Robin Williams was an American comedian and actor known for his manic stand-up routines and diverse film performances. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Good Will Hunting (1997).

Williams’s early movie appearances included leads in Popeye (1980) and The World According to Garp (1982). He later starred in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), in which he portrayed the irreverent military disc jockey, Adrian Cronauer. This role earned Williams his first Academy Award nomination. His second came soon after for his performance as an inspirational English teacher at a preparatory school in Dead Poets Society (1989). In the early 1990s, he lent his talents to a number of successful family-oriented films, including Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), in which he played a divorced man who impersonates a female nanny to be close to his children, and the animated feature Aladdin (1992), in which he voiced a frenetic genie.

Born on July 21, 1951, Williams died by suicide on August 11, 2014, in Tiburon, California, after battling severe health issues. When the world lost one of its most beloved entertainers, the news was devastating, but for those close to him, the onset of his final struggles was not entirely surprising. The anxiety Williams experienced in his final years went far beyond normal worry; he would occasionally sit frozen with anxiety, unable to explain what he was afraid of. The man who made millions laugh could no longer quiet the dread inside his own mind. This escalating anxiety is a common symptom of Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), a disease that affects the brain regions regulating fear and emotional responses.

Williams had always been open about his struggles with depression and addiction throughout his life. While it initially seemed like a tragic end to a lifelong battle with mental illness, his diagnosis of LBD shed new light on his final days.

On this Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month, we remind men everywhere that they are not alone. Let’s break the stigma, speak up, and protect each other. Mental health matters.

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