We all know that although Robin Williams is dead and hanged himself in a shocking suicide he was no stranger when it came to struggling with the dark side. He spoke very openly about his battles with addiction and depression and that honesty is part of what made him so endearing. Rather then keeping himself on the kind of pedestal that most great actors are ultimately placed on Robin preferred to have his feet on the ground. He also understood that connection was everything while laughter was some of the best medicine. While fans loved the actor for his work, they loved Robin for his humanity.
It was a shock to learn that Robin’s marriage to Marsha Garces had imploded back in 2008 and he always was more than willing to take the blame. He quickly shifted into a romance with a graphic designer named Susan Schneider that he eventually married in 2011. Susan was credited with helping to nurse Robin through his heart surgery and by all accounts the couple lived a quiet, sober life together for a few years.
Rumblings of trouble started earlier this year and we had heard that Robin was in a bit of financial trouble and had hoped that his new comedy series with Sarah Michelle Gellar would take off – it didn’t. By July Robin had voluntarily checked himself into rehab again for a self described “tune up”. That term is becoming a bit more common amongst celebs with well established addiction issues. Rather than expose just how far they have fallen they’ll often make it sound like a pre-emptive move to stay on the right path.
Obviously, Robin didn’t leave rehab in a better space than he was in upon admission, right? If he was so severely depressed then why was he released in the first place and if he was actively living with Susan in caring relationship then how was he alone for 14 hours? The answer here may be as simple as Robin himself locking the world out, including his wife and it would be a move that ended in deadly consequences. The poor family was standing on the fine line of needing to actively do everything in their power to keep Robin safe versus the cold reality that if someone wants to put an end to their own life, they will find a way to do it.
But here’s the thing, Robin is now confirmed to have hanged himself. That is an act of anger and spite. He left no note according to TMZ and was simply found hanging in the main house. This wasn’t a man that wrote a note apologizing to his family and professing his love for them. Instead he just acted or reacted to something. He was last seen alive at 10 pm and was able to successfully hang himself which leads me to wonder where Susan was and if a fight led her to storm out of the house. There had been whispers of trouble within the couples’ marriage in recent months and we have to wonder if this new kind of pain was what catapulted Robin into the darkest depression of all. People that were around him at the time of his rehab stint now say that they believed that he was too far gone last month to be saved. Sadly, they were right.
Do you think that Robin was actually as alone as he felt in his final weeks or was his loneliness the result of his own downward spiral? Were problems within his marriage the cause of an internal pain that even he couldn’t handle? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
Robin with much younger wife Susan Schneider
Photo Credit: FameFlynet