--- title: Robin Williams' Depression and Death description: The storied comedian and actor Robin Williams had spent time at a rehab facility this summer to maintain his sobriety, his publicist said. "This morning,... canonical: https://time.com/3102414/robin-williams-depression-struggles-go-back-decades/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-12T02:09:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:45:25.516Z article:section: Health og:title: Robin Williams' Mental Health Struggles Go Back Decades og:description: How depression may have been a factor og:url: https://time.com/3102414/robin-williams-depression-struggles-go-back-decades/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Robin Williams' Mental Health Struggles Go Back Decades twitter:description: How depression may have been a factor twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Robin Williams' Depression Struggles May Go Back Decades > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=ae7144f7-2822-4a81-be0d-1906ab8c18e7&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Remembering Robin WIlliams: Watch The Actor's Best Performances [Watch (HLS stream): Remembering Robin WIlliams: Watch The Actor's Best Performances](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wrXgMxVS.m3u8) (4:11)  _Published 2014-08-12. Remembering Robin Williams: Supercut_  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Aug 12, 2014 2:09 AM UTC  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Aug 12, 2014 2:09 AM UTC The storied comedian and actor Robin Williams had spent time at a rehab facility this summer to maintain his sobriety, his publicist said. “This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings,” Williams’ wife Susan Schneider said in a [written statement](http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/11/showbiz/robin-williams-dead/index.html) on Monday afternoon. According to the local sheriff’s office, coroners believe Williams may have committed suicide by asphyxia, and the actor’s representative said he had been “battling severe depression of late.” While the representative did not elaborate on the potential source of his recent depression, one-third of people with major depression also struggle with alcoholism, and Williams admitted to abusing both cocaine and alcohol during the height of his popularity in the 1970s as alien Mork on _Mork & Mindy_, which showcased his manic improvisational style. He quit using drugs and alcohol in 1983 and remained sober for 20 years after the birth of his first son. But in a revealing [interview in the _Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/20/robin-williams-worlds-greatest-dad-alcohol-drugs), Williams admitted that while working in Alaska in 2003, he felt “alone and afraid” and turned to the bottle because he thought it would help. For three years, he believed it did, until his family staged an intervention and he went into rehab, he told the _Guardian_. “I was shameful, did stuff that caused disgust — that’s hard to recover from,” he said then. He said he attended weekly AA meetings, and this July, People.com reported that Williams [spent several weeks at Hazelden Addiction Treatment Center](http://www.people.com/article/robin-williams-back-rehab-sobriety) in Minnesota, for what his representatives said was an “opportunity to fine-tune and focus on his continued commitment \[to sobriety\], of which he remains extremely proud.” Studies suggest that alcoholism and depression may feed each other. People who are depressed are more vulnerable to abusing alcohol than those who don’t experience depressive episodes, and those who drink heavily are also more likely to experience depression. The latest evidence also hints that the same genes may be responsible for both conditions, and depression is a strong risk factor for suicide. About 90% of people who take their own lives are diagnosed with depression or other mental disorders. Suicide is also more likely among baby boomers, according to 2013 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The coroner’s office is continuing its investigation into Williams’ death. ## Transcript Good morning Vietnam! Hello! Welcome back. [ MUSIC ] Help me. [ INAUDIBLE ] Remember me, Mork from Ork? You once called me the nutso from outer space? [ MUSIC ] [ LAUGH ] Big kisses. Look at this thing. Look, Flipper! [ LAUGH ] [ LAUGH ] [ BLEEP ] [ LAUGH ] [ BLEEP ]. Oh, yeah! Oh, you just seem like the only normal person around here. I love this guy! You ain't never had a friend like me. Yes sir, we pride ourselves on service. That's right, learn to become a redneck in your spare time. Just kidding. Wanting to be in America. Don't ask for green card. Follow me. Ow! It's Flubber! I just wanna thank Reynolds Tobacco people. [ LAUGH ] Graham Norton you better not put that up on a camera! [ LAUGH ] I'll **** slap your big **** around the stadium. [ LAUGH ] For God's sake pinky down! Ow! All right make your fingers like I am, all right? Yeah, and stop trembling. Hold the knife boldly! Yes! You sure, you sure you're okay? I'm fine. What is this? It's, it's fuzzy. You so jealous. Just a moment. I hear people wanting something. Me! Golf is one of the few sports where a white man can dress like a black **** and not look bad. You know what I'm saying? What am I? I'm Popeye the sailor. [ MUSIC ] [ LAUGH ] I know. But it's okay. That's really [ INAUDIBLE ]. How much money have we raised? [ LAUGH ] So, I pee in a bag. P- U! Good God, was that you? Uh- huh. Look at me. [ NOISE ]. Be gone. Be gone. [ CROSSTALK ] That was gross. Boys you must strive to find your own voice. [ MUSIC ] Annie! I wont be distant. I'll come back in the morning and I'll call ya if you let me. [ MUSIC ] But I still don't drink coffee. You don't know about real loss. Cause that only occurs when you love something more than you love yourself.. He's fighting Mrs Lowe. He's losing. Seize the day gather ye rosebuds while ye may [ MUSIC ] Seize the day eyes make your lives extraordinary. It was an honor serving you sir. Hey I'm sorry. Good day. I just flew in from a biology lab. I'm back and I'm flapping free! Seeing as how the VP is such a VIP shouldn't we keep the PC on the QT because if the leak's in the VC he could end up MIA and then we'd all be put on KP. And I know many of you have been looking for Sarah Palin's book. It is a **** to find, good luck. [ LAUGH ] I found it somewhere between fiction and non- fiction in the fantasy aisle. [ LAUGH ] For my first question. [ LAUGH ] [ LAUGH ] This is for $ 5. [ MUSIC ] Fosse, Fosse, Fosse. You do Martha Graham, Martha Graham. [ LAUGH ] I do a great impression of a hot dog. Thank you, boys, thank you. 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