It's been seven years since Robin Williams died by suicide at the age of 63, and in a new interview, one of his kids opened up about experiencing that loss. In an episode of The Me You Can't See, a mental health docuseries produced by Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry for Apple TV+, his oldest son, Zak Williams, spoke about grieving his father. Zak connected with Harry, who also lost a parent who was in the public eye when his mother, Princess Diana, died in a car crash in 1997. The beloved royal also battled depression, which she discussed during the controversial BBC Panorama interview from 1995.
Zak's appearance on The Me You Can't See isn't the first time Robin Williams' kids have publicly opened up about his death. All three of his children have discussed the loss, and they've also shared other pieces of their life with the world, including their careers, family lives, and more. Read on to find out more about each of Williams' three adult children.
Zak Williams
© Zak Williams / InstagramZak is the CEO of Pym, a company that makes "mood chews" that "are made with amino acids and adaptogens that target the body’s hormone levels to manage stress and anxiety," according to the website. Pym is Zak's middle name, but for the brand's purposes, it also stands for Prepare Your Mind. On the site, Zak explains that he came up with the idea after Robin died. "I found myself depressed, anxious, traumatized," he wrote, noting he was self-medicating with alcohol and cannabis. After getting sober, he was looking for a healthier way to cope, or, as he puts it, "My brain still needed something to bring itself back to center."
Zak is married to Olivia June and they have a son together named McLaurin Clement Williams—Mickey for short. Their son is named after Robin, whose middle name was McLaurin. Zak has shared photos of them all together on Instagram, including in the post seen here in which he wished his wife and son a happy Valentine's Day. Zak is Robin's only child with his first wife, Valerie Velardi.
Zelda Williams
Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.comRobin's daughter, Zelda Williams, is an actor and director. She has appeared on Jane the Virgin and Criminal Minds, and does voice acting work. She also recently directed Kappa Kappa Die about a haunted sorority house. In 2019, it was announced that Zelda would be making her feature debut in the film AMA (Ask Me Anything), though there have been no further updates on the movie.
Zelda sometimes reminisces about her dad on Twitter—and honors him in funny ways—but she is sure to set boundaries when it comes to interacting with his fans. Ahead of the anniversary of Robin's death in 2020, Zelda posted that, as usual, she would be disengaging with Twitter on that day for her own well-being.
"As I've said in the past, while I am constantly touched by all of your boundless continued love for him, some days it can feel a bit like being seen as a roadside memorial—a place, not a person—where people drive past and leave their sentiments to then go about their days comforted their love for him was witnessed," she wrote.
Zelda is one of Williams' two children with his second wife, Marsha Garces Williams.
Cody Williams
Cody Williams, Maria Flores/ZolaCody Williams is the most private of Robin Williams' three kids, with no public social media. His career isn't publicly known, but in 2011, Robin told the Daily Mail that Cody was studying music production. What we do know of Cody is that he honored his dad in a big way when he got married to Maria Flores on July 21, 2019, which would have been Robin's 68th birthday. Photos of the wedding were published on People, and Zelda wrote about the special day on Instagram.
"The 21st of July has meant many things to me over the years," she wrote in a now-private post, according to E! News. "It's the birthday of one of my favorite souls still on this earth, @junotemple. It's the day Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon (as a space nerd, that's pretty damn important). And it was the day my Dad was born, and the last day I got to see him. That last one had begun to usurp the joy of the first two in recent years... that is, until two days ago, when it became something new. On the 21st of July, 2019, it became the day I officially gained a new sister!"
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Robin shared a sweet story about his kids years before his death.
E. Charbonneau/WireImage for Sony Pictures-Los Angeles via Getty ImagesDuring a Reddit AMA in 2013 (via HuffPost), Robin shared a sweet story about his kids when asked what still gives him a sense of wonder, and what his favorite childhood book is. "My children give me a great sense of wonder," he wrote. "Just to see them develop into these extraordinary human beings."
As for his favorite book as a child, Williams—who was known for doing a variety of voices and impressions—wrote, "Growing up, it was The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe—I would read the whole C.S. Lewis series out loud to my kids. I was once reading to Zelda, and she said, 'Don't do any voices. Just read it as yourself.' So I did, I just read it straight, and she said, 'That's better.'"
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