Robin Williams's Daughter Zelda Speaks Out on Losing Her Dad

February 27, 2015 9:16 AM EST

When beloved comedian Robin Williams took his own life in August 2014, his fans, costars and loved ones all had one question: Why?

But his daughter Zelda Williams says there’s no point in trying to determine what drove the actor to suicide at age 63.

“It’s not important to ask,” Williams, 25, said through tears while speaking out for the first time since her father’s death to NBC News correspondent Kate Snow.

“A lot of people who have been through it and lost someone, the ones that I’ve found who have gone on to lead very full lives, found that they just had to know that there’s no point questioning it,” she said in the segment, which aired on the Today show Thursday, “and there’s no point blaming everyone else for it, and there’s no point blaming yourself or the world or whatever the case may be, because it happened, so you have to continue to move and you have to continue to live and manage.”

Instead, the young actress is focused on carrying out the charitable causes near and dear to her dad’s heart. On Friday, she’ll present a Noble Award for the Challenged Athletes Foundation and establish the Robin Williams Fund.

Robin Williams' Life in Pictures

Robin Williams Popeye 1980 — Williams' played the spinach-loving sailor Popeye in its eponymous 1980 film.Paramount/AP

Robin Williams 1987 — Robin Williams played radio DJ Adrian Cronauer in director Barry Levinson's comedy drama, *Good Morning Vietnam* in 1987.Touchstone Pictures/AP

MSDDEPO EC007 — Williams taught a generation to seize the day, to make their lives extraordinary, as John Keating in *Dead Poets Society*.Buena Vista Pictures

MSDHOOK EC003 — Williams played a grown up version of Peter Pan in the 1991 family classic *Hook*.TriStar Pictures

M8DALAD EC007 — Williams lent his substantial talents to voicing Genie in Disney's 1992 animated film *Aladdin*.Disney

MSDMRDO EC017 — Household chores were no match for Robin Williams as he donned layers of prosthetics to play Mrs. Doubtfire in the 1993 movie of the same name.20th Century Fox

MSDJUMA EC015 — Williams starred as Alan Parrish, a boy stuck inside a board game for twenty-six years in the 1995 film *Jumanji*.TriStar Pictures

MSDGOWI EC016 — Starring opposite a young Matt Damon, Williams played Dr. Sean Maguire, in the 1997 film *Good Will Hunting*.Miramax

MSDBIMA EC013 — Williams played a living android in the 1999 film *Bicentennial Man*.Buena Vista

MCDNIAT FE019 — Williams took on the likeness of Teddy Roosevelt in Ben Stiller's *Night at the Museum*.20th Century Fox

Robin Williams Death — Robin Williams and his family are seen with their dogs on May 2005. From left to right: Kiwi (poodle), son Cody Williams, Robin Williams, daughter Zelda Williams, Marsha Williams and Mizu (poodle)Lacy Atkins—Emily Scott Pottruck/Trails of Devotion

As for his comedic legacy, Williams said she has been touched by the outpouring of support from the public.

“They knew a dad that he was proud of them knowing because he was an incredibly kind and incredibly caring man, and he was also private and very calm and very subdued,” she said. “The side of him that people know and love and that is attached to their childhood is the characters that he had so much fun being, and that’s what’s important, and I think that’s what a lot of people will hold on to.”

Williams also explained the meaning behind her new tattoo(“Hummingbirds are fun and flighty and strange – it’s hard to keep them in one place, and Dad was a bit like that”) and how she hopes to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health.

“People are finally starting to approach talking about illnesses that people can’t really see,” she said. “Nothing happens immediately, but I think we’re on our way.”

This article originally appeared on People.com

Listen to the most important stories of the day.

Robin Williams’ Daughter Zelda Speaks Out on Losing Her Dad

Robin Williams' Life in Pictures

More Must-Reads from TIME