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Actor Robin Williams dead from apparent suicide

Robin Williams Dead — Commits Suicide

Nation Mourns Death of Comedic Actor Robin Williams

By Heather Sells

CBN News Reporter

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

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America is mourning the death of actor and comedic genius Robin Williams. The Hollywood icon died in an apparent suicide Monday at his California home at the age of 63.

“This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken,” Williams’ wife, Susan Schneider, said.

“On behalf of Robin’s family, we are asking for privacy during our time of profound grief. As he is remembered, it is our hope the focus will not be on Robin’s death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions,” she said.

Williams burst onto the scene in the late 1970s, playing an alien on the sitcom “Mork and Mindy.”

He would go on to become an Oscar-winning actor that could make us all smile – and cry.

Through the years Williams starred in countless hit films, like the now classic “Mrs. Doubtfire.”  Overnight Monday in San Francisco, fans laid flowers at the original home where the movie was shot.

Williams was perhaps known more for his comedic talents, with experts calling him a comic genius.

“Robin was one of the greatest comedians of all time,” Jamie Masada, founder of The Laugh Factory, said.

But he was also known for his range and depth on stage and on screen, like in the movie “Good Will Hunting” where he won an Oscar for playing psychologist Sean Maguire.

Fans say he changed their lives.

“When I was 12 years old I saw ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ for the first time and that range and his energy was just electric.  And I said that’s what I have to do for a living,” one person said.

Another person said, “He made everyone laugh. One of the very best… he brought so many smiles to so many people. Everyone in America tonight feels like they just got punched in the stomach.”

President Barack Obama described Williams as “one of a kind” and someone who “ended up touching every element in the human spirit.”

In his personal life, Williams struggled with depression and substance abuse addiction and talked openly about it over the years.  Just last month, he announced he was returning to a 12-step treatment program.

“When a person stops an addictive behavior and there are symptoms of traumatic stress, the risk of suicide increases significantly,” Regent University counseling professor Sherry Todd told CBN News

Williams leaves behind his wife and three children – and something for the fans:  four upcoming movies.

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Here is a very revealing article from 2009 about Robin Williams:

• Vanessa Thorpe
• The Observer, Saturday 21 November 2009

Robin Williams, 58, was forced to postpone his comedy comeback earlier this year when a heart problem required surgery. Photograph: Reed Saxon/AP

It takes some confidence to extend the Broadway run of your one-man show before opening night, especially a few months after undergoing heart surgery. But then Robin Williams has never been short of nerve. His lengthy career is due in equal measure to the fearless nature of his comedy and to the frenetic energy of his performance: he has a reputation as an entertainer that is built as much on his nerve as it is on his nerves.

Now, after six years away from the stage, a relapse into alcoholism, a divorce and an emergency operation to replace a faulty valve in his chest, Williams is resuming live stand-up. His comeback show, which reopens on Monday, is already one of New York’s hottest tickets, and then later in the week a Disney film, Old Dogs, in which Williams co-stars with John Travolta, opens in cinemas across America. What will follow is a series of wiser, more sensitive choices.

Rather like the legendary Fisher King, the character he once played on screen for Terry Gilliam, our dishevelled hero has returned, ruined by life but still searching for that grail. “It’s the idea of going, ‘Relax, you got the gig, what do you want to do now?'” Williams has explained to his fans.

Williams, who studied drama at the renowned Juilliard School of Music and Drama with fellow student and close friend Christopher Reeve, first made his name on the comedy circuit in the late 1970s alongside such emerging beacons of the alternative scene as John Belushi, Bill Murray and Richard Pryor. Once he made it to Hollywood his fortunes rose steadily, riding on the success of his Oscar-nominated portrayal of the DJ in Good Morning, Vietnam, until the point came in 1993, with the release of the hit family comedy Mrs Doubtfire, that Williams could justly claim to be one of the biggest box office draws in the world.

In the late 1990s a dangerous relationship with drink served to rub some of the shine off Williams’ star, but he kept on working. He was set to return to Broadway for a short live engagement and the appetite of his audience was clear. Tickets reportedly sold out in less than 10 minutes.

But then fate struck. Williams, who had been feeling a little out of breath and could not shift a persistent cough, was given an angiogram that uncovered a serious problem with a heart valve, a valve that was, in the comic’s words, “just blown”. The tour was put on hold while he underwent surgery.

It seems the realisation of just how close to death Williams had unknowingly been, more than the impact of major surgery itself, has jolted the performer into a new appraisal of his life and values. “I think, literally, because you have cracked the chest, you are vulnerable, totally, for the first time since birth,” he has said.

