When someone famous dies, the rest of the world scrambles to make the death feel meaningful by building a narrative around it.
And when Robin Williams died, our narrative of choice was the Sad Clown myth. Funny people are actually sad — their humor is amask, a crutch, a coping mechanism. Media coveragehastened to portray Williams’ death as the result of depression.
We saw his death as a suicide in which Williams lifted his playful mask to reveal his true, sadder self.
But we've since learned that it was wrong and premature to apply the Sad Clown myth to Williams.
He did not just commit suicide because he was depressed; he actually suffered from a horrifying disease whose symptoms are pulled from the dark playbooks of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, dementia, and schizophrenia.
