Illustration by Ana Mouriño
Little known fact: Robin Williams was a bipolar addict. The beloved actor made us all laugh in such movies as The Birdcage and Mrs. Doubtfire and made us think deeply in serious films such as Dead Poets Society and Good Will Hunting. Not to mention his turn as an alien in the ‘80s sitcom Mork And Mindy. He worked hard and played harder.
A few years ago, Williams confided to Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher – also bipolar – about his moods. Fisher was at the time performing in Wishful Drinking, a comedic take on her struggles with bipolar and alcoholism.
While Williams didn’t believe he was bipolar, he answered yes to the five “Are You Bipolar?” questions Fisher posed at her one-woman show, according to this Hollywood Reporter interview. Doctors have since posthumously diagnosed him as bipolar.
Fisher noted his extreme charisma and ability to light up a room. In retrospect, this may be due to mania or hypomania.
But in private time, all Williams wanted to do was simmer down. And cocaine was his drug of choice. He started in the ‘80s, in the Mork and Mindy days.
“Cocaine for me was a place to hide,” he told People in 1988. “Most people get hyper on coke. It slowed me down. Sometimes it made me paranoid and impotent, but mostly it just made me withdrawn. And I was so crazy back then — working all day, partying most of the night — I needed an excuse not to talk. I needed quiet times and I used coke to get them.”
Most recently, Williams checked himself into a rehab facility in Minnesota. However, no illicit drugs were found in his system from the toxicology reports after his death. He died of suicide clean and sober and will be sorely missed.
Substance abuse is the number one comorbidity with mood disorder. Looking for something that calms down the inner turmoil or anxiety is always sought out. The problem is that more often than not it is misdiagnosed and seen as simple addiction. So sad to hear that Robin had to be diagnosed posthumously. It goes to point out how difficult it is to find competent diagnostics even for the well connected and well off.
The tragic death of Williams shows how backward our understanding of mental illness and its treatment options are. Compared to physical illnesses from cancer to heart diseases, billions of research dollars have been pouring into drug therapies and surgical devices, pennies gone into understanding diseases of the mind. Even our insurance policies are tilted to reimbursement of physical illness and that in turn stimulates research and drug manufacturing. William’s suicide is a silent scream that should be silent NO MORE.
Why do writers need to bring out personal information on those who have passed on? Is money a motive? Let the man be remembered for his humor……his acting……his charity….his love to his children…him as a human being…..not as an affliction or disease. This is just gossip….This just is so wrong!
It is simply horrible that Mr. Williams had to suffer in silence.