Robin! Robin!
My name is now Robin Williams.
Robin...
Williams!
Robin Williams is top 10 legendary of all time.
Oh, yeah.
[narrator] Robin Williams was a comedy giant...
Look, it's him, Robin Williams.
He was a rock star.
It must've been what it was like to be with The Beatles.
He just came onto the scene, and it was just,
you knew some shit was going down.
With a talent that seemed superhuman.
Allison, this is the police. We know you're in there.
The first time you see somebody like that,
it's like a ----ing comet.
[Meowing]
His mind is so quick, and just goes with it.
-They're back... -[Laughing]
Dead poets, they're angry, they're back, they're rhyming.
[Laughing]
Onstage, he was a tornado.
I mean, now we can do like the old water ballet movies!
-[Singing] -[Laughing]
He can make you laugh, he can make you cry.
He can make you cry, laughing.
He can make you laugh through your tears.
Sunrise...
His range, I couldn't believe that one person
could do all those voices.
Really just lit me up as a kid
And the Oscar goes to...
Robin Williams, in 'Good Will Hunting'!
[Cheering & applauding]
He was a big kid, and the world was his toy box.
You know, cocaine is God's way of saying you're making
too damn much money, you know that.
[Laughing]
Audiences laughed along as he triumphed
over immense personal hardship.
And alcohol is especially dangerous
for people like myself.
-Alcoholics. -[Laughing]
Laughter, for him, was a life preserver.
Does it help you? I mean...
It's cheaper than therapy. Much cheaper.
He had known such deep pain,
and known how to turn it into something funny,
But behind the scenes,
Robin's life became a nightmare.
There was just more anxiety and depression.
And I would hear murmurings and things that
there was a struggle going on.
I just didn't know that it was this bad.
Was he losing his mind?
Yes, absolutely.
I got a call, you know, Robin died.
It was like, Robin who? I couldn't even imagine.
Everybody was running amok with nonsense.
Nobody seemed to have any clue why or what had happened.
Shocked fans and friends were left asking,
"What really happened inside the mind of Robin Williams?"
♪
[Overlapping voices] Ladies and gentlemen,
you're about to be entertained!
Getting the laugh is the greatest addiction...
...They want more of it, they want more of it.
She was getting death threats...
It [beep] with your head! He's out of his skull!
That's what took her down. This is a crazy story.
♪
Robin Williams grew up in an upscale suburb
of Detroit, Michigan.
♪
His father was a Ford executive.
His mother had a very active social life and so,
he spent a large amount of time alone as a little boy.
I'm Stanley Wilson.
Robin was my best friend for 42 years.
That's where the fertile imagination comes from.
If you're an only child, which sounds like a,
kind of a blue cliche,
but you can only play with yourself.
[Laughing] Remember that, Lumpy?
[Laughing]
But it was basically you had to create things,
I mean, I had this army of toy soldiers,
and I'd make all the voices and that's where it began.
No, that's muscle.
But, Robin's comedic strength lies in his DNA.
I'll never forget when I hitchhiked out to
spend the summer at their house.
His mother was hilarious, a real card.
She also had a wonderful psych gag we can't do here
where she cuts a rubber band in half and goes-
[Sucking]
Just this wonderful, joyous southern belle...
who was the life of the party.
Mom, you're gonna do this!
Oh! [Laughing]
When his mother would come home, she was
his audience, and he would try to make her laugh.
He lived on a street two streets over from me,
and I'd known a lot of people that wrestled with him
in high school and friends of mine.
They were saying he was just-
would be walking around talking to himself,
making goofy voices and stuff just like that.
As Robin gets older,
he gets serious about his career.
He discovered the theatre,
and became really interested in it.
He found freedom and a way to escape himself by being
on stage with other people, and that was acting.
He applies to one of the most prestigious
theatre schools in the country.
When you get your acceptance letter to Juilliard,
this was like the holy grail, man.
At Juilliard, Robin studies alongside future
celebrity actor, Christopher Reeve.
Chris and I were roommates, and Robin would
come to our apartment all the time...
And, we would just have fun, and...
go out and try to meet girls on the East Side.
We were his best friends. We three were like brothers.
Robin was extraordinary.
It was like, good God, man.
I thought, this guy is probably the most
talented person I've ever met.
Professor said, "We've taught you
everything we can teach you.
Being another year here would just hold you back."
I think he was just saying, "You're gonna have no trouble
if you want to leave here because you're going to
have a huge career ahead of you."
Did you get your degree from Juilliard?
No, I have no degree.
I have an honourary degree from Juilliard, which is...
kind of like a Nerf vibrator, you know?
