# Why did they commit suicide? \[Robin Williams and Kurt Cobain\]
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 15, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372 "2015-09-15T16:52:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@pennsylvania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pennsylvania)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/1 "2015-09-15T16:52:58Z")
I realize that everyone has dark secrets hidden behind closed doors, but there are two idols of mine that I truly wish were still alive. And I wonder what made them end their lives. Maybe someone can clear it up for me. ☹
These people are: Robin Williams and Kurt Cobain
Respond away!!:dubious:
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/2 "2015-09-15T16:55:26Z")
Who is “respond away”?
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### Author:  [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/3 "2015-09-15T17:01:33Z")
The short answer is both of them struggled mightily with clinical depression.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/4 "2015-09-15T17:04:59Z")
**Moderator Action**
While there are some things related to this that can be factually cited (Kurt Cobain left a suicide note, for example), I think most of the answers to this are going to involve speculation and opinion.
Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/5 "2015-09-15T17:06:13Z")
Please use better subject titles.
But welcome to SD.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/6 "2015-09-15T17:07:57Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> Please use better subject titles.
Edited title.
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### Author:  [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/7 "2015-09-15T17:11:38Z")
People commit suicide for a variety of reasons, and for those watching from a distance it often doesn’t make much sense. Many people have demons they have to deal with, but most people cope with their demons and get through the day. Some people lose the fight and choose to end their life rather than continue on, regardless of how it looks objectively to outsiders. Both Robin and Curt had family and friends around them, and both had enough resources to get help from professionals. I believe Robin was under professional care when he ended his life. The short answer is that we will never know exactly why these things happen. We need to accept that they sometimes do happen and that we have to move on with our lives.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/8 "2015-09-15T17:15:54Z")
After Robin Williams’s death, someone told me “Sometimes the only way to get a brain to be silent is to kill yourself.”
It’s been dubbed the “brain’s brain.” The part of a brain that a person cannot control. It’s believed to be the base of all creativity. Any creative person will tell you that there is no idea, then the idea “just comes to me.”
Just watching Robin Williams perform, you know he had to have the most active brain’s brain that ever existed. And eventually, it got to him.
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### Author:  [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/9 "2015-09-15T17:38:07Z")
Usually, it tragically boils down to depression.
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### Author:  [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/10 "2015-09-15T17:45:11Z")
Exhaustion. Exhaustion of fighting every single minute of every single day just to go on existing with the pain you feel.
At least, that’s how I felt when I was seriously depressed and considering it (PTSD, the gift that keeps on giving).
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/11 "2015-09-15T17:48:38Z")
Post-mortem, Robin Williams was diagnosed with [Lewy Body Dementia.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_with_Lewy_bodies) According to Wikipedia:
> [@](#):
>
> Lewy body dementia (LBD) is a progressive degenerative dementia primarily affecting older adults. Its primary feature is cognitive decline, which can lead to hallucinations, as well as varied attention and alertness when compared to a person’s baseline function.[2] Persons with LBD display an inability to plan or a loss of analytical or abstract thinking and show markedly fluctuating cognition. Wakefulness varies from day to day, and alertness and short-term memory rise and fall. Persistent or recurring visual hallucinations with vivid and detailed pictures are often an early diagnostic symptom. REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is a symptom often first recognized by the patient’s caretaker. RBD includes vivid dreaming, with persistent dreams, purposeful or violent movements, and falling out of bed.[3] LBD symptoms overlap clinically with Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, but are more commonly associated with the latter.[1] Because of this overlap, LBD in its early years is often misdiagnosed.
Williams also had Parkinson’s disease, abused alcohol and drugs, and was clinically depressed. Any and all of these could have contributed to his suicide. But I think **Annie-Xmas** put it best. He wanted to make the voices go away.
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### Author:  [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/12 "2015-09-15T17:50:54Z")
[http://www.commdiginews.com/health-science/health/how-do-i-know-if-i-have-bipolar-disorder-23789/](http://www.commdiginews.com/health-science/health/how-do-i-know-if-i-have-bipolar-disorder-23789/)
Robin Williams had bipolar and he got Parkinson disease at the end too , and this cause people to get depress too. I could tell there was something wrong by the looks of his face it looked difference to me and it wasn’t old age .
It’s interesting you asked about Robin b/c I thought of him today .
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/13 "2015-09-15T17:53:11Z")
Well, they were both married.
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### Author:  [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/14 "2015-09-15T17:53:12Z")
Robin Williams was suffering from [Lewy Body Dementia](http://www.medicaldaily.com/lewy-body-dementia-understanding-robin-williamss-battle-complicated-disease-310420).
Not to say that this condition leads to suicide, but it is inaccurate to state that he was simply depressed.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/15 "2015-09-15T20:28:06Z")
> [@pennsylvania](#):
>
> I realize that everyone has dark secrets hidden behind closed doors, but there are two idols of mine that I truly wish were still alive. And I wonder what made them end their lives. Maybe someone can clear it up for me. ☹
>
> These people are: Robin Williams and Kurt Cobain
>
> Respond away!!:dubious:
I can’t read this without imagining that the OP is a beauty contest host and is asking Miss Idaho to get all deep during the Question portion of the contest. Respond away!
What can be “cleared up” about suicide?
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### Author:  [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/16 "2015-09-15T20:32:04Z")
Courtney Love killed them both.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/17 "2015-09-15T20:54:17Z")
> [@Icarus](#):
>
> Robin Williams was suffering from [Lewy Body Dementia](http://www.medicaldaily.com/lewy-body-dementia-understanding-robin-williamss-battle-complicated-disease-310420).
>
> Not to say that this condition leads to suicide, but it is inaccurate to state that he was simply depressed.
Do we know if he knew before he committed suicide? If he had gotten that diagnosis he may have decided suicide was better than the destructive phase.
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### Author:  [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/18 "2015-09-15T20:59:56Z")
Robin Williams probably looked at his declining health and decided to opt out early rather than do a slow painful decline, that is my guess.
Plus he was misdiagnosed as Parkinson, and Parkinson treatments can make lewy body dementia symptoms worse.
Cobain was probably murdered.
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### Author:  [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/19 "2015-09-15T21:15:13Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> Cobain was probably murdered.
You forgot the winky smiley. 😉
Cobain was a heroin user and had a history of depression. You don’t need to make a big leap to go from self-destructive drug abuse and a history of dark thinking to making the decision to end one’s life.
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### Author:  [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-commit-suicide-robin-williams-and-kurt-cobain/731372/20 "2015-09-15T21:20:25Z")
Thank god no one has started the stupid “Courtney had him murdered” bullshit.
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