ROBBIE WILLIAMS angered anti-drugs groups yesterday after declaring his support for Kate Moss and claiming that there was nothing wrong with the model’s use of cocaine.

Speaking at the launch of his new album, Intensive Care, in Berlin, Williams admitted his own past cocaine use and said that Moss, believed to be in a rehabilitation clinic in America, should have been left to live her life as she pleased.

Williams, who has sold 30 million records as a solo artist, endorsed Moss in front of senior executives from T-Mobile, which unveiled a multimillion-pound sponsorship deal to sell exclusive phone downloads of his songs. Despite the outburst, the German-based communications group gave its full backing to Williams, who is expected to attract young subscribers to the company.

Williams said: “She’s done nothing wrong. What she does in her private life should be her own private affair. We are talking about a woman who has never hurt anybody and never pretended to be somebody she isn’t.” Williams, 31, had met Moss on several occasions and described her as “an absolute icon, beautiful. Every time I met her she’s been lovely to me.” The singer accused the media of conducting a witch-hunt, which could ultimately result in her death. He said: “It wouldn’t surprise me if she’d tried to commit suicide the week everything hit the papers. As a public figure it’s scary because sometimes it’ll be your mum these people get the knives out for.”

Williams went on to accuse the media of hypocrisy. He said: “I have personally taken cocaine with the people who are now writing these stories.”

Williams said that he had attended a drug rehabilitation clinic and “it’s not fun”. He hoped Moss recovered because “she deserves to be happy. People should get off her back”.

Williams’s T-Mobile deal is not under threat, despite his apparent endorsement of drug use. Ulli Gritzuhn, the chief marketing officer for T-Mobile International, said: “Robbie speaks his mind and is edgy and we were looking for someone like that to fit the brand. He himself has said that he no longer takes drugs.”

But Rebecca Cheshire, of the Addaction drug treatment centre, said: “Rock stars and models can afford to go to rehabilitation clinics but the average person cannot. Teenage girls look up to Robbie Williams as a person to emulate and he has not considered the effect of his comments on the wellbeing of his fans.”

Martin Barnes, chief executive of Drugscope, the leading drug information charity, said: “It is important that influential public figures are sensitive to the example they set, particularly to young people.”

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