Robin Williams dead

[Bombshell]

I know what pics Kathie is talking about because I saw them too. He was in a coffee joint or a cupcake store or something, IIRC. He looked so small and frail.

Not saying your first hand sighting is not true, CZB. Who knows if the pics were a little older, not real etc. I just recall seeing the photos and commenting that he really didn't look well.

[czb]

^^^ ok, what pics? now i am curious. TY

[Bombshell]

^^^ ok, what pics? now i am curious. TY

Robin Williams in Rehab Facility to Maintain Sobriety

No problem!

[czb]

^^^ ok, thanks - now i remember. i even commented in that thread that my friend (+ myself) just saw him a few days before that and he looked pretty normal. not as pudgy as he's been in some of his movies, but certainly not gaunt like that pic.

[Kathie_Moffett]

Yes! That's the one. Thank you Bombshell. I couldn't remember where I'd seen it. I have heard patients with Parkinson's can go downhill suddenly. He looked so tired and unhappy. And Sputnik and Sluce really called it.

i love robin too but you can tell the self-destruction is right there under the surface, even when he's been sober for a while.

ETA, a couple of snapshots taken at an art gallery gathering in SF the day before he died show that he really had thinned down a lot:

Robin Williams last pictured at San Francisco art gallery with wife Susan Schneider before suicide

The 63-year-old actor and comedian was last photographed Aug. 9 looking frail. He took his own life one day later.

BY Rachel Maresca
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Friday, August 15, 2014, 1:25 PM

Brent/NPG.com

These are the last known photographs of Robin Williams, showing the comedian and his wife, Susan Schneider, just two days before his suicide.
Robin Williams spent his final days close to home.

The late actor was last photographed at an art gallery reception in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Susan Schneider.

Williams looked frail in the snaps as he wore eyeglasses and was dressed in all black. The artist, Mark Jaeger, told TMZ that Williams "seemed in good spirits" and was "laughing frequently" at the event.

Brent/NPG.com Robin Williams is pictured one day before his death at an art gallery near his home.

His widow made a stunning announcement Thursday that her 63-year-old husband, who took his own life Monday, was diagnosed with the early stages of Parkinson's disease.

"Robin's sobriety was intact and he was brave as he struggled with his own battles of depression (and) anxiety as well as early stages of Parkinson's disease," Schneider.said in a statement.

"It is our hope in the wake of Robin's tragic passing that others will find the strength to seek the care and support they need to treat whatever battles they are facing so they may feel less afraid."

therobinwilliams via Instagram 'Happy Birthday to me! A visit from one of my favorite leading ladies, Crystal': Robin Williams in his last Instagram photo of himself on July 21.

Schneider added that the Oscar winner "was not yet ready to share publicly" the news of his chronic, degenerative disorder.

Hollywood is reeling over Williams' passing as co-stars, family and friends continue to pay tribute to the comedic star.

"Since his passing, all of us who loved Robin have found some solace in the tremendous outpouring of affection and admiration for him from the millions of people whose lives he touched," Schneider said.

*********************************

It sounds like he did intend to tell the public about his illness. I think...I wish he'd done so, because the outpouring of love and support he would've received might have made a difference. Perhaps. Love the Instagram pic with the monkey.

[Icepik]

I read this from a link I saw on Facebook. I read it and wept, because for me, someone who suffers from severe depression, is something I completely understand...

A Muddled Mother: Robin Williams' Suicide: What only those that are depressed know.

Monday, August 11, 2014

Robin Williams' Suicide: What only those that are depressed know.

Robin Williams is dead. The funny man, everyone's uncle, thespian extraordinaire...killed himself perhaps as a result of an all too prevalent disease; depression. As expected, the world came out wearing black, mourning, lauding, crying for this brilliant brilliant light of man. I, like most people, read tweets, posts, watched CNN, unhealthily wading through text and mass media alike to try and make some sense of something so senseless. As I read, one line kept showing up...over and over in one form or another; "If you are in pain, please seek help." "If you are thinking about killing yourself, find someone to talk to." "Here is the suicide hotline's number." I have to tell you that the cavernous pit in my stomach grew a bit larger because although these words were written or spoken with good intentions, they show how deeply depression is misunderstood.