[Laughing]
Nice to look at, but doesn't do a lot.
[Laughing]
After leaving Juilliard, Robin falls in love with
a dancer named, Valerie Velardi.
Valerie helped him develop his very beginnings of
his stand-up act.
Together, the couple moves to LA
to pursue his dreams.
He was classically trained from Juilliard,
and he wasn't gonna throw that away for nothing.
He was gonna use the hell out of that. [Laughing]
My name is Rick Overton.
I am a comedian, an actor, and an improviser.
In 1976, when I was a comedian at
Catch A Rising Star,
Robin would burst on the stage,
and he would start talking in Shakespearean verse,
"Ah, m'ladies, m'lords."
Does anyone have drugs to ease my pain?
[Laughing]
My kingdom for a Quaalude!
[Laughing]
Going from doing Shakespeare to watching Robin do
stand-up Shakespeare was a real treat.
Oh, live at 5, live at 5!
Half the things that he said, I didn't hear.
And then, I would turn to the person next to me and go,
"What was that? What was that?"
And then, I don't- And then he's on to
another one and you couldn't ask, "What was that?"
Because he was onto something else.
Let's just keep walking back this way and
check the people who are...
it's alright, it's almost- we're going to learn
some new words tonight.
[Laughing]
His ability to interact with an audience was amazing.
They loved him, and he loved them.
To life, and to happiness.
May we all stay crazy and live the bitchin' life!
-Salut! -[Cheering]
First time I ever saw Robin Williams was
at the Westwood Comedy Store.
You know what it is? Anybody have any idea?
And he stands out, the funniest guy,
meaning a regular- like a Boosler,
a Letterman, they were funny.
Not like Robin.
In the Soviet Union, not laugh, go-
[Clapping] Funny.
[Laughing]
I remember he was introduced as Russia's top comedian,
Nikki Lennon.
We have a special guest tonight,
the limousine just pulled up from the Russian Embassy.
This is the height of the Cold War, and Robin in this...
blue suit with a t-shirt and a funny beanie hat
with a chicken in his hand.
Ran up to the stage, and he ran around before
he said anything, and then he went, "America!
---- a duck!" And the crowd- never seen anything like it-
they went crazy.
And he just went on and on in this character for...
15 minutes, without breaking.
----- a duck. -[Laughing]
Cheap shot, no way.
He just came onto the scene, and it was just,
you knew some shit was going down, you know,
with this guy.
I shall die here on this big broke sauna.
[Laughing]
I'm melting!
-[Shrieking] -[Applauding]
Industry heavyweights recognized Robin's raw talent.
Gary Marshall was the king of sitcom.
♪ Sunday, Monday, Happy Days! ♪
Gary Marshall's son had an idea for him to play
a space guy on 'Happy Days'.
Wait a minute, who are you?
I am Mork, from Mork.
Kapazza! [Laughing]
[Indistinct buzzing] [Laughing]
Gary Marshall was so thrilled with Robin's appearance
that he created the show for him.
♪
He called me going, "You won't believe it.
I was on 'Happy Days', and now I have my own series."
Mork is an alien who arrives on planet Earth.
Oh, wow, surf's up!
They wrote the right show for him, an alien.
Where the hell did he come from?
Fly, be free!
[Laughing]
But I was there for the shooting of the pilot.
No one could know what to expect.
Your honour, the defence rests.
He was so good in that pilot, and he and
Pam Dawber were so beautiful together...
-Like this? -Yeah.
It just clicked!
Something strange over there...
He had jokes going.
You would see he got a new thought,
and that sparkle in his eyes,
they literally sparkled like jewels.
♪
I remember, it aired.
The next day, he was a superstar.
To see him go from just a guy that we all knew was
gonna be huge, to the next day,
he's on People Magazine, US Magazine,
everybody else knew what we knew.
And when it first starts happening, you're going,
they know who I am!
You can start getting tables at restaurants.
Before, they went, "I'm sorry, Monsieur,
we don't take your type."
Newly famous and newly married,
Robin's life is an exhilarating whirlwind.
Everybody in Hollywood and New York
just wanted to party with Robin.
You just loved being around Robin Williams.
You get happy.
I just thought, man, this guy has it all.
So talented, he married the prettiest woman
I'd ever seen in my life at that point.
And so sweet and nice.
He's got everything.
And the money was great.
The whole world was his oyster.
But that sudden fame comes at a price-
he can't get away from the spotlight.
It's a little scary. I mean, today's scary,
all the crowds, and people surround you asking for stuff.
When you're that famous,
everybody wants something from you.
Outside of Paramount, people would be lined up.
