It’s been about 12 years since Robin Williams’ unexpected death. Although the general public didn’t really know that the actor had been struggling with depression, his son Zak recently revealed that he knew his father had been seeking out support before he died by suicide in August 2014. At the time, Robin started getting frustrated because he was struggling to find support that actually helped him, his son explained.
Zak added that he believes his late father was close to finding the support he needed.
Zak also shared some details about what his dad was struggling with in the days leading up to his death.
Robin was 63 years old when he died by suicide. After his death, it was discovered that Robin had also been struggling with Lewy Body Dementia. Zak, 43, spoke about his father during an appearance on The Squeeze podcast.
He suggested that his dad had been searching for something that would help him feel better in the “days, weeks, months” leading up to his death, but to no avail. “The days, weeks, months prior to him dying by suicide, I was really feeling for him because he was having a frustrating time and was seeking support and was just trying to figure out what it was that would be most helpful to kind of help him experience some relief,” Zak shared.
From his perspective, Robin was not “far off” from finding the “relief” he needed.
“That was hard for me because I don’t think he was far off from finding something that would have felt like it was more helpful for him,” Zak explained. As his son, Zak feels that there are still some “unresolved considerations.”
“The main thing for me is just I loved him so much, and I couldn’t have told him enough,” Zak said. “And for someone who was such a loving human being and just giving his heart to the world, I had hopes that he would have found some peace. For me, there’s some unresolved considerations relating to that.”
Zak has used his platform to speak up about mental health.
It’s also not the first time that he has spoken about what his father had been struggling with in the days leading up to his death. In 2021, during an appearance on The Genius Life podcast, Zak touched on the frustration Robin experienced when “what he was going through didn’t match one-to-one [with what] many Parkinson’s patients experience” (before his death, he had been misdiagnosed with Parkinson’s instead of Lewy Body Dementia).
On the 12-year anniversary of his dad’s death, Zak took to Instagram to reflect on his grief. “Grief at twelve years is different,” he wrote in August. “Quieter, but deeper. Somewhere along the way, it turned into purpose. To anyone struggling today, I can only share what’s true for me. Through all the grief, nothing has been as healing as service. And when it got too heavy, reaching out saved me.”
He continued, “You taught the world that laughter and pain live in the same house, Dad. Neither one has to be carried alone. I look into the eyes of my children and know you would have loved them so much. They love you. We all love you. We all miss you. Your mission continues because so many people carry it with us.”
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