Hey, everybody. Welcome to Trashy Divorces. Everybody's favorite, good podcast about bad relationships. I'm Alicia. Thanks for joining us today.

Hey, everybody. This is Stacey, and for today's episode, I am covering legendary actor and comedian Robin Williams, who, while dearly departed, definitely lived his life on his own terms.

For this episode, we're borrowing a song from his 1980 commercial failure slash breakout role in Popeye in which he sings, I am what I am, which I believe is definitely true of Robin Williams himself.

This episode does have some conversations around dementia and substance abuse and et cetera, and I will include some, some resources in the show notes. Should those be things that perhaps you might need some help with.

Before we get, yeah, and what we am, got a few shout outs in our magic mirror here. I want to give a big shout out. Thanks and praise to Sarah C. and Hansel Alabama.

We are thinking of you and sending you all the best from TD HQ. Absolutely. Also to Nappy Dresser, to Cheeks 8683, and to Kiko. We appreciate your reviews. Thank you so much.

Yeah, we appreciate all of your trashy hearts. Thanks for coming to listen. Funny guy. Lots of tragedy. Let's go, go, go.

Stacy, this week you're bringing us a funny guy with a sad story. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, this is Robin Williams, the wildly famous actor and comedian, undeniably one of the most talented and versatile comedians and actors of our time.

But beyond the comedic veneer that he shared with the world, he struggled with a lot of demons on the inside.

He was a complicated guy with, you know, there was a lot going on. We first met Robin Williams as Mark from Ork way back in the 70s, but that was only the beginning of his prolific career.

He would go on to star in over 70 movies. He was nominated for four Academy Awards and he won one for his work in Goodwill Hunting. He also won two prime time Emmys and six Golden Globes for his acting work.

But he continued to go back to his roots of stand-up comedy throughout his career. And he won five Grammy Awards for comedy albums. Like he's really so talented.

The list of nominations honors and awards for Robin Williams could go on and on and on. But, you know, let's just posit. Super successful, honored, accomplished performer.

He was also an incredibly generous man, both to individual people and in larger ways through philanthropy, working with charities.

He traveled the world to entertain the troops, all branches of the military loved and respected Robin Williams for his service and his attitude during those trips to visit the troops.

So there's a little anecdote from a spokesman at the Pentagon. Oh, sure. Like you do.

So, yes, the Pentagon wrote, at the end of every performance, be it a combat outpost or a forward operating base, Robin was always the last entertainer to leave.

In Iraq, a group of Marines came in from patrol and missed his show. He made it a point to meet with them and give them 20 minutes of fun, even as the chopper's blades were turning to go to the next show.

In Afghanistan, the clamshell at Bogrum Airfield was a favorite venue for him and he performed there many times. In 2010, he started the show with, I love what you've done with the place.

He was not a prima donna. This is still from the Pentagon statement. One time a sandstorm grounded the party at an outpost near Baghdad, Robin, along with everyone else, cremated to a small 10 can to spend the night the next day. His jokes about snoring and gaseous emissions pretty much convulsed everyone.

He's a funny, funny guy. Many of his charitable and generous acts were under the radar and never seen by the public, but there was one very public way that he was involved in helping others and that was through the comic relief telephones starting in 1985.

They were inspired by Live Aid and Farm Aid and those big events. So it was himself Billy Crystal and Wippy Goldberg fighting, you know, homelessness and poverty.

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