Robin Williams ‘Secret Demons Exposed’ In New Documentary

Beloved actor and comedian Robin Williams was reportedly battling “secret demons” and are exposed in the new documentary Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind, according to a report by Radar Online. The new documentary about the life and tragic death of comedian Robin Williams, which will air on HBO, details the his life and the tragic circumstances that led to his suicide at his California home in August 2014.

The HBO documentary interviewed some of the Oscar winner’s closest friends and family and found that although Williams used laughter to put on a happy face to the public, he allegedly used drugs and women to mask his inner turmoil, per the Radar report.

The documentary cites Williams’ half-brother, who revealed that the Good Will Hunting star’s loneliness began way before hitting it big on the ABC comedy series Mork and Mindy. “Even though there were three brothers, we were all raised as only children,” McLaurin Smith-Williams said of Robin and their other half-brother, Robert Todd Williams, of their early years as a family.

“To be honest I think that none of us would’ve turned out the way we did had we grown up together. Growing up by yourself a lot you can either go nuts or you have a very comedic attitude toward it.”

In an interview, Williams once noted that his childhood was lonely. He had no friends and was raised by “the family maid” as his mother was away from her children much of the time, working as a fashion model.

In order to cope with his loneliness, as he grew older, Williams reportedly pursued women, even during his three marriages to Valerie Velardi, Marsha Garces, and Susan Schneider. Williams’ first wife Velardi says in the HBO documentary that she knew her husband loved women and that she understood his need for the pursuit of women outside their marriage. But she remarked, according to Radar, “I also wanted him to come home.”

The documentary also notes Williams’ long history of drug and alcohol addiction which came to a head after Mork and Mindy became a hit in the 1970s.

Prior to his death, Williams was wrongfully diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which coroners later revealed was actually Lewy body dementia. It was reported that Williams’ depression worsened after his medical diagnosis. He took his own life on August 11 at his California home by hanging himself.

Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind premieres on HBO July 16.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. For readers outside the U.S., visit Suicide.org or Befrienders Worldwide for international resources you can use to find help.