As a fellow clinically depressed human, let me assure you that many of us are talking and talking and talking to therapists on speed dial, to our pastors, to our best friends, to our doctors, to God. As Daphne Merkin so eloquently stated in her 2009 NY Times Magazine article, "I have sat in shrinks' offices going on four decades and talked about my wish to die the way the way other people may talk about their wish to find a lover." We talk. I promise you we talk. We also take medicine and exercise. We stop eating foods with unnatural chemicals. We sit ad nauseum in front of UV lights in the darkness of winter. We take vitamin supplements. Hell some have even subjected their delicate minds to electric shock "therapy" to rid themselves of the malignant drowning-in-a-deep-thick-black-bleak-mucky-mud-feeling that is a favorite companion of this horrific disease.


But here's something that many don't know...especially people who aren't depressed, who haven't had a run in with this dire foe. Sometimes all the talking, the meds, the running and eating well, spending time with loved ones, even time in a psychiatric facility--it isn't enough. We sometimes have bouts where nothing works--NOTHING, and it is those times that are the most daunting and haunted for those of us who try to function in a society that sometimes stigmatizes or rejects the searing physical and emotional pain that one feels when in the midst of that crushing remoteness.


When depression pitches a tent, when it decides to stay despite all measures, it is suffocating in its presence. For me, every inch--from the hair follicles on my head to the numerous bones in my feet-- prickles with excruciating merciless pain and burn with the distinct feeling of one million matches being pressed against the totality of my skin. My limbs and head feel like they weigh thousands of pounds. It is a monumental task to lift myself out of bed each day and move through what used to be simple air, oxygen and hydrogen that instead feels like a massive sucking sludge. When I lay down at the end of the day the exhaustion is inexplicable and a concrete slab of anxiety presses down on my chest making it impossible to breathe. When depression fights to stay, it follows me into my sleep permeating my dreams making them real and vivid and murderous. It raids my subconscious and brings to the surface every fear that's buried there. I wake in the midst of a panic so fierce that I am sure my beleaguered heart will explode into tiny bits, and then...and then I wake up. I do it all over again; a twisted Ground Hog Day movie that refuses to end. Is it any wonder that some choose to end the cycle themselves?


So in honor of Robin, for his laughter and his legacy, instead of sending someone to the nearest hotline or hoping that the clinically depressed reach out to someone, please...reach out to them, stay with them, ensure them that you'll never leave, that you'll be there for as long as they need you. I am lucky. I have that--ten fold. Don't get me wrong, so many have left--"friends" telling me that my life just drags them down--depression is not for the weak. It takes great strength for both the depressed and those that love them to not waiver in their resolve. Remember, those that are depressed don't want to be that way. We are working, working every hour, every minute, every millisecond to navigate a life with this disease. So, for Robin's sake, to end the stigma of this disease, and to understand it just a little bit more, if you know someone whose depressed, reach out with an ear, a hand, an unwavering friendship. Be a light in that unending blackness.

[BeantownBitch]

So i wonder if he was so upset because he had pd? Anyone else think so? I'm sure it did not help him any. Poor guy...so loved by the world. uhhhhhhhhhhh

[spinmonkey]

I'm thinking he had slimmed down because of his heart surgery. I remember seeing that pic and thought he looked tired, and I don't mean lack of sleep. The news about him still hasn't settled in my mind yet and I just became aware that all week I've been distracting myself with other things and sort of avoided reading about it. It's made me think about the depression my in-laws had in finding out they were seriously ill later in their "golden years". They took fantastic care of themselves throughout life too.