When we went to location, people were lined up
just to get a peek at him.
It's a like a drug, the fame and success.
So, part of him likes it because he loves people.
But, he cherished his time alone,
when he didn't have to be on, or when he didn't
have to make everybody laugh.
He was always kind, and smiling, and appreciative.
But I also saw the other side.
He has turned down all requests for interviews,
photos, and filming of his act.
Robin's highs were so high,
and his lows were often low.
It's a paradox he'll battle for the rest of his life.
When you're a celebrity, everybody wants
a piece of you, sir. Unless you can say, 'No',
there will be no pieces left for yourself.
This is something that I think would make
any person in show business.
I mean, it's the cover of Time Magazine.
Did you ever imagine it would get to that?
No, it's still a little strange.
That is incredible.
Robin Williams breaks out as Mork
at the start of the new comedy boom.
It was the new rock and roll.
1978, stand-up comedy is hotter than
you could ever imagine.
Every club, even those clubs in cities that are hosting
unknowns like myself are lined up for 3 shows a night,
just to get a seat to sit in front of a stand-up comic.
Robin Williams!
But even as a massive TV star,
Robin keeps popping up in small clubs
around North America.
♪
Robin shows up to do a set in Toronto, Canada
and his reputation preceded him as the hottest
young comic out of LA and from television.
I was working out in San Francisco,
at a little urine-smelling, beat up log cabin of a club
called The Holy City Zoo.
And one night, he comes in, he's wearing a beret,
and I go, "That's not him. Is it him?
What would he be doing here? Nah, it's not him."
This is really too much fun, too early.
-[Laughing] -This is scary.
My drugs are coming on now too, look. [Zooming]
He could never get enough stage time.
He could never- he needed it.
[Laughing]
Hold on...
Watch now, he can either be very funny
or break his ass.
[Laughing]
Robin has to balance his stand-up gigs with a
demanding schedule on 'Mork & Mindy'.
We'd shoot two shows on Friday.
It was a long day.
We'd start at 10AM in the morning,
and after we wrapped Friday night,
we would then go to the Comedy Store,
where Robin would do a set there.
And then, we'd book it over to The Improv.
And then sometimes after that,
we'd go to The Candy Store.
Because, it hadn't been a long enough day.
You know, people see you and they probably think
you experiment with, ah...
Foreign substances in your body.
-Medication, you mean. -Yeah, something like that.
What makes you say that anyway?
-[Laughing] -No...
Not me.
He was so hyper onstage,
we thought that the cocaine was...
pumping him up.
Did Robin do drugs?
I'm not sure, but I know he went to the back of
The Comedy Store. I'll tell you that.
I know what was going on in the
back of The Comedy Store.
He was funny onstage, and he went to
the back of The Comedy Store.
Yeah, he did drugs.
In the early 80s, cocaine was just something
that was around, and that people would do.
I saw him do one thing,
and I had a talk right then when it happened.
He said, ah...
"Know anybody with any blow?
I have to go on, I can't go on without the blow."
And I sat down and go, "I'm gonna help you."
He goes, "You have blow?" I go,
"No. Are you out of your ----ing mind?
You're Robin Williams!" And then after that,
I don't think he would get high when he had to perform.
You know, afterwards was another story.
You'd walk offstage, and people would just
walk up to you and go, "Hey, you want a bump?
You want a bump? You want to snort?"
When you did have that kind of fame,
drugs were just given to you.
One night, we went to this place called
Flipper's Discotheque, in Hollywood.
And I had like a, like a gram of coke.
Robin said, "Ooh, let me take that.
Do you mind if I grab a hit off that in the bathroom?"
And I- he came back, and it was empty.
You know, it was like, whoa, you know,
it was like 8:15 at night.
It's like, "Robin, you did a whole gram?"
"It was an accident, I'm sorry."
With drugs, he was a monster.
In 1980, Robin experiences another kind of high...
a leading role in a major studio film.
Do you have any preconceived notion of
how you're gonna do Popeye?
Ah, can you talk about that at all?
No, I'm just starting to train for it now.
Do a lot of acrobatics and work-
and some man's helping with voice.
I'm just, he's just- It's a lot of-
[Nasal vocalizations]
-Is that the voice? -Not yet.
-Ah. -[Laughing]
That's just like the beginning of the voice.
It's like a baby, but like, [Nasal vocalizations]
'Popeye' was a wonderful, big break for him to enter film,
being, you know, in that, strange,
safe place that being a character- "Ah-ga-ga-ga".
How do you pull off Popeye?
What am I? I'm Popeye, the sailor.
We were shooting 'More & Mindy' when he did 'Popeye'.
