Zak Williams is remembering his late father, Robin Williams, on what would have been his 74th birthday.
Zak, 42, a mental health advocate, shared a candid photograph of his father in the 1987 movie Good Morning Vietnam, alongside a moving message about grief.
“Today would have been my dad’s 74th birthday,” his Instagram tribute began before touching on the “tender and complicated stretch of time” which included Father’s Day, his dad’s birthday and the anniversary of his death by suicide in 2014.
“For me, grief isn’t linear,” he continued. “It loops and echoes. It softens, then crescendos. But alongside it lives a legacy, the kind built not from fame or recognition, but from generosity and relentless kindness.”
Zak then spoke about his Mrs Doubtfire star father more specifically, writing that the actor “lived to make people feel seen. He gave permission to feel deeply and to laugh through the pain. In his absence, that mission continues,” he continued.
His moving message concluded with his thoughts on the best way to honor those who have passed, which include living the “values they stood for,” leading “with service and compassion,” lifting others “when they’re down, and to “find paths of light, even in the dark corners.”
Zak then addressed “anyone carrying loss right now,” and told them, “you’re not alone. You are part of a passage of love and connection that never really ends.”
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“Happy birthday, Dad. Love you forever,” his message ended.
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Back in 2021, Zak had marked what would have been Robin’s 70th birthday by speaking about the “frustration [and] discomfort” the actor felt at his misdiagnosis.
Ethan Miller/Getty
Robin Williams, March 2007
Sitting down with Max Lugavere, host of The Genius Life podcast, Zak said of his father’s misdiagnosis with Parkinson’s disease led to “frustration.”
It wasn’t until years after Williams’ death that it was discovered that the Good Will Hunting star had Lewy body dementia, the second-most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s disease.
“What he was going through didn’t match one to one [with what] many Parkinson’s patients experience,” he continued. “So, I think that was hard for him.” He added, “he was very uncomfortable.” Zak also said that he felt medication did his father more harm than good. “Those drugs are no joke,” he said. “They’re also really hard on the mind and the body.”
Zak then touched upon the toll his father’s suicide took on his own mental health.
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“I was heavily drinking to manage my mental health where it created very harmful issues. I was experiencing some psychosis and when I spoke with a psychiatrist, I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,” he shared. “I was self-medicating through the trauma using alcohol.”
If you or someone you know need mental health help, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
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