Sam Neill says that Robin Williams was “the loneliest man on the planet”
Actor Sam Neill recently shared his opinion on the late comedic actor Robin Williams, calling him both the “funniest and loneliest person I’ve ever met”. Williams, famed for his performances in films like Good Will Hunting and Aladdin, tragically died by suicide in 2014.
When being interviewed for his memoir Did I Ever Tell You This?, Neill reflects on his best memories with Williams, telling People: “Funny stuff just poured out of him. And everybody was in stitches, and when everybody was in stitches, you could see Robin was happy”. Neill had worked with Williams on the film Bicentennial Moon and would remember their seeing him in passing, recalling: “We would talk about this and that, sometimes even about the work we were about to do. [He] was irresistibly, outrageously, irrepressibly, gigantically funny”.
Towards the end of his life, Neill remembered Williams being “inconsolably solitary and deeply depressed”. Despite his funny side, Neill talked about being aware of how lonely Williams felt, saying, “He had fame, he was rich, people loved him, great kids—the world was his oyster. And yet I felt more sorry for him than I can express. He was the loneliest man on a lonely planet”.
After William’s passing, his son Zak recalled his father always keeping his mental state in check before his death, remembering: “The main thing for me was noticing how he went to great lengths to support himself while he could show up for others. It was clear that he prioritized his mental health throughout most of his life, at least that I experienced with him”.
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