Robin Williams dead of suspected suicide: Are comedians more plagued by depression than other stars?

FoxNews.com ^ | August 12, 2014 | Hollie McKay

[Biggirl]

LOS ANGELES – They earn their living by making the masses laugh, but experts say comedians are all too often masking intense sadness behind those smiles.

[Bigg Red]

I think you are correct.

[Alex Murphy]

When a person is smart enough and old enough to see the heart of man and his fate - but is unwilling to accept Christ’s Grace, suicide will be the likely outcome. I think this happens with a lot of “above average intelligence” people as they age. Look at Ecclesiastes. It’s Solomon as an old man, full of wisdom. After getting the chicks, the cars, the private jets, the villa in the Alps, he realizes it is ALL a chasing after the wind. But then the zinger is in the last paragraph...If one is at the same level Solomon was at and refuses to accept that last paragraph, suicide is the logical next step. It would be for me, and I’m only 60.

Best examination of Williams' circumstance that I've read so far. Thanks for posting it!

[FreeReign]

Are comedians more plagued by depression than other stars?

I bet cocaine users are.

[longfellow]

He murdered himself.

[Inyo-Mono]

Bttt.

[bicyclerepair]

R.I.P. Robin Williams.

But I can’t sympathize with a rich celebrity suicide.

I’M DEPRESSED, I’M BROKE, I’M NOT KILLING MYSELF!

[mmichaels1970]

Perhaps you already know this. Winston Churchill was bipolar.

Sure did. It's tough because you want to look with hope at the great accomplishments of those with the same or similar affliction. But then you learn more about their darker sides. It can be very disconcerting and scary.

[mmichaels1970]

I’M DEPRESSED, I’M BROKE, I’M NOT KILLING MYSELF!

Sounds like you probably have a very rational, normal functioning brain. People with bipolar disorder are very irrational when they are in a manic state.

If he was truly bipolar I sympathize with him and those who loved him through all of the hell the illness causes.

[minnesota_bound]

Maybe was drunk, passed out and threw up and choked.
Actor William Holden died from a small cut on his head. He fell and hit his head and was so drunk he did not dress the wound and died from loss of blood.

[dfwgator]

I looked at the last picture of him....He looked really emaciated. Almost as if there was some underlying health issue.

[dfwgator]

Winston Churchill was bipolar.

Yep. He painted to keep away the "Black Dog."

[Bigg Red]

Well, the best we can do is pray for them. Second best is to be there for them as much as we can, as you so eloquently described.

The devil cannot win if Christ’s love is allowed to shine through. May God bless and keep you.

[Bigg Red]

Very good. I did not know he had said that.

[dfwgator]

Winston Churchill and his “Black Dog” that Helped Win World War II

http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Not_Alone/Winston_Churchill.htm

[Political Junkie Too]

I was just saying that I thought his speech patterns in recent interviews reminded me of Ozzie Osbourne.

-PJ

[dfwgator]

I probably would have thought the same way about depression. I probably made some comments in the past that got me chastised.

But that’s one of the good things about FR...I know that if a Freeper testifies that Depression is indeed a real thing, that I can trust that opinion, even if I don’t totally understand it.

[Springfield Reformer]

Good points all. No doubt RW was a full tilt genius. Sharp humor in general is considered a sign of high intelligence. But like you say, at the end of the day, what does brilliance get you? A longer, higher view of oblivion, if that’s all there is. Thank God there is so much more.

[mmichaels1970]

I probably would have thought the same way about depression

I did. Spent my entire life hating my grandfather for what he did to my dad. Not so much as a nod to his grave when visiting the resting place of my grandmother.

Then I was blessed with a beautiful child with a bipolar mind. I've learned about bipolar like the parent of a diabetic child would learn about insulin. I'm far from perfect. Gotta fight the instinct to simply tell her to suck it up and snap the heck out of it and storm off.

Because many believe bipolar is genetic I came to wonder if my grandfather experienced the same hell my daughter goes through. Maybe at that time a "man's man" could only turn to the corner bar for his "medication". I don't know. Maybe he was just a selfish jerk. Nobody talks about him, so I guess I'll never know. Just a forgotten plot next to grandma now.

In any case, I believe it's helped me become more merciful to those in so much pain. Helped me realize that only God is in control of one's eternity, is the only one that truly knows one's heart and mind completely, not me.

[jimmyo57]

I heard Milton Berle on an interview say he never even tasted a beer.

[Wuli]

I often wondered what was the source of a tension in Robin that always seemed just below the humor and the laughter, a tension that also was maybe behind the frenzy he had so often in his comedic presentations.

To me his great accomplishments in his art is the unforgettable persona/characters that he created. They always seemed to be different versions of the real Robin; just a little crazier than the rest of us.