This robin Williams death has hit me hard

[fujiyama]

I think like many, this is an unusually difficult celebrity death to make sense of. For a person like myself that has dealt with depression, it's even worse especially since I know what it's like to put on a happy face to the world when wishing to do to anything but.

Right after hearing about the death, my initial hope wad that it was just another celebrity death hoax. But once confirmed, it felt like a punch in the gut.

I didn't know the guy personally and haven't seen every one of his movies, but his personality and energy were.something unreal. And I really felt like I identified with him in several ways, struggles and all..and another thing I realized is how many movies he was in. I could simply sit around on a weekend and some random movie of his would be on tbs or tnt. I can't count how many times I've seen Mrs doubtfire, good will hunting, or dead poets society. Or for that matter the incrediblycheesy bicentennial man. Sometimes they weren't even great movies, but he made you sit and watch anyways. He almost became part of the background, but was reassuringly funny wherever you saw him. He was one of the few I'd actually care to see interviewed because he was so off the wall.

Rip mr. Williams. This is gonna take a while. It's bummed me out in a way I wouldn't have thought.

[Rhiannon12866]

1. You expressed that very well.

I still can't think of this without feeling a painful shock and I just liked the man, or what I saw on the big or small screen.

[easychoice]

2. We are less for his passing,for sure.

Smile,it would honor him greatly.He was what he was and did what he did to bring a little joy to others.
He was a very kind man.

[defacto7]

3. I'm in the same boat.

In my case I have found it hard to articulate anything about it. He was someone in the lime light that I figured would always be there because of his powerful character and outreach. In the case of such important emotional characters such as he, it's easy to forget that they are human like us with secret selves that even their own families aren't privy to, let alone us.

I had a similar perplexed feeling when Philip Seymour Hoffman died, it just didn't make sense. But with Williams it's a different experience of feeling that the world is changing not only in the political, radical, military, ecological ways but that the changes are more personal, those changes are touching the human spirit . Robin has always been there to make me laugh and support great causes... now he's not... and I haven't quite figured out what it means to me yet.

[shenmue]

4. Me too

[hwmnbn]

5. Apart from the "human" loss, which is tragic in itself...

I find myself missing the GENIUS of his comedy. When riffing, he was always in another gear and could fly off onto hilarious tangents from ANY where on any subject.

This was an absolute gift.

I am just grateful to have witnessed some of it.

[ailsagirl]

13. He was, all told, a gift to everyone

Last edited Sat Aug 16, 2014, 03:32 PM - Edit history (3)

I only hope that he was aware of how much joy he brought to us all. He was an extraordinary person, brilliant, kind, and generous. We shall not look upon his like again.

[Xyzse]

6. I agree. I didn't expect it to hit me this hard.

Guy was a part of my childhood.

[magical thyme]

7. it hit me hard too

I've only seen a couple of his movies, didn't love Mork and Mindy, and never saw his standup or interviews.

But he was just part of the fabric of our lives. Always there, somewhere. I was somewhat relieved to learn he was dealing with Parkinson's. Suddenly it made more sense.

I've battled clinical, suicidal depression all my life and am just 2 years younger than he was. There's a point where the drive to just give up is so familiar that you just tend to shrug it off because you've been around long enough to know it is temporary.

The 2 times I've clome close, I really did see no chance of recovery from the situation. Only a horrible flush down the drain. So it made sense to check out. I didn't because somebody gave me the practical tidbit of information I needed to fix what had, until that moment, been unfixable.

But certainly, facing an incurable disease that would progressively take away his ability to do his comedy and acting -- the very things that defined him -- and would leave him isolated with his inner demons. That wasn't much of a future to look forward to.

[Arugula Latte]

8. He's someone I sort of followed ever since I was a kid and saw him play an alien on Happy Days.

I lived in the Bay Area for a long time and he felt like "our" guy. Saw him perform live once.

I try to not get too wrapped up in the lives of famous people (who I don't know personally) but he seemed almost like family to a lot of us, in some weird way.

I'll miss knowing he's on this planet.

[hibbing]

9. harder than I thought it would

I feel it also. I'm not sure what it is, his outside persona of the funny guy and inside the torment and I think even the way he ended his life really has made me sad. I remember seeing a cartoon on here, he is holding a hand mirror looking into it smiling and the reflection is of him crying. The whole thing is very very sad.

Peace

[ailsagirl]

10. There's a sadness in the air

I live not 20 minutes away from him and I always felt proud that we shared the same
part of Northern California (Marin). I understand exactly what you're saying and I am
still in shock-- in disbelief-- in deep sorrow. It's so difficult to comprehend.

[Liberal_from_va34]

11. I'm with you all the way. This was probably one of the saddest deaths in recent times.

I loved Robin's acting, especially in Good Will Hunting, which happens to be one of my favorite films. And to hear that he had been suffering from depression hurts me even more. RIP Robin, we hardly knew ye. Hope you enjoy your new life in the great theater in the sky.

[TuxedoKat]

12. You know

I never really cared for him that much. I thought he was an okay actor and saw some of his movies but wasn't bowled over. Now that he's gone though and I've heard all these wonderful stories about him I have a newfound appreciation for him and empathy too, knowing that he suffered from depression. Now when I look at photos of him I see sadness in his eyes even when he's smiling in the picture and wonder why I didn't see that before. His death hit me hard too, now that I know some of what he suffered. I can't stop thinking about him. Maybe because I see more of myself in him that I did previously.

[TK421]

14. I don't think it even hit me yet

I mean, 63 years old and there really won't be another like him.

I just watched the movie Insomnia ( I hadn't even heard of it up until last week ) and thought he gave a great performance alongside Pacino.

I hope he is at peace- for all the laughter he gave us he deserves that much.