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Robin Williams Remembered By Daughter Zelda On 65th Birthday

By Niki Cruz
Published on: 11:24 PST, Jul 21, 2016

Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda Williams honored her father on what would’ve been his 65th birthday. The film star and comedian, who died in 2014, would’ve turned 65 today. In honor of his birthday, Zelda Williams decided to give back. William’s daughter announced via her Instagram account that she has decided to get involved with charity over the last year in honor of her father, seeing as he was always involved in different charities in his life.

In an Instagram post, Zelda Williams said,

“Still not really sure what to do on days like today… I know I can’t give you a present anymore, but I guess that means I’ll just have to keep giving them in your name instead. This year, I tried to help three causes you cared about in one; rescue dogs, people suffering from disabilities, and our nation’s wounded veterans, so I donated to freedomservicedogs.org.”

In her own words, Zelda Williams explained Freedom Service Dogs as a foundation that “rescue pups from shelters and train them so that they can be paired with someone in dire need of their help and companionship.”

She attached the caption to a photo of her father goofing around with his three kids Cody, Zachary, and of course, Zelda.

A day before Robin William’s 65th birthday, Zelda praised director Gary Marshall, who passed away at the age of 81.

Since Robin Williams’ passing, Zelda has been the most vocal out of his three children. The 26-year-old has used various social media platforms to speak out and provide awareness about Williams and the different demons he had in his life. In the same year that he died, Williams entered rehab again for alcoholism.

One year after his death, Zelda wrote a letter about depression, something her father suffered with at the end of his life.

“I live my sadness every day, but I don’t resent it anymore. Instead, I do it now so that the wonderful moments of joy I do find are not in order to forget, but to inhabit and enjoy for their own sake.”

She went on, “For those suffering from depression, I know how dark and endless that tunnel can feel, but if happiness seems impossible to find, please hold on to the possibility of hope, faint though it may be.”

A few months prior to his death, Robin Williams was said to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. His wife Susan stated that he was diagnosed with the disease but was “not yet ready to share publicly.”

Following an autopsy report, it was discovered that Williams might have been misdiagnosed with Parkinson’s and actually had Lewy body dementia. While it was first believed that Williams committed suicide due to depression, his widow Susan had said in an interview that Lewy body dementia might have been the culprit behind his death.

At the time, she told People magazine, “Depression was one of let’s call it 50 symptoms and it was a small one.”

It’s said that DLB causes hallucinations, different states of mental status, motor function impairments, anxiety, and more. The symptoms for Williams was described as “whack-a-mole.”

Susan explained, “They present themselves like a pinball machine. You don’t know exactly what you’re looking at. This disease was faster than us and bigger than us. We would have gotten there eventually.”

According to his widow, one of his doctors said following his death, “‘Robin was very aware that he was losing his mind and there was nothing he could do about it.”

A proud San Franciscan, Williams was recently honored, as Waldo Tunnel, the rainbow-rimmed tunnel providing access to and from Marin County, was renamed Robin Williams Tunnel.

Although he was born in Chicago, the actor went to the College of Marin and Claremont Men’s College, and often returned to San Francisco for improv shows.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

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