And, he would have trainers come to the set for dancing,
or singing, or different things.
He was very excited about it.
I thought it was great because I knew
he always wanted to do something weightier than
'Mork And Mindy' was for him.
This is his way to get away from Mork.
I think he thought that this is
his real shot at movie stardom.
I thought 'Popeye' was a whole lot of fun.
I recommend it for the whole family.
I remember when we all stood in line for 'Popeye',
it seemed like it was, you know,
destined to be a big hit.
But Robin's film debut is a box office disappointment.
'Popeye' was a huge flop.
'Popeye' is an unsung masterpiece that
came out at the wrong time.
If you released it now, people would go crazy for it.
I think Robin was really scared about
what his future film career may be.
He had a whole lot on his shoulders.
And his marriage was having some troubles at that point.
It was hard for Robin to balance his personal life and
try to be a good husband, and be...
be owned by the world.
Robin starts showing up late and exhausted to
the 'Mork & Mindy' set.
It's clear that something is off.
Hold on, we'll get lots of people in here!
Yo, free cocaine, come on in!
[Laughing]
I can't tell you how many times Robin came onstage at
The Comedy Store and a big part of his routine was
cocaine and, and the drugs that he had done.
And even though everybody was laughing,
and it was really funny, he was really doing a
lot of cocaine, you know, so...
he found the funny side of it,
but ultimately, it was real.
And really, it's not funny, but that's who he is.
You're lying in bed, in a big pool of your own sweat,
with Buddy Rich on your heart going- [Drumming]
I remember, there was an evening at The Candy Store
when it had been closed down to everyone,
and Robin would talk about the evils of cocaine
at 5 o'clock in the morning when...
you know, no one else was there.
[Snorting] Agh!
What was in that, man?
Fiberglass.
There was a very famous line that Robin had...
You know, cocaine is God's way of saying,
"You're making too damn much money, you know that?"
Robin was running with a lot of really scary figures,
and Robin himself was kind of a scary figure for a while.
No one is more notorious for hard partying
than Robin's pal, John Belushi.
John and Robin were both wild men,
because they would say and do anything.
But Robin and I went to On The Rocks,
which was a club and, we were up there,
and John was in there.
John had his own bungalow at the Chateau Marmont,
and John invited Robin over to see him on his way home.
So, he stopped in at the Chateau, saw John,
and then he left and went home in the wee, wee hours,
'cause he had to shoot 'Mork & Mindy' the next morning,
at 8 in the morning.
I went over the next day to visit him on the set,
and Pam Dawber came over, looking very distraught
and said, "You won't believe it, John is dead."
Robin said, "John who?" And she goes, "John Belushi."
♪
He goes, "Bullshit, I just saw him. I just saw him
3 or 4 hours ago." She goes,
"No, he's died of a drug overdose."
Just like someone threw a
bucket of ice cold water on him.
Robin just looked like a ghost.
Comic actor John Belushi died today at the rented
hotel bungalow in the Hollywood Hills.
In 1982, Robin Williams is reeling from
the overdose of his friend, John Belushi.
After John Belushi passed away,
that scared the hell out of him.
When you're in your early 30s,
you're in the prime of physical health,
you don't think that, you know,
you can die by going out and partying too much.
This guy was as strong as anybody you could ever meet.
I mean, a bull.
John, for a laugh, could run into that wall.
He'd get up and do it again. So, if it took him out,
you realize that, you know, we're all pretty mortal.
As one of the last to see Belushi alive,
Robin is asked to testify before a grand jury
investigating his death.
On top of being sad, he's freaked completely out that
John was dead, the fact that what you do at night,
you can end up talking about it in court,
that's a scary thing.
He's also taking on a life -changing responsibility.
I don't think we have seen each other since
you became a father.
Your wife had a baby, right?
Oh, yes, oh, I find the hardest part of
being a father is breastfeeding.
[Laughing]
The child's going, "There's nothing there!"
Fatherhood is everything to him.
All of these things conspired to
really help him clean up.
He stopped partying.
He stopped partying, you know,
before people were done partying with him.
You can't do cocaine with a baby.
You can't come at a 5 o'clock, going,
"Hey, 5 o'clock in the morning, play time!"
[Laughing]
"Do you love, Daddy? I know you don't.
Here's the key, look at the key, look at the key, woo!"
"Father, please!"
Robin just did it cold turkey, man.
He knew what an amazing instrument that he had,
and that it all is related to his mind,
and his imagination, and his wit.
And the more stuff you do to deaden that,
the more you're gonna burn some more brain cells.
And Robin didn't want to do that.
