Barry Gibb speaks of his remorse, guilt and loneliness–he does not think Robin’s family knew how serious it was going to become (Daily Mail, July 4, 2013)
While he was in U.K., Barry spoke to Daily Mail about his remorse, guilt and loneliness (MailOnline, July 4, 2013). Although there are some chronological inaccuracies and/or possible misquotes, it is one of the most revealing interviews Barry has done of late.
Most notably, Barry has announced here for the first time that he will not be involved in the organization of Robin’s memorial service supposedly planned by Dwina and RJ Gibb at St. Paul’s Cathedral this year, because
"It would throw me back into that dark place again."
"Robin is always with me. I don’t need to stand in a church or be in some place where there’s a ritual."
"My way of handling it (the loss) is to go back on stage."
Barry admits his abiding sadness:
"During the last five years, Robin and I could not relate in any way.
"What drove me down was that we didn’t get a chance to really say goodbye. The only time I felt we made up was when I kissed Robin on the head the last time I saw him before he died.
"When Robin died, I felt all those things: guilt, remorse, regret.
"There was so much more life in us that we didn’t attempt. So much more neurosis that we could have avoided between us all. Because everyone wanted to be the individual star. And we never knew what we were."
Speaking of his November 2011 visit to Robin, six months before his passing:
"We flew over to see him. He was extremely weak but he seemed OK otherwise. We laughed about a lot of things and we sort of made up. At least we were together, and we were talking to each other and laughing.
"When we left, he stood outside to see us off. It was freezing. My reaction was: ‘Go inside–you have no immune system.’ But everyone was standing out there with him. I said: ‘Get him inside. If he catches a cold, that’s the end of it.’ And he did, in fact, get pneumonia."
Robin eventually contracted pneumonia after his operation in late March following his last taping for "The One Show" with son RJ to promote "Titanic Requiem" they had both been working on. Barry maintains:
"I don’t think they knew how serious it was going to become, but I think they knew two years before, or a year at least before I knew."
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There are conflicting accounts as to when Barry found out. In an earlier interview, Barry stated that he knew Robin had been ill five years before his passing. His sister Leslie also said they had known that Robin had cancer soon after Robin toured Australia in late autumn 2010. However, Robin was diagnosed in April 2011, but there had been suspicion of cancer following Robin’s operation in August 2010. So what Barry and Leslie were speaking of in earlier interviews could have been the suspicion, not the diagnosis.
Barry also revealed that the song he sang at Robin’s bedside while he was in coma in April 2012 was "The End of the Rainbow," a song he had written for Robin. It is going to be included in his new album. He also spoke of how he had not been able to bring himself to attend the "Titanic Requiem" premiere when his own brother was dying.
One possible misquote in this article is that Barry was back home for the birth of Taylor Gibb (born March 24, soon before the first of the two successive operations Robin had to go through in late March). We were told at that time that it was for Liam Gibb, the son of Travis and Stacy Gibb born April 9, 2012 while Barry was in U.K. to be with Robin.
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