Remembering Robin Williams

Robin Williams, a beloved actor, and comedian, tragically died on August 11, 2014. He was a hero to people worldwide - the kind of person to make a crowd of any size burst out laughing. 

"No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world." This was Robin Williams's line in Dead Poets Society. His words, ideas, and comedy changed the world.

Yet, there was beauty in how he could turn something so heart-wrenching into light-hearted education. The influence that he had on the world, through both his real-life and acting performances, was amongst the most credible impacts any one person could have on society.

In the 2018 documentary Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind, Mark Romanek, who directed Williams in One Hour Photo, says, "The urge to be funny… was so innate, almost like breathing for him, that if he didn't get it out of his system, it would have affected his performance in a bad way." He continued, "I realized when he made people laugh that hard; he used to get a kind of high from it, an endorphin rush or something." 

Crystal, also featured in the documentary, agreed. "It's a very powerful thing for a lot of comedians. That laugh is the drug. … That acceptance, that thrill, is really hard to replace with anything else." Robin Willaims lived off people's reactions, so who could imagine what was going through his mind as he realized he was losing his ability to produce these reactions?

Robin Williams was kindhearted and generous, inspiring many; he gave heartfelt speeches and selflessly gave money to many charities. 

He gave a speech on homelessness in the 90s and the importance of the states' roles in supporting them, "What we've been doing for the last four years is basically putting a band-aid on a very gaping wound. But this is, this program has incredible possibilities to deal with basically keeping people in their homes," he said, then concluding that, "The problem cannot be denied anymore, we cannot be a kinder, blinder nation."

Robin Williams also performed a stand-up comedy show at the Showbox Nightclub in Seattle and - without telling anyone - donated all proceeds to a food bank.

Williams never asked nor felt the need for recognition to do kind things; he truly wanted to better the world. He was an inspiration to every generation through his acting and real-life personality. 

Sadly, he also had a darker side. Drugs and alcohol become a way for Robin Williams to calm himself early in his career, specifically cocaine. He only quit when his close friend, John Belushi, died of an overdose - after partying with him the night before, "His death scared a whole group of show-business people. It caused a big exodus from drugs," he said. "And for me, there was a baby coming. I knew I couldn't be a father and live that kind of life." 

After quitting cocaine, Willaims began drinking heavily in the early 2000s, leading to rehab. Simultaneously, he also began to struggle with mental health issues and physical ailments. Still, his family and friends were shocked by his sudden demise. However, it always seemed as if he was capable of bouncing back from anything. 

In the early 2010s, everything seemed to be going well for Williams - until he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease just three months before his death. He had become paranoid, could no longer remember his lines, experienced insomnia, and had an impaired sense of smell. In addition, he began to lose control over his body, the neurodegenerative disorder significantly impacting his cognitive functions. His words and actions, which he used to thrill people worldwide, were his life, and he was suddenly losing them. Still, the doctors gave him drugs and said he would likely live for decades. 

Robin Williams struggled to understand why he was grappling with paranoia, anxiety, and depression to such a degree. He and his wife planned on going to a neurocognitive testing facility to determine if there was another explanation further from Parkinson's Disease. Sadly, he never made it to that facility. 

At 11:45 a.m. on August 11, 2014, Robin Williams' assistant discovered him dead. His wife had already left the house at that point, believing her husband to be sleeping. But his assistant decided to unlock the door.

Inside, it was evident that Robin Williams had committed suicide. He was found hanging in a seated position on the floor, with one end of the belt knotted around his neck and the other between the door frame and closet door in the bedroom. Later, the police detected tiny incisions on his left wrist.

Williams' system contained just caffeine, prescription antidepressants, and levodopa, a substance used to treat Parkinson's disease. There were no indications of foul play at the site. Later, an autopsy determined that Robin Williams' cause of death was hanging suicide with asphyxia.

The autopsy also revealed that Robin Williams had Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), a disease that shares characteristics of Alzheimers and Parkinson's. The illness has a significant negative impact on sleep, behavior, mobility, cognition, and self-control. And Williams had undoubtedly felt the effects.

Tragically, Robin Williams's disease wasn't recognized until after he passed away. The fact that such a clever man was afflicted with something he couldn't even understand explained why he had such difficulty understanding his symptoms. A man that touched the hearts of many had been slowly losing himself, and worse, he didn't know what was happening. 

After his death, Susan Schneider Williams, his widow, spoke about the life and death of Robin Williams. She mentioned that there was a sense of relief for her that she could now put a name to her husband's killer.' 

She also described what it was like as everything unfolded in front of her, "We had this experience with something that was invisible and terrifying, truly. And then, on the other side of it, I'm left to find out the science underneath it that helped explain this experience. Robin wasn't crazy. That was one of his biggest fears."

A study published in the journal PLOS ONE suggests that the news of Williams's passing was linked to an increase in suicides by over 10% in the United States in the five months that followed. Moreover, the rate of suicide jumped by almost 13% among men aged 30 to 44, who experienced the most considerable increase. Even more noteworthy was a 32.3 percent increase in suffocation suicides, which is how Williams passed away.

Lars Mehlum, the director of Norway's Centre for Suicide Prevention, mentioned that the media may have had a role in this, "The problem of these ways of reporting a suicide in the case of a celebrity is, of course, the real danger of copycat suicides, and this seems to be confirmed through this study." 

The world is blessed to have had Robin Williams on this Earth. He inspired children, advocated and acted upon social change nationally and internationally, and entertained the entire world with his persona. He was a wonderful person with a beautiful impact on the planet, yet, his influence was so significant that his death led to contradicting negative implications.