It is said of special people that they are one in a million. Robin Williams isn't that. Robin Williams isn't one in a million, or even a billion. Robin Williams was just one. The heights of his comedic abilities were barely matched by his outstanding acting abilities, yet surpassed by his kindness. When it comes to Robin Williams, I always have an idea that I never had regarding any other celebrity before: I miss him.
Understanding Robin Williams
Robin Williams was born on the 21st of July, 1951, a lonely child in Chicago to his father Robert Williams, a senior executive in Ford's Lincoln-Mercury Division, and his mother Laurie McLaurin, a former model. Robin had two half-brothers from each parent, who didn't live with him. Robin's father roamed a lot thanks to his job, thus making it hard for Robin to form friendships because he would travel every time he would form some. In 8 years, Robin Williams moved between 6 schools, making him a lonely child.
To compensate for his lack of friends
Robin Williams resorted to imaginary friends. He was once quoted saying while talking about his childhood:
My imagination was my friend, my companion.
Much like any child spending his time alone, Robin had toy soldiers with which he used to play, spending hours at a time, dividing them into armies, and would create unique characters to each toy, not just move them around. Each toy had its accent and style of talking which gave him the ability to mimic sounds and accents spontaneously.
Due to the hours he would spend without his friends, Robin had a strong relationship with his mother who had a great sense of humor, opening his eyes to the power and magic of comedy as he felt it strengthened his relationship with his mother. Robin talked about his mother and said:
My mother was funny with me, and I was funny for her. And I learned that by being entertaining you make a connection with another person.
His relationship with his mother taught him how to make a connection with another person via entertainment.
While his relationship with his mother was strong, his relationship with his father wasn't. And despite his ability to stay alone for a long time, he could mingle and create relationships with others quickly, no matter what place he was in.
Schools & Universities
In Detroit Country Day School, a school known for being strict, Robin was an example of a model student: he had high marks, was a member of the football and wrestling team, and was elected class president.
In his senior year in Detroit, his father had retired and once again moved the family to another state, California, in 1967. As usual, Robin would lose his social life again by heading into a new place where he doesn't know anyone, prompting the need for a new start. Robin would participate in everything: sports, social events, and theater at the end of the year.
After school, the time came for university. And to reach a middle ground with his father—Robin wanted to become a bohemian artist while his father wanted him to become a manager of sorts—Robin went to Claremont McKenna College in LA to study political science.
At college, it was a whole different world.
Life was less strict for Robin.
During a period in college, Robin had to pick an optional course. He had picked Improvisational Theater, a decision that would change his life forever. Part of the course was that students needed to form a group and organize shows for their friends. Here, and for the first time, Robin's talent in acting and comedy had shined through, making him the star of the shows organized by the group. His ability to mimic and imitate different characters and his explosive energy made him a beast on the stage. Despite his popularity due to his talent in college, Robin was known to be a shy person among his friends and sensitive.
As you may know, nothing comes without a cost. His success in the comedy and acting department came at the cost of his grades in the original field of study. Robin wouldn't attend any lecture aside from Improvisational Theater, the only one he fell in love with and found himself in it. Robin's father had a different vision from his son: what matters is the academic success.
On the day of his exam in Microeconomics, Robin wrote one answer, one you would easily associate with many of his comedic chops, the answer was one sentence:
I don't know, sir.
NICE.
Chasing passion
Robin's father had pulled his son out of the college, prompting Robin to confront him and tell him that he intends to follow his passion in theater. His father had told him in response:
It is fine to have a dream, but you also need to learn a skill. A skill like welding, just in case.
In response to his father's words, Robin Williams went to a local community college just to have a degree while seeking his dream. He auditioned for any play he could find.
After 3 years in college, and 5 years in California, Robin felt that it was time to take the next step in his journey. He applied and auditioned to The Juilliard School, attaining a full scholarship; he was one of two, the other was Superman himself: Christopher Reeve. Robin moved to New York to join the famed school Juilliard.
Three years later, Robin left school without graduating. You might think this was a waste of sorts, but what is amazing is that his decision came from consulting with his professors who saw that he didn't seem to like nor NEED to learn anything the school had to offer. Three colleges Robin had attended, and he graduated none of them as he returned to California.
