If Robin Williams was a kid growing up today, he would have probably been hated by his teachers as a shit disturber, placed in a special education program, and forced to go on ADHD meds to quiet him down. Kind of makes you wonder how many talented kids are told something is wrong with them and they never completely reach their full potential.
To anybody who grew up in Marin county like I did, Robin was a regular fixture and was seen all of the time out an about just like a normal person at local restaurants, grocery stores, or out for a ride on his mountain bike. He lived (and died) in a well to do neighborhood on the water in San Francisco bay just a couple doors down from my uncle who knew him well as a neighbor. It's not a gated community and anybody could literally go up and knock on his door. If he was home, he would answer the door. A few years ago when my kids were younger, we took them trick or treating in the neighborhood where he lived, and he answered the door and handed out glow sticks and candy.
When I was 19 my girl friend at the time was a lifeguard at a pool in the condo complex where Robin's mom lived. We were there swimming one day and Robin came out with his mom for a dip in the pool, dove into the pool not realizing it was only 3 feet deep, and scraped the skin off of his nose when it hit the bottom of the pool. He was gushing blood as my girlfriend tended to him, and he still cracked jokes the entire time. Other times when I saw him, he looked sad and withdrawn. When he was away from the cameras you could see that he had a troubled soul, it was just a look on his face and in his eyes. I can't imagine living life where you have to constantly be funny and the toll it has to take on your mental health.
Great talent comes at a cost, and Robin paid that price. He was a salt of the earth kind of person and treated everybody (even strangers) with respect and dignity and didn't let his fame change who he was. His mentor Jonathan Winters also had his demons, and voluntarily committed himself to a psychiatric hospital, only to find out years later that he had what we call today bi-polar disorder. Robin may have suffered from similar disorders, but for most of his life he managed it as best he could, and left us all with some wonderful memories.