--- title: Robin Williams Death: Suicide Is Not Selfish description: British novelist Matt Haig wrote a post on suicide on the anniversary of the death of Robin Williams canonical: https://time.com/4448763/robin-williams-suicide/ author: IDEAS Desk article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-11T18:12:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:55:57.637Z article:section: Ideas og:title: 'Suicide Is Not Selfish': Author on Robin Williams' Death og:description: Matt Haig wrote a post about mental health on 2nd anniversary of actor's death og:url: https://time.com/4448763/robin-williams-suicide/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bdebf737a455be9/6988a208fb4eac771088eb67/robin-williams-suicide-death-anniversary-depression.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3060 og:image:height: 1721 og:image:alt: Robin Williams og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Suicide Is Not Selfish': Author on Robin Williams' Death twitter:description: Matt Haig wrote a post about mental health on 2nd anniversary of actor's death twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bdebf737a455be9/6988a208fb4eac771088eb67/robin-williams-suicide-death-anniversary-depression.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Suicide Is Not Selfish': Author Posts on Death of Robin Williams > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=09c33d2b-2b7e-48d1-a751-d0111cb4d6db&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [IDEAS Desk](https://time.com/author/ideas-desk/) ## IDEAS Desk Aug 11, 2016 6:12 PM UTC  The actor and comedian Robin Williams, who committed suicide on August 11, 2014 The actor and comedian Robin Williams, who committed suicide on August 11, 2014 Jay Paul—Getty Images by [IDEAS Desk](https://time.com/author/ideas-desk/) ## IDEAS Desk Aug 11, 2016 6:12 PM UTC Two years ago, the comedian and actor [Robin Williams killed himself in his home](http://time.com/3106206/robin-williams-dead-time-cover/). The death of a man who created such joy struck millions of people especially hard. He was only 63\. Many felt as if he had much more happiness to share. On the anniversary of his death, Matt Haig, author of [_Reasons To Stay Alive_](https://www.amazon.com/Reasons-Stay-Alive-Matt-Haig/dp/1782115080/?tag=timecom-20), posted a remembrance of not just Robin Williams but a condemnation of the response, which was nestled in the belief that somehow depression would be more discriminating—that it wouldn’t infect someone who smiled so much. Haig writes of the collective question, “And if the clowns—the people there to cope with the process of existing—find it too hard, then what is the hope for the rest of us?” But that question comes from the wrong assumptions, Haig points out. Including Williams, he writes that it is important we remember other things, too: --- > “” --- Haig encourages people to resist the impulse to make anyone’s suicide about themselves—about them losing a source of glee or an example of how to be. Instead he encourages greater empathy for everyone—even those we don’t suspect are struggling—because, as he concludes, “We never know. We never know.” Here is Haig’s full statement: > [](https://twitter.com/matthaig1/status/763712866016985088) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4448763/robin-williams-suicide/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4448763/robin-williams-suicide/"},"headline":"'Suicide Is Not Selfish': Author Posts on Death of Robin Williams","datePublished":"2016-08-11T18:12:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:55:57.637Z","description":"British novelist Matt Haig wrote a post on suicide on the anniversary of the death of Robin Williams","url":"https://time.com/4448763/robin-williams-suicide/","keywords":["society"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bdebf737a455be9/6988a208fb4eac771088eb67/robin-williams-suicide-death-anniversary-depression.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"IDEAS Desk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ideas-desk/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bdebf737a455be9/6988a208fb4eac771088eb67/robin-williams-suicide-death-anniversary-depression.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Robin Williams","caption":"Robin Williams","creditText":"Jay Paul—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/society/","name":"society"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4448763/robin-williams-suicide/","name":"'Suicide Is Not Selfish': Author Posts on Death of Robin Williams"}}]}] ```