Published Friday, 14 September 2012
Barlow's wife, Dawn, gave birth to a stillborn baby named Poppy last month, and the pop star pulled out of his work commitments to grieve.
He returned to the spotlight to attend the GQ Men Of The Year Awards in London last week, and Williams has praised him for his strength.
The Angels hitmaker tells The Sun: "You know, Gaz (Barlow) is the most solid man I know, way more solid than me. He has the ability to put things in compartments. But this is the most testing thing he's ever had to go through, I'm sure.
"It's just one of those things where we'll see how it goes when I see him, but it's obviously a very, very sad time for both him, Dawn and the kids. It's the heaviest, heaviest thing, and, like I say, Gaz is so together. We'll sit down and have a proper chat at some point but so far it hasn't happened."
Williams bumped into Barlow at the GQ prizegiving, where they both picked up top honours, but admits it was not the appropriate place for a heart-to-heart.
He adds: "We're at an awards ceremony, it's not the place to talk about anything. It was very much surface stuff. But we shall be spending time together soon."