[Cheering & applauding]
Newly sober, Robin's career soars.
Ah, damn, what the ---- am I doing here?
This is incredible.
How do you get to The Met?
Money. Lots and lots of money.
'Robin Williams Live at The Met' was
a real breakthrough kind of show for him
because he had his act together,
put certain habits behind him.
A little sip of Perrier here.
I had to stop drinking alcohol because I used to
wake up nude in my car with my keys in my ass.
[Laughing]
He could still talk about all the things that
he had let go, but from the perspective,
you're on the other side of it.
You have this dream where you're doing cocaine
in your sleep, and you can't fall asleep,
and you're doing cocaine in your sleep,
and you can't fall asleep.
And you wake up and you're doing cocaine, bingo!
[Laughing]
His movie career is in full flight.
It's called 'Hello, Vietnam'.
'Good Morning, Vietnam'.
'Hello, Vietnam' would've been better.
Then we could do it as a musical.
[Singing] Hello, Vietnam!
A lot of actors,
you have a 'Popeye' on your resume,
and you're probably not gonna get
serious roles after that.
But, somehow, Robin was able to adapt.
My name is Jenny Fields. Are you a prostitute?
-What's it to you? -Hello!
My name is Garth.
My mother and I were just passing-
Your mother?
The comics didn't know he's a Juilliard trained performer.
So, when the acting comes around, it's like, boom!
It's not a comic gonna try to act.
It's an actor.
The nominees for best performance by an actor...
After he stopped staying out half the night
many nights a week...
Robin Williams, 'Moscow on the Hudson'.
...you have more time to think about your career,
and choose your roles carefully.
Robin Williams in 'Good Morning, Vietnam'!
That was his shining dime.
Robin Williams, for 'Dead Poet's Society'.
But while Robin's career is on overdrive,
his personal life gets torn apart by the press.
Him and his wife had separated, but not publicly.
And he sat down to do this interview with
People Magazine, where he talked all about
his new girlfriend and how she was really
bringing a breath of fresh air into his life.
And, they completely flipped the narrative.
[Barbara Walters] This cover appeared in 1988,
it implied that Robin had divorced his wife and
run off with his son's nanny.
So, that was all bullshit.
You know, we didn't become involved until-
it was a year after I'd been separated.
When you're dealing with fame,
no matter what you do,
the general public's gonna believe what the hell
they want to believe anyway.
Alright, listen to me...
I am not...
-...who you think I am. -Yeah, no shit.
What your mouth, young man.
And the winner is...
Professionally, Robin is still
a box office sensation.
-Mrs. Doubtfire! -[Cheering]
Well, Robin thanked everyone except himself.
But another personal blow threatens to derail him.
♪
Robin called me and said, "Brother Reeve's in trouble."
However, the actor does remain paralyzed and on a
respirator, his long-term prognosis still is unknown.
It was awful...
it was awful.
There were people making decisions whether or not to
keep him, you know, on life support,
and I came in dressed as a doctor and I said I was
a Russian proctologist. -[Laughing]
And most of the other doctors, "Oh, no."
And he looked up and he kind of went,
"Hey, Brother, what's up?" And I said, "Would you mind,
I'm just gonna do a brief exam. Like what you said,
if you feel two fingers, it's your luck."
[Laughing]
Thank God I wear a seatbelt in this chair because
I would've fallen out laughing.
They told him, "Don't make him laugh too much
because he's on a ventilator."
It's funny, in the middle of a tragedy like this,
in the middle of recuperation...
you can still experience genuine joy,
and laughter, and love, and...
Anybody who says life's not worth living is
totally wrong, totally wrong.
He rehabbed for months and months.
We had no idea how strong Chris was.
And then Robin said, "I don't think I could ever do this.
If I had to do that, I would go."
And the Oscar goes to...
Robin Williams in 'Good Will Hunting'!
[Cheering & applauding]
Robin manages to push through his pain.
I think 'Good Will Hunting' might be
his strongest dramatic role, for me.
Don't ---- with me.
The scene where he's telling Matt Damon,
"It's not your fault."
It's not your fault.
Don't ---- with me, alright!
Don't ---- with me, Sean, not you.
It's not your fault.
When he went deep, it's like as deep as
you've ever seen anybody go.
[Sobbing] I'm sorry.
And the pain, and so, pain can take many forms.
It doesn't have to come from one set of circumstances.
Any part he did that didn't call upon his comedic tools
was kind of more interesting to me because
it allowed me to see...
I think, to get a, more of a grasp of who he was.
I'm just looking for anything interesting.
Things that kind of change perception.
