Editing Robin Williams (section)

=== Substance abuse issues ===

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Williams had an [[Cocaine dependence|addiction to cocaine]].<ref name="actors"/><ref name=Greatest_dad>{{cite news |first=Decca |last=Aitkenhead |date=September 20, 2010 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/20/robin-williams-worlds-greatest-dad-alcohol-drugs |title=Robin Williams: 'I was shameful, did stuff that caused disgust—that's hard to recover from' |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |location=London, England |access-date=August 12, 2014 |archive-date=August 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812012955/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/20/robin-williams-worlds-greatest-dad-alcohol-drugs |url-status=live }}</ref> He was a casual friend of [[John Belushi]],<ref name=Grobel/> and partied with the ''Saturday Night Live'' comedian the night before Belushi died of a drug overdose in 1982.  The shock of Belushi's death, along with the birth of his son Zak, prompted Williams to quit drugs and alcohol: "Was it a wake-up call? Oh yeah, on a huge level. The grand jury helped, too."<ref name="actors"/> Williams turned to exercise and cycling to help alleviate his depression shortly after Belushi's death; according to bicycle shop owner Tony Tom, Williams said, "cycling saved my life".<ref name="nightline">{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/robin-williams-told-friend-cycling-saved-life-post-24970974 |title=(video) Robin Williams Told Friend 'Cycling Saved My Life' Post-Cocaine Days |agency=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]|date=August 13, 2014 |access-date=August 16, 2014 |archive-date=August 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140815215921/http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/robin-williams-told-friend-cycling-saved-life-post-24970974 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Alan |last=Duke |url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/14/showbiz/robin-williams-parkinsons-disease/ |title=Robin Williams was in early stages of Parkinson's disease, wife reveals |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=August 14, 2014 |access-date=August 16, 2014 |archive-date=August 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140816083147/http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/14/showbiz/robin-williams-parkinsons-disease/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first1=Jason |last1=Gay |url=https://online.wsj.com/articles/robin-williams-and-dario-pegoretti-the-comedian-and-the-bike-builder-1407970079 |title=Robin Williams and Dario Pegoretti: The Comedian and the Bike Builder |newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=August 14, 2014 |access-date=August 18, 2014 |archive-date=August 18, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140818234803/http://online.wsj.com/articles/robin-williams-and-dario-pegoretti-the-comedian-and-the-bike-builder-1407970079 |url-status=live }}{{subscription required|s}}</ref>

In 2003, Williams started drinking again while working on the film ''[[The Big White]]'' (2005) in Alaska.<ref name=Greatest_dad /> In 2006, he checked in to a substance-abuse rehabilitation center in [[Newberg, Oregon]], saying that he was an alcoholic.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2515796 |title=Robin Williams Comes Clean on 'GMA' |website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |publisher=[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] |location=New York City |date=October 2, 2006 |access-date=August 29, 2010 |archive-date=September 26, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100926103342/http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2515796 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="cnn_duke">{{cite news |first=Alan |last=Duke |title=Robin Williams, short of breath, takes a break |url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/04/robin.williams.health/index.html?iref=nextin |publisher=[[CNN]] |location=Atlanta, Georgia |date=March 4, 2009 |access-date=August 12, 2014 |archive-date=August 12, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812203920/http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/03/04/robin.williams.health/index.html?iref=nextin |url-status=live }}</ref> Years afterward, Williams acknowledged his failure to maintain [[sobriety]], but said that he never returned to using cocaine, declaring in a 2010 interview:

{{blockquote|No. Cocaine—paranoid and impotent, what fun. There was no bit of me thinking, ooh, let's go back to that. Useless conversations until midnight, waking up at dawn feeling like a vampire on a day pass. No.<ref name=Greatest_dad/>}}

In mid-2014, Williams was admitted to the [[Hazelden Foundation]] Addiction Treatment Center in [[Center City, Minnesota]], for treatment for alcoholism.<ref>{{cite web|last=Errico|first=Marcus|date=August 11, 2014|title=Robin Williams Dead of Apparent Suicide at 63|url=https://celebrity.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/robin-williams-dead-of-apparent-suicide-at-63-231414092.html|access-date=August 12, 2014|publisher=Yahoo!|archive-date=August 12, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812034210/https://celebrity.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/robin-williams-dead-of-apparent-suicide-at-63-231414092.html|url-status=live}}</ref>