It is not that he has not had mortal shocks before. In 1982 he was with his old friend Belushi the evening before he died of a drugs overdose in the Chateau Marmont hotel, and in 1995 the serious horseriding accident and subsequent early death of his close friend Reeve had a profound impact on his life. Yet since his recent surgery Williams has spoken of a fresh thirst for life.

A close brush with death has given the 58-year-old a new perspective. He met his friend Susan Schneider, a 45-year-old graphic designer, shortly before his operation and she nursed him through convalescence at his California home. (Last year Williams separated from his second wife, Marsha, after 19 years of marriage).

A warm wave of nostalgia is washing through America this month in anticipation of seeing Williams perform again. It has prompted shared memories of some of the staging posts in his career: there was the early playful television appearance on the Richard Pryor Show, and then Williams in the guise of the alien Mork from Ork encountering Henry Winkler’s Fonz on Happy Days. (This was the part that spawned the spin-off sitcom Mork and Mindy which ran from 1978 to 1982 and made him a household name).

Far from looking back though, the actor says he is searching for work that will mean more to him. He cites a dark comedy released in America this summer, called World’s Greatest Dad and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait. It is the kind of work he hopes to make more of now.

The highlights of Williams’s film career so far are the roles that have suited his extraordinary energy level or caught the mood of the times, films such as The World According to Garp and Good Will Hunting. Latterly, Williams has also enjoyed critical success in a number of spooky parts, which mysteriously also seem to fit him like a glove, for example as an obsessive in One Hour Photo or the sociopath in the thriller Insomnia.

But as the camera has rolled on through the years, Williams’s more unfortunate choices have stacked up too. Flops have included Bicentennial Man, RV, Patch Adams, Jack and Robert Altman’s Popeye, of which Williams has said: “If you watch it backwards, it has a plot.”

Though Williams may be born again, his new show will not be evangelical. While the star has learnt his own lesson in relation to booze and still attends AA meetings, he says he does not want to preach. All he can tell people, he has said, is simply not to do it.

“There’s nothing romantic about it. This idea that as an artist you have to push yourself and explore the dark side? I went there. You can do a lot more interesting stuff when you’re not messed up,” he explains.

All the same, Williams’s friend and fellow comedian Billy Crystal believes the stand-up show will offer some kind of therapy for the performer. “Over the last couple of years and the pain that he’s gone through, his brain is the one thing that’s kept him buoyant,” Crystal has said. “I think he needs the stand-up in a different way than he did before. It’s still a safe place for him to be, but he can talk about things and make himself feel better, not just everybody else.”

Eric Idle suspects that all the Williams voices are an elaborate piece of misdirection: “I’ve always felt that Robin’s blinding speed and flash of wit was an effort at concealment, rather than revealing,” said Idle. “He would be talking about something personal or sexual, but it was always in general, not about him.”

Whether or not Williams’s attention-seeking behaviour is designed to communicate more openly or to hold his audience at arms’ length, the entertainer is clearly more determined than ever to shake people into noticing more about their lives, just as he has been forced to take account of his own.

Even before his illness, Williams spoke strikingly about his drive to go out in front of an audience and talk. “There’s anger there, and a fear, too,” he said. “I want to shout, ‘Wake up! Snap out of it!’ The hypnosis is over!”
• This article was amended on 27 November 2009.

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There are two usual approaches to this problem that young people take.

First, you have the worm approach. They crawl into the ground because they don’t want to be close to anyone.

Second, the puppy approach. They do anything they can to get people to like them.

The better approach is to act like the child of God that you are. Feeling loved and accepted starts with your relationship with Christ who is the only one able to meet the deepest needs of your life. (Fast forward to the end of this post if you need a relationship with Christ.) Talking to Jesus and reading his Word- The Bible – are steps to strengthening your friendship with him. He laid down his life for you, so it is obvious that he regards you as a friend worth dying for (John 15:13) That is powerful comfort when you wonder if anyone cares.

Portions of the above post were taken from the excellent devotional book by Josh McDowell, and Ed Stewart “Youth Devotions 2,” published in 2003 by Tyndale. Back then my kids were 17, 14, 9 and 7 and we went through several of these devotions together. Just recently I got the book out of the garage and three of my kids have been meeting with me at 5:30 am every morning and we are going through some of these same devotions again. I thank God for kids who came to me and asked to start meeting with me every morning to spend 30 minutes studying Bible applications and praying together. To God be the glory.

