# R.I.P. Robin Williams **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [August 11, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333 "2014-08-11T23:04:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/261 "2014-08-13T01:37:30Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > Leave it to Fox News’ Shepard Smith to open mouth, [insert both feet.](https://tv.yahoo.com/news/foxs-smith-expresses-regret-over-williams-214521000.html) I hate how absolutely fucking regressive people are about suicide. It’s always about them, which is probably why so many go on and on suffering through their pain for so incredibly long, than the person who was in unimaginable agony, to the point that _they take their own goddam life_. Jesus. I hope that sick fucking prick chokes on how much hatred he gets sent his way over this. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/262 "2014-08-13T02:34:54Z")
> [@Sarabellum1976](#): > > **Mrs. Doubtfire** was pretty good fare, but I’m glad they didn’t try to make a sequel to that! I guess I’m in the minority in that I didn’t like _Mrs. Doubtfire_. But BBC says Williams was set to start filming a sequel soon. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/263 "2014-08-13T02:43:22Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > Per an interview from a couple of years ago, he was not paying any alimony from his most recent divorce. He paid $30 million in settlements to his two ex-wives. That doesn’t necessarily have to mean alimony, which I didn’t mention. > **[Robin Williams Set Up A 3-Part Trust Fund For His Kids Amid Money Troubles...](https://www.businessinsider.com/robin-williams-kids-trust-funds-2014-8)** > > "Divorce is expensive. It's ripping your heart out through your wallet." ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/264 "2014-08-13T02:54:39Z")
I just read [this quote](http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/robin-williams-kids-understand-find-heart-stay/story?id=24955095) from his daughter Zelda Williams. It made me laugh. > [@](#): > > "To those he touched who are sending kind words, know that one of his favorite things in the world was to make you all laugh. As for those who are sending negativity, know that some small, giggling part of him is sending a flock of pigeons to your house to poop on your car. Right after you’ve had it washed. After all, he loved to laugh too… ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/265 "2014-08-13T03:37:33Z")
With the talk about depression, I can’t help wondering about Lance Armstrong. Williams was a huge cycling nut and a big fan of Lance Armstrong. He followed the Tour De France several times, and was basically a celebrity member of Armstrong’s teams. He had the full team kit - bike, clothes, the lot - and not the store versions, either. He also MC-ed quite a few of Armstrong’s public shows - charity auctions etc. With the Armstrong drug relevations, maybe that was another straw on the camel’s back. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/266 "2014-08-13T04:26:51Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > With the talk about depression, I can’t help wondering about Lance Armstrong. Williams was a huge cycling nut and a big fan of Lance Armstrong. He followed the Tour De France several times, and was basically a celebrity member of Armstrong’s teams. He had the full team kit - bike, clothes, the lot - and not the store versions, either. He also MC-ed quite a few of Armstrong’s public shows - charity auctions etc. > > With the Armstrong drug relevations, maybe that was another straw on the camel’s back. In an interview with Parade Magazine, Williams admitted to feeling let down by Armstrong. [http://parade.condenast.com/154817/dotsonrader/robin-williams-on-returning-to-tv-getting-sober-and-downsizing-in-his-60s/](http://parade.condenast.com/154817/dotsonrader/robin-williams-on-returning-to-tv-getting-sober-and-downsizing-in-his-60s/) ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/267 "2014-08-13T05:18:43Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > [May have been money problems.](http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2014/08/robin-williams-had-serious-money-troubles-in-months-before-his-death-claims-friend-was-the-pressure-too-much/) According to [this article](http://www.forbes.com/sites/trialandheirs/2014/08/12/whats-next-for-robin-williams-family-and-estate/), he thought he was facing bankruptcy. Whether he was or not, it shows his frame of mind. It’s so sad to think what he might have been going through. > [@](#): > > How much more than that did Williams leave behind for his heirs? While he was reportedly worth around $130 million two years ago, that figure seems well off since Williams later said that he was close to bankruptcy. Recent estimates have pegged his net worth at $50 million, which may also be high based on his reported financial struggles. ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/268 "2014-08-13T09:10:26Z")
My heart broke. I, too, was never a fan of the “Robin Williams hyper comedy”. But after seeing him in **Moscow on the Hudson** , I followed his dramatic movies religiously. He was very good. I knew that he had substance abuse issues in the past and that those would come up and bite his ass (I, too, was sober for 20+ years and fell off the wagon) but I just assumed that he had the resources to help him. I have, that I can recall, never cried over a celebrity’s death but this one left me sobbing. I know and have lived the battle that Mr. Williams went through, and I, too, have had days where I thought “this is it…I’m done”. The ONLY reason that I haven’t ended my pain is that I know that my parents (who have been a tremendous support to me) would be devastated. Sometimes that is all that depressives can hold on to. I’m so very sorry that Mr. Williams was in so very much pain that he could not face another day. You were a brilliant comedian, a superb dramatic actor and by all counts a loving, caring human being. We should all hope to leave the legacy that you did, even though you chose to end it too soon for us. ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/269 "2014-08-13T09:47:07Z")
What I don’t understand is the following : I get the man felt depressed. But as a world famous rich man, he could have (and possibly had) a cliffside house in the best part of the country! He could have had a pair of attractive 20 something women cuddling with him basically all day and fulfilling his every desire! He could have partaken of the best legal and illegal drugs around. It’s easy to see how a person in a slum might hang themselves. Maybe a person with a criminal record and no prospects, recently diagnosed with a terminal illness. That you can understand. But Mr. Williams, as far as I know, suffered none that. What gives? ---
