I saw this on a blog today:
“What happens when celebrities lose their way, and think death is the only answer to their problems? Moreover, what happens when celebrities are no longer in the limelight; and the roar of the crowd, has been reduced to a handful of curiosity seekers? Do they grow old and fade away? Do they try to revive their careers? Or do they follow in the footsteps of the late great Robin Williams, and commit suicide? What do you think?”
First off, this person is a complete fucking moron.
Secondly, Williams has a film coming out shortly, so he’s still in the limelight.
Third: I’m pretty sure he didn’t kill himself out of depression or pity. Robin Williams had Bipolar Disorder.
Fourth: if others follow simply because Williams did it, they’re even more stupid than the woman who posted this is. And that’s a whole lot of stupid.
I think judging this as an outsider is something you can’t really do accurately. I have bipolar disorder. Unless you have it, you have NO IDEA what it’s like to live with it. This disorder has the highest death rate of any disorder…even a higher death rate than cancer. There is a reason for that. Sometimes people don’t kill themselves because they want to die. It’s because they just can’t live with it any longer.
When you have a disease, it stays with you, no matter what. Nothing changes that. Not where you move, what your career is, who your partner is. It’s always with you. And bipolar disorder is much, much more than just mood swings. It physically affects you, especially the respiratory system.
Unfortunately, with the ridiculous stigmas in the USA and lack of affordable healthcare, people either are afraid to talk about it or won’t come forward to get help and the proper medication…medication which is BRUTALLY expensive and usually not covered by insurance.
There’s also a real lack of awareness about BP here, too. We would not tolerate that with Autism, yet we sweep this under the rug, despite so many having the disorder and it being a genetic disease that was declared a legal handicap in 2008.
Most people who are successful at suicide with bipolar disorder do not do it during the depression phase. It’s when they’re manic or coming down from a manic episode.
As someone who is in the entertainment industry, I can tell you with a solid amount of certainty that Robin Williams was not eaten up by Hollywood, as someone suggested. He simply got tired of battling something that will never go away.
At the end of the day, Williams lived a very interesting, colorful life. And he got to choose when he wanted to check out.
That’s more than most people will ever get.
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Putting The Clothes On, Taking The Gloves Off. 
Fox News anchor Shep Smith (one of the more moderate voices at Faux News) said Williams was “Such a coward” for committing suicide. You might have heard Mel Gibson’s it seemed to me not particularly compassionate statement, but then according to his pre-Vatican II Catholicism (hopefully he doesn’t believe that part) Robin Williams is in Hell. Assuming I’m not misinterpreting his remarks, that attitude might point to why our society has such a problem with suicide and mental illness. They’re both entangled with questions of morality and suspicions of moral failings (the ever popular charge by the right e.g. Fox News against the poor), but on the other hand if they’re seen strictly in physical terms they can lead to people being treated as machines. Hopefully you haven’t had to put up with either attitude, or at least not much. Remember that quote by Dostoevsky about the degree of civilization in a society being judged by entering its prisons? He could have extended that to how we treat our mentally ill, though it’s for our time to extend it to our attitude to those who are unable to go on, but hopefully in a more civilized society Robin Williams would never have felt compelled to choose death to end his suffering.
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I came across this yesterday April, if you haven’t seen it already I think you’ll be interested: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiUeOLfV5z8
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This is the first time I’ve read your blog, although I’ve certainly been aware of you as a wrestler, model, and woman-who-makes-me-wish-I-was-younger-handsomer-and-more-charming. Thank you for this. The sheer amount of nonsense Robin Williams’ suicide has generated from those who simply don’t understand depression (in whatever form it takes) is disheartening. I’ve battled it myself, and my father is currently in a major episode, wishing to “not be here,” as he puts it, and having attempted, via pills, to end his life twice. I’ve come to understand one thing. which clearly many people don’t get- depression LIES. It tells your mind there is no way out, that things will never get better. People look for reasons, and think suicide must have been a rational decision, without seeing that the illness precludes rationality. It’s hard to fight despair when your mind is blocked from seeing hope. In any case, i just wanted to thank you, and commend you for fighting the good fight.
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First off, thank you. 🙂
Secondly saying that “depression lies” is about perfect. I never heard it put so appropriately.
I think it’s hard when you’re a rational, intelligent person…to battle it. You second guess yourself.
Anyway, thank you for the insightful comment. It’s much appreciated.
Xo.
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I agree with the article, however I respectfully disagree with the Autism comment. Although Autism is well publicized, understanding is still relatively small. The common belief that Autism is somehow on the raise, with vaccinations being the primary scapegoat, is more harmful to the condition than it is beneficial. The truth is that Autism is not on the raise, but what is is the understanding of the Autism Spectrum. BP & AS have a very strong link between them, in that societies interpretation of them has more in common with a Hollywood script than it does with reality. Both are very well known, but not understood, unfortunately. Thank you for the wonderful article 🙂
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HI Nate…I think a variety of things cause Autism. My mom had it (high functioning)…my closest friends’ son has it (much further on the spectrum). He’s never been vaccinated…ever. It was against their religion. So vaccines *may* have some play but not always. I agree that there isn’t ENOUGH education about Autism. However, if Bipolar Disorder had the equal amount of awareness that Autism has, we’d be getting somewhere. Right now, they think we’re either moody or murderous shooters. That’s about the gist of it.
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