Papa Roach – Last Resort (Censored Version)

This series of posts concerns the song “The Last Resort.”

Amy Winehouse died a few months ago and it was a tragic loss. That really troubled me that she did not seek spiritual help instead of turning to drugs and alcohol. This post today will give hope to those who feel like it is all hopeless.

The band’s place in the pop music landscape was established with the release of their breakout single, “Last Resort,” which was quickly picked up by MTV and nominated for a “Best New Artist Video” award at the 2000 Video Music Awards. The song is a gut-wrenching first-person chronicle of hopelessness that’s gone so deep the singer is seriously contemplating suicide.   But the band is adamant about the fact that the song is about fighting to survive by overcoming depression, rather than allowing it to lead to suicide. “It’s not saying I can’t go on living. It’s saying I can’t go on living this way,” says Dick (Spin, 10/00).

I know there are some curse words in the following song. I have eliminated both times the curse word is used. I really think that there needs to be a response to the young people who are saying things like the words in this song Here are some of the words:

Do you even care if I die pleading, Would it be wrong, would it be right, If I took my life tonight, Chances are that I might, and I’m contimplating suicide, ‘Cause I’m losing my sight, losing my mind, Wish somebody would tell me I’m fine, Nothing’s alright, nothing is fine, I’m running and I’m crying, I never realized I was spread too thin, Till it was too late andI was empty within, Hungry, feeding on my chaos and living in sin, Downward spiral, where do i begin, It all started when i lost my mother, No love for myself and no love for another,Searching to find a love upon a higher level, finding nothing but QUESTIONS AND DEVILS, I can’t go on living this way, Cut my life into pieces, This is my last resort.

My response to these words:”Do you even care if I die pleading, Would it be wrong, would it be right, If I took my life tonight, Chances are that I might, and I’m contimplating suicide” is that you should plead to someone who can do something about your situation and that is Christ!!!!

Below David Powlison asserts:

How do you get the living hope that God offers you in Jesus? By asking. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).

Suicide operates in a world of death, despair, and aloneness. Jesus Christ creates a world of life, hope, and community. Ask God for help, and keep on asking. Don’t stop asking. You need Him to fill you every day with the hope of the resurrection.

Below is a portion of the article “Papa Roach—Infesting and reflecting youth culture by Walt Mueller. 

Papa Roach’s Music

In a day and age where the walls are crumbling between what had been a variety of distinctive popular music genres, Papa Roach is like many other chart-topping bands whose music combines sounds that were once distinct. Coby Dick’s raspy and throat-wrenching vocals join with music that incorporates sounds of rap, rock, thrash, funk and metal. Listeners familiar with popular music will hear the influence of Faith No More, the band Dick cites as one of his early favorites. Similar contemporary bands include Korn, Limp Bizkit, The Deftones and P.O.D.

Reviewer Tim Kennedy of Spin describes the resulting sound as “an amalgam of below-the-belt guitar riffage, punk-rock urgency, and half-sung, half-rapped vocals (10/00). Rolling Stone’s Anthony Bozza says listening to Papa Roach is “like standing on a precipice—sustained tension and the threat of a tumble” (8/31/00).

The sound combines with Dick’s lyrics in a powerful and emotional blend that addresses the reality of life for kids who have been burned over and over again. Tobin Esperance says, “We write about things that have happened to our singer, specifically, and friends around us. It’s real life stuff. We’re not writing about s___ that we don’t know about, like girls and cars and money … we only know real life bulls___ that happens” (nyrock.com). Coby Dick says of his autobiographical music, “I’m venting my emotions. It’s blunt” (Rolling Stone, 8/31/00). He says “Papa Roach, lyrically, is my counseling” (Billboard,6/10/00). 

Infest (2000)

Papa Roach released the album they now consider their first in April of 2000. The album quickly began to sell as a result of radio and MTV exposure, went gold after two months thanks to scoring with MTV’s Total Request Live audience, and had gone double platinum by September 2000.

Papa Roach offers an introduction to their music, mission, message and intentions on the album’s title cut. After introducing himself to his listeners, Coby Dick informs them his “God-given talent is to rock all the nations.” In this, the band’s “first manifesto,” the group lays out their plan to “infest” the world and young minds (“wrap you in my thoughts”) with an angry musical message of anarchy and rebellion against a messed-up world that’s let them down: “We’re going to infest/We’re getting in your head/What is wrong with the world today/The government, media or your family.” Institutions and people are not to be trusted. In fact, “First they shackle your feet/Then they stand you in a line/Then they beat you like meat/Then they grab you by your mind … people are the problem today.” Dick admits the struggle so many young people feel: “the game of life is crazy.” Alone in this sea of brokenness and hopelessness, Dick asks, “Would you cry if I died today/I think it be better if you did not say.”

