On Friday it was World Mental Health Day and Robin Williams' Daughter Zelda Williams took to Twitter to raise awareness for mental illness in the wake of her father's suicide. We now know that Robin Williams was suffering from severe depression when he chose to end his life on August 11 and it's important that we remember that. Depression can occur in anyone regardless of age, financial status, or how happy they might appear on the surface.
Zelda is part of the movement to end the stigma that often keeps people from seeking help for fear of being shamed or made to believe that their illness isn't real. In one of six tweets she wrote, "You can't simply CHOOSE to make mental illness go away. It is NOT cowardly to suffer or seek help." She also tweeted links to several mental health charities for people to support and get support from.
But her outspokenness about mental health means all that much more considering she almost left Twitter for good back in August. After Robin Williams' death, Zelda was the victim of horrible trolls who were posting comments and pictures and making a joke out of her father's death. Many others mocked her for the lack of pictures she had posted of him and called her insensitive for not having more. As love can obviously not be judged in the number of selfies you have with a person, it was terrible to see her made to feel worse during what was already an unimaginably difficult time.
Fortunately, though, she was able to rise above it and return to Twitter. Not letting those people defeat her was amazing to see, and it's even more wonderful to see what she's been up to since her return to the social media site. Not only was she strong in the face of hate, but now she's using her platform to be a voice for change in regards to mental health.
There's no doubting her father would be very proud.