**Author:** ![Lucretia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@Lucretia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucretia)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/270 "2014-08-13T09:59:48Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > What I don’t understand is the following : I get the man felt depressed. But as a world famous rich man, he could have (and possibly had) a cliffside house in the best part of the country! He could have had a pair of attractive 20 something women cuddling with him basically all day and fulfilling his every desire! He could have partaken of the best legal and illegal drugs around. > > It’s easy to see how a person in a slum might hang themselves. Maybe a person with a criminal record and no prospects, recently diagnosed with a terminal illness. That you can understand. But Mr. Williams, as far as I know, suffered none that. > > What gives? Well, you might go ahead and read the whole thread, where people have answered this questions multiple times over. However, in case you don’t have time, I’ll summarize. Clinical depression of the sort Robin Williams suffered from is not a reaction to life events or circumstances. It is a brain disorder in which, despite being able to live a comfortable life, he _still_ felt despair. It doesn’t matter how good things are, when you have depression the illness, you still feel bad. Really bad. All the time. It is the state of being unable, no matter how much you try, to get any joy or happiness from life. And it’s not under your control. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/271 "2014-08-13T11:12:15Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > huge[…]nut and Lance Armstrong. I see what you did there. [sup]\*editing in quote mine[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/272 "2014-08-13T11:29:49Z")
☹ ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/273 "2014-08-13T13:07:32Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > What I don’t understand is the following : I get the man felt depressed. But as a world famous rich man, he could have (and possibly had) a cliffside house in the best part of the country! He could have had a pair of attractive 20 something women cuddling with him basically all day and fulfilling his every desire! He could have partaken of the best legal and illegal drugs around. > > It’s easy to see how a person in a slum might hang themselves. Maybe a person with a criminal record and no prospects, recently diagnosed with a terminal illness. That you can understand. But Mr. Williams, as far as I know, suffered none that. > > What gives? Depression isn’t feeling sad bout life’s situation. It’s an overwhelming weight and affects the rich as much as the poor. And I don’t think it is relatively easy to see how a person in a slum might hang themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/274 "2014-08-13T13:17:25Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Wait a minute – Robin Williams was a comic genius, so quick, so sharp, so smart, and did I say how quick his wit was? But… was he high on coke for some or many of his performances? Or, not? He acknowledged doing a lot of cocaine in the late '70s and early '80s. Not since then, or so he said. At the time he came up with the zinger “Cocaine is God’s way of saying you have too much money,” and that one seems to have been quoted in about half the stories about him since his death. ---
**Author:** ![MickNickMaggies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@MickNickMaggies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MickNickMaggies)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/275 "2014-08-13T13:48:44Z")
I usually don’t chime in on this sort of thread, nor was I a particular fan, but I’m genuinely saddened. I’ve been there. Food tastes like sawdust. Mac and cheese all the way to foie gras. Your partner? They’ll wise up some day and go. If they haven’t already. So let them go. Or keep dancing as fast as you can, because if they’re laughing, they’re not leaving. Yet. Your stuff? Just junk. Your mother always said so and now you can see it’s true. Your house? Its just a box for all your trash and the biggest piece of that rubbish is you. And your kids, they don’t want that kind of stone hanging around their necks. You don’t want to be that particular weight for them to carry, things are crappy enough in the world… My heart aches for his kids. My heart aches for him. My own father killed himself seven years ago. He’d be sixty this November and a new grandpa. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/276 "2014-08-13T14:28:29Z")
Having suffered from depression, the saddest part of it is the feeling that no matter what you do, nothing will change the feeling. Everything is “so what”? You win ten million dollars? “So what? It’s only money?” Met a great person? “So what? They don’t like me?” There are people living in utter poverty who get joy from every moment of life, and the rich and famous who cannot feel any joy. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/277 "2014-08-13T14:50:28Z")
☹ [Tribute to one scene, in yesterday’s main late evening news show in Germany](http://cdn3.spiegel.de/images/image-735942-galleryV9-xydg.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![fjs1fs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fjs1fs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fjs1fs)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/278 "2014-08-13T17:30:32Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > His humor never did anything but annoy me, but I’m a big fan of Robin Williams the dramatic actor. > > If any of you have not seen **Moscow on the Hudson** , do so. > mmm I always felt the same way–his act never made me laugh, but he was a brilliant actor. His performances in Moscow on the Hudson and The Fisher King were both brilliant. And he got a well deserved Oscar for Good Will Hunting. I also remember him as a weird killer in “24 Hour Photo” I believe it was. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/279 "2014-08-13T17:38:37Z")
> [@fjs1fs](#): > > I also remember him as a weird killer in “24 Hour Photo” I believe it was. [One Hour Photo](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265459/combined), and he was absolutely mesmerizing in it. Also compelling, if a bit more color-by-numbers in the remake of [Insomnia](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278504/combined). 2002 was a big year for Robin-as-psycho. ---
**Author:** ![fjs1fs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fjs1fs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fjs1fs)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333/280 "2014-08-13T17:43:04Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > [One Hour Photo](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265459/combined), and he was absolutely mesmerizing in it. Also compelling, if a bit more color-by-numbers in the remake of [Insomnia](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278504/combined). 2002 was a big year for Robin-as-psycho. Yes, thanks for the title correction, and I agree about Insomnia. That was a very underrated movie with Willams and Pacino. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-i-p-robin-williams/695333.md?page=15)