I'm looking for...
obviously, darker roles, 'cause everyone thinks
I'm warm and cuddly.
There was something today in the paper that said,
"A Cuddle Fest with Robin Williams." Oh...
So, you'd like to play a villain?
-Maybe a killer or something. - A killer?
-Yeah. Could you do that? -Yeah, I could very easily.
Just once again to show the darker side too.
We all have it.
Friends start noticing a darker side of Robin
bubbling to the surface.
In 2004, Bob Saget, my brother,
had his Scleroderma charity events,
and I saw Robin before the show...
and, he just looked disheveled.
And, it was a look that I had never seen before.
He just looked a little bit different.
There was something going on.
It was just a feeling that was different,
for me, personally.
I really kind of made a mental note of, gee,
I hope this guy's okay.
I saw a picture of him at The Comedy Store with
a glass in his hand. "Oh, man, don't do that."
I spoke to him about it later on.
And, he just started drinking again.
He tried to keep it to himself.
Do the math.
Made by this woman in a thong.
Do the math!
At this Cannes Film Festival, he was at a charity auction.
It was kind of like everyone was there- Sharon Stone,
Ivanka Trump, Fergie The Duchess of York.
Kanye West. Get real, people!
And then, walking out of these clubs and these
restaurants, and there being walls of paparazzi.
And, he was walking around in sunglasses
because he was intoxicated.
Robin's increasingly erratic behaviour
is now in plain sight.
During this auction, he spent $80,000
for a private performance by Wyclef,
and then another $40,000 for this
Armani necklace.
Just crazy amounts of money.
And he was inside of his own head,
knowing that the world was going to find out,
"I have a real problem."
He fell off the wagon and, once you do,
I mean, if you have that...
gene in you that needs to open not one little bottle,
but if you open one, you open 15 of them.
After two decades of sobriety,
Robin's drinking has spiralled out of control.
I think he just went down into a little dark hole for
a while and, said, "To hell with everything."
The family started to say, "We need to get him into
rehab before he kills himself."
-How are you? -I'm well, very well.
-It is a good thing. -Is it a good thing?
-Oh, yeah, it's nice. -Two months?
Two months. Club medicated.
Away, quiet time. Good though, I'm back.
Two months out of rehab, the public sees
a more subdued Robin emerge.
-It was just alcohol? -Just alcohol.
-That's enough, really. -Yeah.
It's hard admitting it, and then,
once you've done that, it's real easy.
You think that people don't notice.
And then you find out later on, "We knew."
Humiliations give you humility, literally.
But the relapse will cost him his second marriage.
I really am happy that you're here.
And, how are- I'll ask, how are things at home?
Things are okay. I mean, I'm in the
middle of a divorce, but we're trying to...
kind of do it the way we got married, with love.
Divorce, from the old Latin word divortium, meaning,
having your genitals torn out through your wallet.
[Laughing]
I think whatever gratification Robin
didn't get in life, he got onstage.
If he was sad, it would help change his mood.
If he was stressed out about something,
Robin got to go to clubs and
work his shit out in front of people.
To me, that means something, improv!
That means, jerk off a lot of people at once!
It was just outrageous.
Does it help you?
Yeah, it's cheaper than therapy.
Much cheaper and, very few therapists
have a two-drink minimum.
It's- and I have such a good time
because I can talk about anything.
[Cheering & applauding]
There is no better distraction from anything
negative than to be in the moment.
You don't have room to let your own...
inner demons make any noise.
It's a whole other thing. Performing, for me,
is the greatest release in the world.
It's ah, it is a drug.
He didn't have to leave the stage,
he wouldn't leave the stage.
If he could get to a stage and there was a club open,
and there was an audience, he wanted to be there.
It seemed like he needed to do that.
Many of us in the business have an addictive personality,
whether it be drugs, alcohol, or comedy,
it's all the same thing.
Well, performing is a drug, and this has been an OD.
[Laughing]
Maybe because comedy is a good substitute for drugs...
and that is more socially acceptable In,
if you can get laughs, you can stick around.
No matter how busy Robin would get,
he had to get a live set in.
And, this is even when-
you can be rewarded on set,
you did something funny on the set,
they have to wait 'til you hear "Cut!",
but then you'll hear laughs of video village,
the crew, whatever.
The cast will laugh and all of that.
And that's nice.
[Applauding]
It's nothing like feeling your sternum vibrate
like you're at a fireworks show,
from the laughter. Your skeleton buzzes.
-Good night! -[Cheering & applauding]
Friends see that what Robin craves most
also depletes him.