The band’s place in the pop music landscape was established with the release of their breakout single, “Last Resort,” which was quickly picked up by MTV and nominated for a “Best New Artist Video” award at the 2000 Video Music Awards. The song is a gut-wrenching first-person chronicle of hopelessness that’s gone so deep the singer is seriously contemplating suicide. (See lyrics on page 7.) The fact that “Last Resort” is part of the mainstream pop music landscape indicates it is connecting with more and more kids who see it as an expression of their own inner struggles. For casual listeners, the song is very confusing. Listening to the song reveals the criticisms claiming the song promotes suicide could certainly be warranted. Kids who are riding the fence because of numerous other problems in their lives could interpret the song in a way that would give them permission to go over the edge, especially if they don’t know the story behind the song. But the band is adamant about the fact that the song is about fighting to survive by overcoming depression, rather than allowing it to lead to suicide. “It’s not saying I can’t go on living. It’s saying I can’t go on living this way,” says Dick (Spin, 10/00). He also says, “Last Resort” has “a positive edge to it, as far as like, ‘Don’t succumb to it. Keep yourself afloat.’ With these problems in your life, find a friend you can confide in” (Sonicnet.com). Based on the band’s resolve to survive like a roach, one would have to take them at their word. The song chronicles the suicide attempt of one of Coby Dick’s former roommates. After his “unsuccessful” attempt, the young man “turned to God” … Dick claims the attempt was what killed the rotting part of his roommate’s soul. The song has definitely connected. “We’ve gotten so many e-mails from people who tell us ‘Last Resort’ saved their lives,” says Dick. “It makes some people feel less alone” (Rolling Stone,8/31/00).

The album’s third cut is equally powerful. Released as a single and put in heavy rotation on MTV, “Broken Home” (See lyrics) is an overt lyrical, sonic and visual cry from the heart of one whose young life has been shattered by family breakdown. Written by Dick about his feelings after his parents’ divorce, the song offers listeners an emotional window into the reality of kids beaten up by our current culture of divorce. Every parent considering divorce should sit and watch this video. It is powerful.

“Dead Cell” has been called “a darkly sarcastic paean to Columbine kids the world over” (Alternative Press, 10/00). If that’s the case, the sarcasm is not easily heard. The dead cells are described as “born with no soul/lack of control/cut from the mold of the anti-social … sick in the head/living but dead.” Loud, angry and fast, the song could be interpreted by some who are young and angry as a call to arms: “I’m telling ya the kids are getting singled out/Let me hear the dead cells shout.”

“Between Angels and Insects” is an insightful rant against American greed and materialism. Dick says he wrote the song to remind himself that the things the band’s success will bring are not the things that make one happy. The lyrics are powerful and excerpts could serve to spark discussion with teens about the false promises of materialism: “Diamond rings get you nothing/But a life-long lesson/And your pocketbook stressin’/You’re a slave to the system/Working jobs that you hate/For s___ that you don’t need/It’s too bad the world is based on greed/Step back and stop thinking ‘bout yourself … ‘cause everything is nothing/And emptiness is in everything … Possessions they are never gonna fill the void … the things you own, own you.” When discussing the message of the song Buckner says, “all the worldly things that people equate with happiness—do they necessarily make you happy? You can have Rolexes and diamond rings and cars and houses … but really the things that make you happy are peace of mind and passion in your life” (Alternative Press, 10/00).

Relational selfishness and greed are the subject of “Blood Brothers,” a song offering powerful evidence of the depth of sin’s hold on humanity: “It’s our nature to destroy ourselves/It’s our nature to kill ourselves/It’s our nature to kill each other/It’s in our nature to kill, kill, kill.” The song speaks about allegiance in a world where you can’t trust anybody and you’ve got to watch your back. The lyrics leave one thinking the song could serve as an anthem for a street gang or other fringe subculture: “Blood brothers keep it real to the end.”

Themes of severe relational breakdown and the resulting pain continue in “Revenge,” a song about a girl who was “abused with forks, knives and razorblades” and who finally left the man who abused her in fits of rage. Listeners who have been abused will identify with the song’s mention of the ever-present and visible emotional scars they so often feel: “Chaos is what she saw in the mirror/Scared of herself/And the power that was in her/It took over and weighed heavily on her shoulders/Militant insanity is now what controlled her.” The song indicates that she exacts revenge on him, although the method and outcome is unclear.

