Pop star Robbie Williams has thanked editors of a British tabloid for shaming him into losing weight.

The former Take That star has battled a fluctuating waistline since he was a teenager, and earlier this year (13), he began to pile on the pounds again.

An unkind article in the Daily Mail newspaper cruelly compared the star to Elvis Presley when his weight ballooned in the 1970s, but Williams is grateful for the insult as it forced him to cut back on the calories.

He tells the newspaper's Weekend magazine, "An article in the Daily Mail said I was starting to look like Elvis during a performance in Sweden. It did spur me on to a dramatic weight loss. Since then I've lost 23 or 24lb. So thank you Daily Mail!"