It was a big responsibility to carry,
to be the fastest guy in the room,
to be the most amazing comedic genius ever,
and to have this extremely fast wit and,
there were times where I would see him,
and I'd say, "How you doing?" And he'd say,
"Oh... Bro, I'm one tired mother----er."
If you were to sit with him one-on-one,
quietest, sweetest man you ever met.
One person walks into the room,
he becomes Robin Williams.
[Laughing]
New York rats. Nn-nn-nn-nn!
In my experience, it was either way on...
or nothing, you know, like, nothing.
Oh, my God, I'm okay now I'm out here.
-Mama, I'm on TV! -[Laughing]
For my friends in San Francisco-
[Groaning] How are you?
People used to say, "He's never off stage,
he's never off," and I went, "Well, you don't know him then,
because he is very off."
If he was goofing around offstage,
he's either uncomfortable or he just felt like
he didn't know the people enough to be himself.
Once the dust settles from his relapse,
Robin finds himself in a much more grounded place.
He started going to AA, and that really
did the trick for him. It took a while.
He had met someone new,
and Susan was a grounding force.
But I think he had to go through that dark hole,
and come out again, and realize that he could be
really happy and really healthy.
He had finally found peace,
and then of course, tragedy struck.
And while I was in rehab, I read an article in
The Enquirer about my being drunk, and it was like,
that poor ----- Oh, ----, that's me.
[Laughing]
In his late 50s, Robin Williams
enters an exciting new chapter in his life.
After he quit drinking and he met Susan,
it was a whole new ballgame.
There were several years there of
real happiness and real bliss.
I followed the scent, I took a bite, and then- Ff!
A gold ----ing gun!
A tranquilizer dart comes from out of nowhere...
But, once again, friends start noticing changes.
...so that was depressing.
[Laughing]
My husband and I went to see Robin in a Broadway show,
'Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo',
where he was fantastic.
And we saw him afterwards,
and it was so nice to see him.
We chatted for a bit, and when we left the theatre,
Brian, my husband, said,
"Something is off." And I said,
"What do you mean?" He said,
"That sparkle in his eye is gone."
And I thought, no, no, no, no.
But he was right-
that sparkle had faded.
Occasionally he would repeat things in a phone call that
he had said, and that was really unusual.
The exchanges in text were becoming more abbreviated.
And, shorter sentences.
And, all good, all lovely.
It was just, everything was shortening.
I knew there was a change.
Then I would hear murmurings and things that there was a
struggle going on, but no one knew all the details.
There was rumours about what was going on.
I, personally, had friends that were
working on shows with him.
And, people were saying that he was tired.
That he was overworked.
[Indistinct shouting]
-Ah! -Ha-ha!
-Got ya. -Cut!
Along with the final film in
the 'Night At The Museum' trilogy...
Robin has taken on a brand-new TV series.
It has been more than 30 years
since you were on a TV series.
-It has been a long time. -It's been a long time.
32 years, it was only 3 networks back then.
Well, I heard he was having trouble remembering lines.
He wasn't having the best time,
and people knew that.
But, it made sense, he's doing a series,
he's doing movies, he's traveling all over the place.
It wears on you, you know.
It wears on you, physically and mentally.
And then, people question, "Why are you working so hard?
Why do you have to do that?"
The last time I saw Robin Williams,
I hadn't seen him for a few months then, and he was thin,
and he didn't recognize my wife.
And he hardly said a word.
And it took him a second to recognize me.
And I go, "Whoa, something's wrong here," and I didn't
know what, and nobody would really tell me, and...
And then I never saw him again after that.
This is unusual and upsetting,
but we got some news...
we got some news, ah...
during the show that...
that Robin Williams, ah, has passed away.
We're absolutely stunned.
Tonight, the tributes pouring in from around the world.
Take a look at the flowers, candles,
and other mementos left here.
This is fans and Hollywood celebrities
weigh in on the sudden loss.
To the terrible news of...
I remember, I got a call, you know, "Robin died."
And I, I was like, "Robin who?"
I couldn't even imagine.
How could this be, like, suddenly one day,
the sun stops shining.
I didn't fully know what had happened.
I was getting just bits and pieces.
Police say they suspect it was suicide.
When I heard Robin killed himself, I didn't believe it.
♪
That is not Robin Williams.
Nobody seemed to have any clue why,
or what had happened, or...
that something like that was about to happen.
We begin with what we know so far about
the death of Robin Williams.
The media's a bunch of vultures.
Everybody was running amok with nonsense trying to
get the story, you know how the media works.
Behind the scenes, he struggled mightily
with substance abuse and depression.
The media jumps on Robin's history with substance abuse.
Obviously, as stories are breaking, they evolve a lot.