Backstabbers are the subject of “Snakes,” an angry and threatening rant at those who betray friends. The song reflects the distrust so many kids feel because of the parade of letdowns they’ve experienced. The chorus asks, “Do you like how it feels to be bit in the neck by the snake that kills?/Do you know how it feels to be stabbed in the back then watch the blood spill?/I don’t like how it feels.”

Coby Dick chronicles his wrestling match with alcohol on “Binge,” a song that serves as a personal confession. “All I need is a bottle/And I don’t need no friends/Now wallow in my pain/I swallow as I pretend/To act like I’m happy when I drink till no end/I’m losing all my friends, I’m losing in the end … When I’m sober, life bores me/So I get drunk again.” The song is a heart cry about what drives the binge drinker, how he really feels inside and his desire to see it end. In the song’s final lines, Dick sings, “I wish things would change/Wish they’d rearrange.”

“Never Enough” is another cry for help from a confused and tortured young soul that is deeply longing for redemption. “Life’s been sucked out of me/And this routine’s killing me … somebody put me out of my misery,” Dick sings. The song will resonate with kids who are lost, purposeless and without peace. The song’s conclusion is a loud cry for help: “I feel as if I’m running/Life will knock me down.”

“Thrown Away” offers a view of life through the eyes of a kid struggling with ADD, something Coby Dick knows well as he watched his brother’s personal struggle with the disorder. “My heart is bleeding and the pain will not pass … I want to be thrown away … I am a mess, I’ve made a huge mess/I can’t control myself/I’m losing it, I’ve lost it/I’ve spilt all my marbles … sometimes I want to be thrown away.”

The album concludes with an unlisted hidden cut called “Tightrope.” The track is stylistically unlike any other cuts on the album as it is done in reggae style. The lyrics are a confusing mix of thoughts where Dick calls his words “weapons in which I murder you.” The song offers a confession regarding the ethical dilemmas faced by kids in these confusing times: “there is a thin line between what’s good and what is evil/I will tiptoe down that line/But I feel unstable/My life is a circus and I’m tripping down the tightrope/There’s nothing left to save me now so I will not look down.”

Help for the Suicidal

God offers you true, living hope–not a false hope based on your death.
By David Powlison

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO

It’s easy to see the risk factors for suicide—depression, suffering, disillusioning experiences, failure—but there are also ways to get your life back on track by building protective factors into your life.

Ask for help

How do you get the living hope that God offers you in Jesus? By asking. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8).

Suicide operates in a world of death, despair, and aloneness. Jesus Christ creates a world of life, hope, and community. Ask God for help, and keep on asking. Don’t stop asking. You need Him to fill you every day with the hope of the resurrection.

At the same time you are asking God for help, tell other people about your struggle with hopelessness. God uses His people to bring life, light, and hope. Suicide, by definition, happens when someone is all alone. Getting in relationship with wise, caring people will protect you from despair and acting out of despair.

But what if you are bereaved and alone? If you know Jesus, you still have a family—His family is your family. Become part of a community of other Christians. Look for a church where Jesus is at the center of teaching and worship. Get in relationship with people who can help you, but don’t stop with getting help. Find people to love, serve, and give to. Even if your life has been stripped barren by lost relationships, God can and will fill your life with helpful and healing relationships.

Grow in godly life skills

Another protective factor is to grow in godly living. Many of the reasons for despair come from not living a godly, fruitful life. You need to learn the skills that make godly living possible. What are some of those skills?

• Conflict resolution. Learn to problem-solve by entering into human difficulties and growing through them. (See Ask the Christian Counselor article, “Fighting the Right Way.”)
• Seek and grant forgiveness. Hopeless thinking is often the result of guilt and bitterness.
• Learn to give to others. Suicide is a selfish act. It’s a lie that others will be better off without you. Work to replace your faulty thinking with reaching out to others who are also struggling. Take what you have learned in this article and pass it on to at least one other person. Whatever hope God gives you, give to someone who is struggling with despair.

Live for God

When you live for God, you have genuine meaning in your life. This purpose is far bigger than your suffering, your failures, the death of your dreams, and the disillusionment of your hopes. Living by faith in God for His purposes will protect you from suicidal and despairing thoughts. God wants to use your personality, your skills, your life situation, and even your struggle with despair to bring hope to others.

He has already prepared good works for you to do. Paul says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). As you step into the good works God has prepared for you—you will find that meaning, purpose, and joy.

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