Acting World
Making a mark
Robin, despite being broke, had mastered acting and improved his comical sense while in New York. Robin attempted stand-up comedy where he outshone everyone around him, including the future late-night stars David Letterman and Jay Leno. His shows were different from anyone else's, he wouldn't use a mic but rather walk around the tables at the comedy club, adapting the newly-introduced style of comedy known as ‘Riffing’: a style based on interacting with your audience, a very difficult style that requires jumping between topics and razor-sharp wit. The audience wouldn't stop laughing and wouldn't forget the energetic young man performing.
Later on, Robin felt that his journey in San Francisco had reached its end. It was time to move to L.A where he moved in 1976 along with his girlfriend whom he met during his time in San Francisco. There, he attracted Hollywood's eyes as his fame exceeded anyone else's in his position. He attracted many people seeking to take advantage of his talent, many offering him drugs for free which resulted in his addiction to cocaine. It was hardly his first interaction with drugs; during his college days, Robin had smoked weed. But this was his first time coming across cocaine, a drug that was available for him all the time and for free. His struggle with addiction didn't start then, however.
In January 1978, during the fifth season of the famous nostalgic sitcom Happy Days, the writers didn't want to pull a Game of Thrones last season by ruining the show, thus they sought a new face and ideas. Happy Days creator Garry Marshall felt that Fonzie, the star of the show didn't have a rival who could challenge him. For him to come up with a rival to Fonzie, Garry consulted his Star Wars fan nine-years-old son. His son's idea was to bring Fonz an alien to challenge him.
Gaining recognition
The idea was to have a Happy Days episode where the Fonz would dream up an alien, Mork, to go against. The role was offered to many other actors, however in his audition, Robin Williams would walk in, and instead of sitting on a chair, he would stand up on his own head in the spirit of comedy. Robin proved that he was the perfect choice to play the role of Mork. Upon the ending of the filming of the episode where he guest-starred, the audience made up of 300 people stood up and applauded Robin Williams' performance, prompting executives to believe that the hairy young man at the time would later become a star.
When the episode came out, it was seen by 23.8 million people, the second-highest viewership that week. That alone was more than enough to encourage ABC to offer him to star in his show based on the character in the Happy Days spin-off, Mork and Mindy. The show where the alien Mork would travel to earth in order to learn about the earth's culture. Robin had taken his first step to come close to achieving the success he seeks.
In June 1978, he married his girlfriend Valerie Velardi, the one he met in San Francisco. In September of the same year, the first episode of Mork and Mindy premiered to an audience of over 19 million and started competing against its original show Happy Days for the third spot of the most popular show in the U.S.A. Robin Williams who was unknown just the year before becoming a star, so much so that in 1979 his picture featured on Time magazine:
Calm before the storm
Robin also won the Golden Globe for his role on the show. A man of the stature of Robin Williams at the time would have plenty of women seeking to be with him and even more drug dealers making a living off of him. Robin sadly couldn't say no to either which affected his marriage.
The stardom wouldn't last for long. ABC executives started adding in their touch on the show by changing characters. What ABC did affect the viewership of the show a lot resulting in a decline in the popularity of the show, especially after it became known that Robin had used other comedians' material to do them on his show and stand-up comedy shows.
Side note:
Unlike the case with Amy Schumer and Dane Cook, Robin Williams' use of others' jokes didn't come with malicious intent, in fact, he always paid the original comedians for their work. The reason behind the use of those jokes however comes due to the style of comedy Robin Williams uses. Riffing is based on coming up with things from the top of your head, making comedians with that style prone to using someone else's jokes.
Fighting the demons
To escape the stress and pressure, Robin resorted to cocaine in order to cope with the idea that he might be a one-season-wonder kind of a star. His sharp mind and photographic memory made him able to perform under the effect of drugs, that is until the death of his friend John Belushi by an overdose. Robin then, at the age of 33, decided to stop using cocaine and saw that since Hollywood and Las Vegas are the sources of such a life of drugs, he decided to buy a house outside of both. Robin's decision didn't help save his show as, after four seasons it was canceled after only 91 episodes.
