The Tragic Life of Robin Williams

there's nothing sadder than the tears of a clown hey everyone I'm Rebecca and welcome to watchmojo.com in alright let's get to it cigarette let's relax Robin Williams was one of the finest entertainers of our time we'd say funniest comedian of our time but really he did so much more than make us laugh yes his primary creative output was comedy and he excelled at it but never whether he was raucous Lee performing stand-up in clubs or being relentlessly wacky on the big screen Robin was a master of his craft but he was also an adept dramatic actor having been nominated for four Academy Awards throughout his acting career and winning one for Good Will Hunting he knew the truth perhaps he was so good at drama because he drew from an internal source you all know the joke about Pagliacci the clown a man feels depressed and goes to see a doctor who tells him to watch Pagliacci the clown to cheer himself up but it turns out his patient is Pagliacci it's a perfect summation of how people can use comedy to mask their inner turmoil and Robin Williams was no different he suffered bouts of depression and he led a troubling and tragic life that was often hidden beneath his bizarre and wild sense of humor I do a great impression of a hot dog things started out well for Robin who grew up both affluent and popular his father was a senior executive at Ford and the family lived in a 40 room farmhouse in Bloomfield Hills Michigan they were even rich enough to have a maid Robin attended the private Detroit Country Day School and eventually became class president while excelling in school and partaking in various extracurriculars I do voices what do you mean you do voices I do voices yeah many of his old classmates also remember him as being a very funny and friendly person in short Robin was well-off personable charismatic funny smart and popular I think you have something inside of you that is worth a great deal unfortunately things weren't as good at home as they appeared from afar his parents were busy people and Robin didn't get to see them much he was often left home alone with the family made being his only steady companion despite receiving a full scholarship to Julliard Robin dropped out in his junior year and pursued stand-up comedy in the San Francisco Bay Area of course being Robin Williams one of the funniest men ever he quickly found success he graduated to performing in various clubs around Los Angeles in the mid 70s before winning the Grammy Award for Best Comedy album in 1979 for his live show reality what a concept it would be his first of four Grammys he also found incredible success on TV by playing the alien Mork on the ABC sitcom Mork & Mindy which aired from 1978 to 1982 by all accounts his professional career was going perfectly but one thing ran rampant in the comedy scene in the late 1970s and we're not talking about laughter it was drugs and Williams soon formed an addiction to cocaine and alcohol one of his friends Bob Davis remembers being shocked to see Robin so ingrained in the drug culture there was once a documentary they asked to prove an Indian chief they said chief what's cocaine you look right in the camera and said cocaine it's our little gift to the white man for what you did to us on one occasion Davis said he watched as a fan holding cocaine on a spoon walked up to Robin who snorted it without question Robin also began drinking to come down from the manic coke eyes Mork & Mindy director Howard storm recalls the Robin would stay out all night taking drugs drink and quote screwing everybody in town and would be quote a wreck on set the next day even your dog something like you wouldn't believe the you said to me last night things came to a head in 1982 when Williams close friend John Belushi died of an overdose after mixing heroin and cocaine a dangerous concoction known as a speedball Williams was left particularly devastated by his death not only because John was his friend but also because Robin had partied with him earlier that morning his death had a profound effect on Robin with his first child on the way he decided to quit drugs and alcohol simple Perrier here I had to stop drinking alcohol because I used to wake up Newton hood of my car my keys in my hat and he wasn't the only one Williams later told People magazine quote John's death scared a whole group of show business people it caused a big exodus from drugs this transitional period however also caused Williams to spiral into himself and become depressed feeding an outlet he took up cycling and quickly formed a bond with the bike shop owner Tony Tom Tony claims that Williams once told him quote biking is a whole lot better for you than cocaine and he reportedly credited biking for a quote saving his life yeah big-time yeah just like that what do you bench 285 what do you bench you paint that it's often been suspected that Robin suffered from clinical depression and/or manic depression also known as bipolar disorder however he told NPR's Terry Gross in 2006 that he had never been clinically diagnosed with either what we can say with