I didn't see Robin as a "senior" but legally speaking it wasn't far off. He was probably dealing with some of those issues too, becoming dependent on his kids, the work thing, career slowing down/ending, worry about spouse, health care and treatment co$ts, maybe even some guilt about his alcohol/drug abuse causing health issues. I've worked with older people most of my life and seen so many who were never depressed in their lives begin to struggle with it upon getting older or increased health problems. I'm no spring chicken either and those thoughts have crossed my mind although I am far from being a senior. Hard to even think of him as that age, he acted so young. When the news broke I thought the age reported was wrong.

It sucks getting old. A persons whole life changes and nobody ever talks about it. When people go visit grandma and she's a bit cranky they put it down to meds or mental deficiency setting in but they sit there in the home thinking about the stuff I mentioned above while everyone goes on with their busy lives. Those issues are HUGE and younger people have a hard time dealing with them too, one at a time, so just imagine dealing with all of them when at the weakest point in your life.

Not saying Robin was, but it wasn't far off. I could totally see Robin worrying about being a burden to someone else. People who are NOT depressed will be when dealing with aging so it stands to reason, someone who had a history of depression would not handle those issues very well.

[NoNoRehab]

That's a good point. If he was worried about finances (as everyone says he was) the root of it may have been how expensive long term care for Parkinson's patients is. Having lost a huge chunk of money in his divorce right as his career ended its moneymaking peak and his kids went to college, and then to get diagnosed with a disease that require costly and long term care...well, he may have thought ending his life and leaving what he had would be better for his wife and kids.

[czb]

yeah, and poor robin williams was forced to sell a 35mill ranch in napa and live in a mansion in tiburon. for those of you who don't know, google the housing prices in tiburon. it is one of the wealthiest communities in marin. i'm sure robin had to downsize after his divorce, but money worries at his level are MUCH different than money worries for the rest of us. i would guess that money was not the biggest contributing factor.

[Witchywoman]

I believe this is how Robin would want to be remembered..............shake it Robin!!

[Catty]

[Calico Kid]

Robin Williams -- 'Crazy Ones' Cancellation Devastating ... A 'Personal Failure'

8/16/2014 1:00 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF

EXCLUSIVE


Robin Williams was "devastated' when his TV show, "The Crazy Ones," was cancelled ... sending him into a deep depression that ultimately led to his suicide.

Sources who frequently interacted with Williams during the last month of his life tell TMZ ... Williams viewed the cancellation as a "personal failure." As Williams put it to one person just before the show debuted, "My face is all over town [on billboards] and it's all on my back."

We're told the cancellation after only 1 season sent Robin into a tailspin -- as one person said, "It hit him hard" -- and that's why he entered the Hazelden Addiction Treatment Center last month -- not for substance abuse, but for depression.

To make matters worse, we're told Robin was increasingly depressed that he was older and good roles for him were few and far between. He would talk about Robert De Niro, saying even he was having a hard time.

Our sources say Parkinson's disease wasn't nearly as significant a factor in his depression as "The Crazy Ones." We're told Robin knew he had the disease for 5 months.

One confidant tells us, "Robin was told by doctors the medications were so great he wouldn't even start to show symptoms for 6 or 7 years."

Read more: Robin Williams -- 'Crazy Ones' Cancellation Devastating ... A 'Personal Failure' | TMZ.com

[Rusalka]

Oh fuck OFF tmz. Quit the armchair psychology and dissection of his personal life.

[Trixie]

^ Fuck off is right. I watched the show a few times, it was ok. Not great, but ok. I wanted to see the episode with Pam Dawber but missed it. The networks are notorious for not giving new shows a chance--Michael J. Fox and Sean Hayes couldn't make theirs work either. They all should've tried for cable instead.

I'm sure he was unhappy about it, and I'm sure it didn't help his depression, but I have a hard time believing he ended it all because of a failed sitcom.