The aftermath of Mork and Mindy plus the failure of a couple of movie projects such as the Popeye live-action movie that didn't result in him winning the Oscar as he had hoped, were disastrous, matched only by the decline of his personal life. Both reach great heights followed by great falls. Robin and his wife Valerie took a route married couples often choose to save a declining marriage, they had a baby in 1983, Zak Williams.
The same year, accompanying Robin's decline in popularity was the rise of the "delirious" Eddie Murphy. Robin saw that comedy had a place for only one top star, thus as far as Robin is concerned, the rise of one star means the fall of another. Robin's poor performance at the box office resulted in him doubting his future; he had often asked his friends:
When will my turn come to have a hit movie?
Bittersweet moments
Robin's professional fortune took a few years to change for the better when he was asked to play the role of a radio host in the movie Good Morning, Vietnam. The movie presented Williams with the perfect chance to put the spotlight on his comedic chops and ability to riff, mimic, and imitate. While the classic comedy movie went on to be a turnaround in Robin's professional fortune, his personal fortune took a dive in the form of his father getting diagnosed with cancer right after the filming of the movie.
During his father's illness, Robin would, for the first time ever, talk to his father as friends. Unfortunately, the time they would spend together wouldn't be long and Robin's father would later die in his sleep, few months before the premiere of Good Morning, Vietnam, the movie on which Robin Williams held high hopes, deeming it to be the movie that will either hold him as a top star or deem him a supporting actor for life.
In January 1988, the movie topped the box office becoming a hit, winning him a Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy. Not only that, Robin was nominated for the Oscar for the first time in his life. He didn't win, but the nomination was more than enough and it established him as a top star. But Robin's ascension to stardom didn't save his marriage to Valerie, announcing their divorce in April 1988. The end of the marriage was also the beginning of his search for his next project.
Robin Williams was offered the role of the Joker in 1989, and after he said yes, they gave it to Jack Nicholson instead. It was later discovered that they only offered him the role in order to make Nicholson agree to terms quicker. Just imagine Robin Williams as the Joker. However, instead, Robin Williams was offered and agreed to the role of John Keating in the movie Dead Poets Society.
On a roll
Robin liked working with young people and treated them well, he described it as:
I am just here to introduce the world to these boys.
The movie was another hit for Robin Williams who was nominated again for the Oscars, one that he lost to Daniel Day-Lewis. His second nomination encouraged him to pursue more serious movies. He worked opposite Robert De Niro in Awakenings, also the role of a homeless man in The Fisher King. Then he was nominated for the Oscars a third time for The Fisher King, once again missing out on the win to Anthony Hopkins for his role in Silence of the Lambs.
Life was looking up for Robin Williams, he had married his previous babysitter, not HIS baby-sitter, but the baby-sitter for his children, Marsha Garces who later became his manager. During that time period, Disney was starting its re-integration into animation after a long stint in making live-action movies. Disney offered him a role based on the Arab folk tales book: A Thousand and One Nights. The role is of course Genie from Aladdin in 1992. The space Robin Williams was given proved to be worth it as Robin had hours upon hours of unused tapes and much for the filmmakers to pick from. The movie stayed on top of the box office for many weeks making around 217 million dollars in the U.S only.
After Aladdin, Robin had another comedy classic in Mrs. Doubtfire in 1993, another successful movie with 220 million in return. He also had movies with moderate success like Jumanji in 1995. He was also nominated for many awards.
The following few years were witnessing the ascension of a new headache to Robin Williams in the form of Jim Carrey. The relatively-moderate success continued until Robin Williams was offered to play a role in a movie written by two aspiring actors Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. They wanted Robin's help to kick off their careers with their movie Good Will Hunting, one of the greatest movies in the history of cinema. The movie did well, at least in comparison to its limited budget and the fact that it came out opposite to James Cameron's Titanic. And for the fourth time, Robin Williams is once again nominated for an Oscar, ten years after his first nomination. Unlike his previous nominations, this time Robin Williams ended up winning the Oscar for best-supporting actor on the same night Ben and Matt won one for best original script and for the same movie.
The wild continuous success allowed Robin Williams to focus on projects he is passionate about without caring about whether they are commercial success or not. But the stability in Robin's life didn't last for long.
