimming pool and underground gym. But Williams ultimately won that round, getting permission to build his pool and gym in 2018. Now, they’re at it again.
Yahoo! reports that Robbie Williams has applied to cut down a Norway maple tree in his yard, claiming that it’s been infected by honey fungus and that he would re-plant a different kind of tree there instead. Some of Williams neighbors filed an objection, writing, “There is no explanation as to why this tree need be felled, only a series of photos showing parts of it are damaged.” The objection was filed anonymously, but there is little reason to believe that Jimmy Page wouldn’t be involved in this one. Page previously objected to Williams cutting down trees on the border of his property.
Robbie Williams has recently been in the news because of the impending release of Better Man, his new biopic from The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey. In that film, the role of Robbie Williams is played by a CGI monkey, with Williams himself voicing the monkey. I think we all know what has to happen now: A Led Zeppelin movie, with the Jimmy Page role going to Godzilla. (Anguirus can play John Bonham, and Rodan seems like a fairly obvious John Paul Jones. Obviously, there’s only one actor who could play Robert Plant, and that’s Mechagodzilla.)