certainty though is that Robin continuously struggled with addiction another drug they don't tell you it's a drug the class 4 narcotic alcohol after 20 years of sobriety Robin fell off the wagon in 2003 and returned to alcohol he was filming a movie in Alaska called the big white and was feeling quote alone and afraid and now close especially dangerous for people like myself alcoholics or he can say ethanol challenge whatever you want to call to allay his fears he returned to drinking he told parade that it started with quote just a taste but it escalated so quickly within a week I was buying so many bottles I sounded like a wind chime walking down the street and there's a voice that tells alcoholics we can drink it's the same voice you hear if you can go up to the top of a very large building and you look over the side there's a little voice that goes after some tough love from his family Robin admitted himself into rehab in 2006 Tara you are an alcoholic but it wasn't enough he later returned to alcohol and winter we had yet again in 2014 checking himself in to Minnesota's Hazelden foundation addiction treatment it's possible that Williams returned to alcohol near the end of his life because he was suffering from depression and that this depression was linked to his failing body Robin began suffering from a horrible case of Lewy body dementia in late 2013 though it wasn't identified as such until after his death this excessive happiness actually says you're excessively happy mm-hmm what does that mean it's not good I've got a famous Robbins Widow Susan Schneider wrote a brilliant and horribly tragic piece called the terrorists inside my husband's brain that offers a lot of insight into his heartbreaking final days the early indications of the disease began in October 2013 around the time of Robin and Susan's second wedding anniversary what year is it brand-new no what year is it Robin began suffering from a host of seemingly unrelated problems including insomnia heartburn gut discomfort quote a slight tremor in his left hand and a quote alarming rise in fear and anxiety most of these symptoms were waved away or in the case of the hand tremor attributed to a prior shoulder injury I'm screwed honor and things got worse by winter Robin began suffering from more extreme and worrying symptoms like paranoia delusions and memory loss while filming Night at the Museum 3 Robin had immense difficulty remembering his lines and his memory loss combined with his rising anxiety struck a lot of fear into the struggling actor I guess this is it indeed he began having quote unfounded fears and suffered from a profound case of insecurity nothing Susan said could calm him down or help him see clearly it's time for your next adventure I have no idea what I'm gonna do tomorrow how exciting according to Susan Robin was fully aware that quote he was losing his mind but he put on a brave face and kept the worst symptoms to himself but near the end there was simply no hiding the severity of his case Robin was walking with quote a slow shuffling gait he had trouble speaking and often forgot words his left hand wouldn't stop trembling he could no longer judge distance and depth and sometimes he even had trouble moving a condition Susan calls quote of frozen Stan's smile my boy sunrise before we continue be sure to subscribe to our Channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos you have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them if you're on your phone make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications Robyn had made up his mind on the night of Sunday August 10th Robyn said good night to Susan it was the last thing he ever said to her he committed suicide on August 11th a final declarative statement against the disease that had been plaguing his brain for the last 10 months death is not the enemy and gentlemen we're gonna fight a disease let's fight one of the most terrible diseases of all indifference Susan was lost the world was shocked everyone grieved the world had lost one of the most beloved and talented men in show business and it came as a complete surprise Robin was good at hiding his problems and keeping his issues to himself and he simply hadn't been ready to share his tragic battle with the world you treated disease you win you lose you treat a person I guarantee you you win no matter what the outcome Robin is survived by his widow and three children Zack Zelda and Cody Cody married on July 21st 2019 it would have been Robins 68th birthday honestly I've never been more shocked or upset about a celebrity death than I was for Robin Williams but let's not talk about that let's use the comments to talk about our favorite Robin Williams moments or movies for me it's gonna be a Ladin mrs. Doubtfire and the birdcage I love her cage so come talk to me in the comments or on my youtube channel or on twitter or instagram at rebecca brayton also please watch this other video

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Id: 6TNghd2gcaY

Length: 11min 21sec (681 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 22 2020