Declining Health
Losses & losses
Robin Williams, and after 20 years, returned to drinking, a secret he kept away from everyone around. However, in 2006 it went too far and he decided to check himself into rehab. When he finished rehab, Marsha, who thought that he had beaten his addiction for years, left him in 2007, sending Robin Williams' life into decline. The decline caused by the separation from Marsha was not only due to him losing his life partner but also his manager, one he depended on to filter his roles and projects.
Robin had also lost the ability to live in the same house as his children Zelda and Cody, the children he had with her. Such a personal decline was matched professionally: his movies were no longer successful. Robin became an example of a star who was once big but turned flop. His professional and personal life decline was accompanied by health decline.
In 2009, he was hospitalized and had to replace his aortic valves. During the filming of the series The Crazy Ones, he had problems digesting, seeing and even urinating. He had started to lose weight quickly, he started to feel himself losing his mental abilities. No longer the quick-witted, riffing Robin Williams. When complaining to his friends, they attributed his problems to the anxiety medication and blamed it for slowing his explosive powers.
During the filming of the final part of the Night at the Museum trilogy, his first big-budget movie in a long time, Robin Williams would cry to a makeup artist over the declination of his body. Robin couldn't believe what was happening to him, he was having problems moving, his left hand had a twitch he couldn't control. He also felt his mind slowing down, even his photographic memory for which he was known was getting weaker.
When his makeup artist suggested he go and do a stand-up comedy show to feel better, Robin Williams broke down in tears saying:
I don't know how anymore, I don't know how to be funny.
A heartbreaking sentence from a heartwarming specialist. He became convinced he no longer has a reason to exist. Robin, along with his third wife Susan Schneider, whom he met during his recovery meetings, went to many doctors, each would prescribe medicine, and every time something is fixed, another break.
The last mile
In May 2014, Robin Williams was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a disease that affects mental and physical abilities, a death sentence of a disease, one that also ended the life of Mohammed Ali. The diagnosis of such an illness didn't reassure Robin but made him paranoid. Robin was panicking of losing the ability to move at all, much like what happened to his friend of a lifetime Christopher Reeve, who was paralyzed in a horse-riding accident from the neck down.
In an attempt to treat his depression, he was sent to a psychiatric clinic. He spent around the same period he had before, but he left it without any improvement. In addition to his clinical depression, he started having paranoia. On the 10th of August 2014, he gathered all of his expensive watches and took them to his neighbor as he was convinced that if he kept them, they would get stolen. His path to losing mental ability was clear. But Robin Williams who was living the state he feared the most, decided to stop everything with his own hands.
On the 11th of August 2014, he ended his own life using his belt, committing suicide by hanging.
A few hours after the death of the sad clown who made millions laugh was announced, millions around the world grieved his death highlights the importance of the roles he played, ones he made sure to have a human side that eventually allowed them to live longer than any regular roles.
Post his death, many theories came out attempting to explain his sudden death.
Why would anyone beloved and successful kill himself? Was he under the influence? Many questions were asked. The investigations proved no existence of any chemicals in his body other than Parkinson's disease medicine and antidepressants. If that is the case then how come he killed himself?
Finally, the autopsy results came out, Robin Williams didn't have Parkinson's, what he had was called Lewy Body disease, a type of dementia accompanied by changes in sleep, behavior, cognition, movement, and automatic bodily functions. Memory loss is not always an early symptom but an eventual one. The disease isn't much unlike Parkinson's thus the confusion. But it is much more dangerous than Parkinson's as it led to depression and hallucinations causing a high possibility for suicide.
Robin Williams' case was no different.
Summary
Just like there are psychological reasons for physical illnesses, there are physical reasons for psychological illnesses. And the underestimation and laziness while diagnosing could lead to the patient's life becoming a living hell. Robin wasn't exaggerating when he said that he was losing his mind, however, he was seen as a complaining has-been crying over what once was. Robin didn't need to go to a mental facility for his depression as his depression was organic, not just a feeling that came in as a result of failed movies, alcohol, or loneliness.
Illnesses, whether physical or mental have to be treated carefully, and as you may have seen, self-doubt could sometimes be a killer poison. Our constant need for validation or approval could sometimes put us under horrible pressure wasting the joy of our great accomplishments as we believe we could have done better.
Remember the importance of winning the little battles.
Special thanks to 
Sources:
Robin, Dave Itzkoff, 2018.
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