Robin Williams’ son says father’s death made life ‘unmanageable’

‘There were just things I wanted to tell him,’ Zak Williams said

Robin Williams’ son has opened up about his the death of his father, revealing that it left his life “unmanageable”.

Zak Williams, 38, appears on episode two ofThe Me You Can’t See, the new Apple TV+ series co-created by Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey.

He shared his own experience of addiction to drugs and alcohol, revealing he spoke to his dad about it.

“It just became part of my identity. I’m just like, ‘I can do this so I can get through the day.’ And the weird thing for me, I would take uppers. I would take cocaine and the like to calm down. I talked to my dad about it – he was similar. He would use uppers as a way of focusing and relaxing.”

He said the pair developed a “deeper more profound understanding of one another” when his father decided to stop drinking.

“It was around the time I first realised I had a problem,” Zak said, adding that he was “worried” for his father when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

“He felt like his ability to do the things he loved doing, which involved entertaining and performing, were slipping away. What I saw with my dad was an enormous amount of frustration. He was slowly drifting.”

Williams died by suicide in 2014, aged 63. Unbeknownst to the actor, he was suffering from Lewy body dementia, an incurable brain disease, which was only revealed following his autopsy.

“There were just things I wanted to tell him, and things I wanted to talk through with him,” Zak continued. “I did get the opportunity to do some of that but not to the level that I wanted to. And my life became unmanageable as part of that. I became angry and sad and didn’t want to feel anything.”

Zak Williams with his father in 2002 (Getty Images)

He said his father’s passing “created wreckage” and that he was “drinking to excess, damaging my relationship with my family and experiencing psychosis”.

Zak, who is sober, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. He is now an advocate for mental health, and is part of a group called Inseparable, which raises awareness for affordable mental health care.

He is married with one child.

You can contact the Samaritans helpline by calling 116 123. The helpline is free and open 24 hours a day every day of the year. You can also contact Samaritans by emailing jo@samaritans.org. The average response time is 24 hours.

In the US, you can contact Mental Health American on 1-800-23-TALK (8255) to reach a 24-hour hotline