BADLANDS SEASON 4 | Episode #10 | 7.13.22
Robin Williams: A Manic Mind at Breakneck Speed, an Addiction to Laughter, and the Devil’s Dandruff
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Robin Williams’ manic mind moved at such a breakneck speed that cocaine had the opposite effect than it had on most other people: it slowed him down. Robin’s primary addiction, however, wasn’t cocaine. He was addicted to the dopamine rush of being on a stage, where he could let his mind run wild with free association, and be rewarded with uproarious laughter. He was addicted to proving himself as a dramatic actor, even if that meant attempting to trigger his own mental breakdown by running in place for hours. And when he died tragically at the age of 63, the cause of his death was surprisingly not what anyone suspected. It still isn’t.
Sources
Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (HBO)
WTF with Marc Maron: Robin Williams
Robin Williams Told Friend 'Cycling Saved My Life' Post-Cocaine Days (Good Morning America)
Robin Williams Enter Rehab For Alcohol (People)
Robin Williams’ life was punctuated by struggles with alcohol, cocaine (LA Times)
Robin Williams: 'I was shameful, did stuff that caused disgust – that's hard to recover from' (The Guardian)
The Tragic Demise of Comedy Legend Robin Williams (The Daily Mail)
Robin Williams’ Long Struggle With Addiction (The Hollywood Reporter)
The terrorist inside my husband’s brain (Neurology.org)
Robin Williams suffered from a common form of dementia that many people don’t know about (Quartz)
Credits
Hosted by Jake Brennan.
Written by Thom Dunn.
Copy edited by Pat Healy.
Scored and mixed by Sean Cahalin.
Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spraker.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak