Robin Williams opened up about his profound fear of loneliness in a new clip from the documentary on his life, Come Inside my Mind.
Williams had well-documented struggles in his life with substance abuse and depression. The comedian passed away in August of 2014 in his home in California, and his death was ruled a suicide.
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Now, his extraordinary work and his life are the subject of a new HBO documentary titled Robin Williams: Come Inside my Mind. It premieres on Monday evening at 8 p.m. ET, but HBO teased fans with a new clip on Monday afternoon.
The video shows a much younger Williams entertaining a car full of people as they speed down the highway. He calls jokes out the window at a man broken down near the guard rail. As he looks back to the camera, his smile falters, and in voice over, he can be heard answering an interviewer’s question.
“Early in life, did you ever have a fear of abandonment?” he asks.
“Oh yeah, it’s a primal fear for any child,” Williams replies. “It dictates a lot of how you deal with life.”
Williams’ loneliness is also exemplified earlier in the clip, when producer Bennett Tramer recalls the comedian asserting intimacy very quickly.
“He used to introduce me as his best friend,” Tramer recalls. “I hadn’t known him that long. I think he needed a best friend.”
In fact, after Williams’ passing many entertainers claimed they were extremely close with Williams, and many said that they were his best friend. This can easily be attributed to disingenuous comedians seeking association, but it may also be a symptom of Williams‘ own hunt for closeness, as the clip seems to suggest.
According to HBO, the new documentary is a portrait of Williams’ unique mind, and the circumstances that made him a national treasure. Directed by Marina Zenovich, the movie features such stars as Billy Crystal, Eric Idle, Whoopi Goldberg, David Letterman, Steve Martin and Pam Dawber. Williams’ son, Zak, also makes an appearance.
While it focuses mainly on the interviews with his loved ones, the movie will reportedly trace Williams’ meteoric rise. From his time in the comedy scene in the San Francisco Bay area, to his studies at The Juilliard School, to his emergence into popular culture on Mork & Mindy, the movie leaves no stone unturned in its quest for an honest look at Williams’ genius.
