:-( RIP Robin Williams

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Looks like financial problems also plagued him:

...the actor recently confided to a family friend that he had ?serious money troubles,? and was worried about his family?s financial security.

According to a family friend who had spoken to Williams recently, ?All he could talk about were serious money troubles".

There was also frustration that Robin expressed at having to take television and movie roles he didn?t want to take, but had to for the paycheck,? the source said...

In addition, Williams revealed in a Parade Magazine  interview last year, that he took a role on the now-defunct CBS show The Crazy Ones because he needed the paycheck.

?The idea of having a steady job is appealing,? Williams told the magazine. ?There are bills to pay. My life has downsized, in a good way.?

"I'm selling the ranch up in Napa", he said of his $35 million Villa Sorriso. "I just can't afford it anymore."

It is revealed that he wasn't excited about reprising his role for Mrs. Doubtfire 2.

I enjoyed him in Mork & Mindy at the time, and some of his movies such as Jumangi, Mrs. Doubtfire, etc.  A great and gifted 'natural' talent who will no doubt be missed.  Sad and terrible news to read and hear about on someone who made the world laugh except himself.

http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2014/08/robin-williams-had-serious-money-troubles-in-months-before-his-death-claims-friend-was-the-pressure-too-much/

I think that report is nonsense. His publicist knocked it down:
Robin Williams? Rep Knocks Down Reports of Money Troubles

This alone squashes a bunch of the rumor for me:
Forbes valued two of his properties at $36 mil less $7.x mil in mortgages. He could have easily picked up $20 mil cash with additional mortgages of those properties if he needed cash. He was selling one of them to lower maintenance costs but he could have easily opted for a mortgage.

Robin's brother, who he was close to and had businesses in vineyards, passed away a few years ago. Robin's estate had olive oil and vineyard production contracts but without his brother, maybe Robin lost interest or lacked the desire to have someone else manage that aspect of maintaining the 600+ acre property. Beyond maintenance costs,  that probably was an emotional factor in his desire to sell the property.

Robin was well inside the top 10 grossing film actors of all time (between #4 and #8, $5.x billion). He could very comfortably retire on the residuals from that alone - ignoring his stand up concerts, his DVDs, etc.

He was a relentless philanthropist. Charities  would put on a show planning to charge $100 a head for a thousand people. Robin would add his name and then they could get $300-400 per ticket. So if he needed cash, he could do a stand up show for 5,000 people himself at $200 per head and grab close to $1 mil in a 90 minute evening because his production costs were close to zilch.

In 2009, after he'd paid out $30 mil combined to his two ex-wives in divorce settlements, brought on by heart trouble, he set up trusts for his three kids (youngest is 23). His comedy tour around that time probably paid for it grossing $45 mil roughly.

Since the beginning of 2013, aside from the $4 mil for his TV show, he's done about 10 other films and completed a comedy tour with David Steinberg. Over the last couple of years with residuals, he probably was paid like Kessel or Crosby.

With a net worth estimated between $50-$130 mil, ex-wives, kids and house paid for, no known major business expenses and that recent income, I really doubt money was big problem for him. Quite possibly, it was the least of his problems.

 

[cw]

Addiction and depression plagued him throughout his career...

http://www.people.com/article/robin-williams-dies-depression-addiciton-struggles

Many, many folks describe his comedy and behavior as manic.

Carrie Fisher did a one person show that delved into her bipolar condition and she gave a test for it to her audience. Robin dropped in backstage and told her, from her test, that he tested as bipolar.

Upon reflection and having had a couple of very close friends with the condition, I strongly suspect Robin suffered from hypomania - a type of bipolar condition. Many successful people have had it. The horror for Robin probably was that treatment for this condition would severely compromise or curtail his manic comedy as the drugs prescribed for treatment of it knock the mania out of you. It would have been very difficult for him to accept that for obvious reasons.

As well, the manic feeling with hypomania is often euphoric. Robin claimed he experienced a great rush from his brain producing endorphins when he was creating his comedy. It's an addictive high and in Robin's case, going on in a person susceptible to addiction.

Like my close friend, it's the hypomania behavior that causes folks to notice the person and be attracted to them or interested in them. It's exciting. It's a trip. So they're socially trapped because like everyone else, they want to be accepted and loved and this condition at it's peak often delivers that.

But like the laws of gravity, what goes up must come down. They may well take drugs to help them sustain it artificially and to avoid the pending painful depression. From that, many become addicted to drugs or alcohol. But eventually, with little sleep and operating at such high RPM overdrive, the body says "enough" and they crash physically. And at that point, mentally fatigued, they swing into depression - sometimes very deep.

I suspect that was what Robin Williams dealt with for much of his 63 years. He was trapped. If he medicated himself, his career, his creativity and the joy he brought so many people that meant so much to this empathetic soul would have been over. So he lived more dangerously by going without treatment for the condition, digging himself out of periodic pits of depression while he recharged.

Unfortunately, after doing this for much of 63 years, and maybe worn down from that, it appears he hit a nasty low stretch of depression he couldn't dig himself out from this time. He burned brightly with a shorter wick.

I typically don't get too hung up on celebrities for whatever reason. But this loss hit me harder than most. It's like a JFK, RFK, MLK, John Lennon moment for me. I really liked him.