The 38-year-old Zak, who has become a fierce mental health advocate in the years since his father’s death (even appearing in Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey’s The Me You Can’t See docuseries), shared a photo of Robin on Wednesday, August 11, while opening up about what the Oscar-winning actor and comedian meant to his legions of fans. “Dad, seven years ago today, you passed on,” wrote Zak, whose mother is Williams’ first wife, ValerieVelardi. “The joy and inspiration you brought to the world carries on in your legacy and in your family, friends and fans you so loved. You lived to bring laughter and to help others. I will be celebrating your memory today. Love you forever.” Meanwhile, 32-year-old Zelda took to Twitter on the same day to offer support to anyone going through loss. “Sending love out there today to all the folks navigating loss,” she wrote. (Zelda’s mom is Marsha Garces, who was married to Williams from 1989 to 2010.) “New, old, the connective tissue of that deeply human pain can be hard to bear, but I find it easier sometimes knowing how many others have felt the same sting.” She ended her post with, “We’re not alone. X.” Williams died by suicide on August 11, 2014, at the age of 63, taking his own life amid a severe battle with depression and other health problems. His wife, Susan Schneider, had revealed soon after his death that while Williams was sober at the time of his suicide (he’d struggled with addiction throughout his life as well), he’d recently been diagnosed with early stages of Parkinson’s disease, which was information he was “not yet ready to share publicly.” Back in 2019, Zak—who founded the mental health support company PYM (short for Prepare Your Mind)—opened up about how his father’s death affected his own mental health, revealing that he’d been “very traumatized” by his dad’s death, but that talking about it helped him cope. “What I neglected to do after my dad’s passing was take care of myself," Zak said at the time “I was masking the pain with alcohol often and that just made things worse.” He also shared that the practices he found to be a “great help” included going to support groups, eating well, getting out in nature, volunteering and doing service work, such as teaching financial literacy to prisoners in a California prison. “[I] found that teaching financial literacy helped me cope with the trauma,” he said. “After that, I found that being vulnerable and open about my struggles seemed to actually help others. So I just kind of kept doing it.” It’s why he decided to become an advocate for mental health awareness. “I love it as I find it healing personally," he revealed. Next, read these 100 Robin Williams quotes to celebrate the late comedian.