But, the narrative of depression
seemed to take hold.
Robin Williams suffered from...
Robin's family decides to stamp out media speculation,
with a clearer picture of Robin's last days.
"Robin's sobriety was intact, and he was brave as he
struggled with his own battles of depression, anxiety,
as well as early stages of Parkinson's Disease,
which he was not yet ready to share publicly."
I've had friends that had Parkinson's,
and you can live for years with that.
Then, weeks after Robin's death,
an autopsy reveals a secret.
It taught us what really happened.
That's what was taking him away from us.
We're gonna turn now to the surprising news about
Robin Williams, his wife revealing
he had Parkinson's Disease.
After weeks of speculation on Robin's death,
an autopsy finds no evidence of alcohol or illicit drugs.
No illegal drugs or alcohol in his system
at the time of his death.
But it does reveal a darker explanation
for Robin's systems.
Autopsies revealed another disease
had ravaged Robin's mind.
It's called Lewy body dementia,
and it has a strange variety of symptoms.
Lewy body dementia is referring to the changes
in the brain, so there's a change in memory
and thinking abilities.
The person is aware of their disintegration.
They're aware their abilities are declining.
Whereas, in Alzheimer's, they're not aware.
That's a marked difference, and can really kind of
add to the terror of this particular disease.
One of the doctors, the specialist,
said this was one of the most advanced cases that
he had ever seen of Lewy body dementia,
and how tough Robin was.
By the end, he had a slow, shuffling gate.
His left arm, he had cogwheel rigidity.
Tremor in his left hand.
The Parkinsonian mask, weakened voice,
which was crushing for him.
In speaking with the doctor who reviewed his records,
most likely he did suffer hallucinations, too.
Interacting with people became very difficult.
He would question things afterwards, or during.
And, really in the realms of, you know,
"Did I do okay?"
Things that focused around insecurity or fear.
Paranoia was coming in,
delusions, looping.
That was so difficult to quell,
was just going on relentlessly for him.
You feel like you can't do the thing that made you, you.
It can be very, very distressing,
and that can make things like depression worse.
Some evidence suggests that people who have Lewy body
dementia are at high risk for suicide attempts.
He, ah...
♪
Sorry, it's just...
when you watch your best friend start,
start kind of falling apart a little bit, it's-
he's not, he never fell apart.
He just, you just see them failing a little bit,
and there's really not much you can do except be there
and let them know how much you love them.
♪
Robin was not the type of guy to go, "I had enough,
I'm gonna kill myself."
Robin was no longer Robin.
'Cause it's all part of the mind that actually flows
like that, because I realize that the human mind is a
3 and a half pound gland
that pumps neurons constantly
and deals with itself by responding to stimulus,
that's what we're designed to do.
We've all been slowly- even Darwin's going,
"I have hopes." [Laughing]
Now, imagine you're that outgoing,
you're that quick, you're that amazing...
and all of a sudden, you can't remember
where the kitchen is in your own house.
-Mama, we're on TV. -[Laughing]
Please don't keep moving and
changing the address.
My own interpretation-
laughter, for him, was a life preserver.
And I believe at the end of his life when he didn't feel
he had the capacity to be able to do that...
there couldn't have been anything more painful
or hard to face.
I think it was the last thing he could do,
where he could be in control, you know, he just,
"I'm gonna control this one last time."
And he did, and it was horrible.
He was being killed by his own mind.
♪
So, I don't think he did it, I think his mind did it.
Just before they go to bed, you go, "Good night.
Good night, Son. Sleep well.
Behind you! Ha-ha-ha!"
Robin gave the world of comedy
a career to envy, to follow.
But, ultimately,
what he left the comedy world are the
stories of what it was like to know him as a person.
And, he was an authentic,
genuine, real person,
and he was a good friend to a lot of people.
He always treated me like we were equals, which,
you know, we weren't. We weren't equals.
There, there- I don't think anybody was
equal to his brilliance.
Look over here, Rick, you've come back from Scotland.
That's right, look at this!
What Robin gave me was friendship...
and, love and respect.
And, you know, his, his time-
his precious, precious time.
He was the most unique talent and person...
I've ever encountered.
♪
He was the best friend and brother I ever had in my life.
He used his intellect and his imagination
and his zaniness,
to make the world a better place.
Look how lucky we are.
Let's really make the cameraman mad now.
[Laughing]
And he is one of a kind.
There will never be another Robin Williams.
I don't care how long this world lasts,
there will never be another Robin Williams.
Until next week, this is Mork signing off.
Na-no, na-no. [Mimicks engine starting]
Agh!
♪