Written/Copyright 2014 – Eric Reports

Robin Williams shortly before his death

On August 11, 2014, actor/comedian Robin Williams lifeless body was found hanging from his belt, wedged between his closet and bedroom door.  Cause:  apparent suicide.  Proof remains that it wasn’t a planned suicide.  Shortly before his death, Mr. Williams tried to cut his wrists – a knife lay nearby with dried blood.  If a celebrity wished to kill himself, wouldn’t he plan a more painless way?  Why did he change his mind at the last minute by using a belt instead of a knife?  This is proof of a spur of the moment decision – a decision he knew would haunt his family and loved ones.

Q.  What happened that last night that convinced Robin Williams to kill himself?

Was it more than one thing?   Depression?  Parkinson’s Disease?  The recent cancellation of his TV series?  Old age?  A troubled marriage with a young-modern-career-woman?  Did he think his best years were behind him?  Sadly, only Robin Williams knows the answers to these questions.  We, the public, can only try to piece the clues together.

His final day seemed uneventful.  Mr. Williams was seen earlier that day buying coffee in a local bookstore café.  At 10:30 p.m., third wife Susan Schneider last saw her husband leave for his separate bedroom.  This speaks for itself.  If, as claimed, he was in “a fragile state of health and deeply depressed”, why was he left unobserved?  [Eventually discovered the next morning at 11:45 a.m., by his assistant, Rebecca Spencer.]  Ms. Schneider had left earlier that morning, thinking he was still asleep.  What bothers me the most is the twelve hours from the time Mr. Williams hanged himself until he was discovered.  Why was this obviously depressed man left to his own devices for so long?  Reportedly, he slept alone in a darkened room for twenty hours at a time; an unhealthy sleep escapism that should have alerted his wife.

There are odd parallels between Elvis Presley’s death – left alone to die in his bathroom, while his girlfriend Ginger Alden slept.

The mainstream media, which originally blamed depression, has shifted to the onset of Parkinson’s Disease, as the cause for suicide.  A contributing factor, sure, but there had to be more.  Simply stated, no one told him that it didn’t matter if his health and fame faded.  I absolutely believe this.  Robin Williams was there for his buddy, actor Christopher Reeve.  Who was there for him?

Film work lay ahead, most importantly a sequel to his beloved “Mrs. Doubtfire”.  On the other hand, CBS had cancelled “The Crazy Ones” three months earlier.  Did this cancellation affect his reasoning?  Was it enough to push him over the edge, knowing that his death would not have ended the show, thereby putting the cast out of work?

The many television tributes have ignored Mr. Williams most serious films, including “One Hour Photo” and “Insomnia”.  Both movies display the dark side of Robin Williams.  At the time, Oscar nominations were rumored.  Unfortunately, Oscar prefers the feel-good mindlessness which so often wins.  Even the Holocaust film “Jacob the Liar” received nothing.

In the end, this unique, multi-talented performer became human and died.  When I first heard about it, I didn’t believe it.  Didn’t want to.

“Death’s such a cunning little mystery.  All done with mirrors.”  Noel Coward from “Private Lives”