yeah, he's a great guy.
http://www.celebpolitics.com/detail_page_actors.php?actor_id=41
In spite of his love for an occasional raunchy, off-color routine, and in spite of the fact that most comedians seem to come from the wrong side of the tracks, Robin Williams was born to affluence and gentility. He had no bruising struggle to better himself economically; he faced no arduous climb up the ladder to fame and fortune. He was born the quintessential WASP--white, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant from the get-go.
David, page 69:
With his world caving in on him, and with the news that he was going to be a father [with his wife, Valerie Velardi], Robin Williams came to a hard decision. He knew what he had to do. He could do it, and he would. Not many people could succeed at what he planned to do, but he could. He was going to stop drugs and liquor cold turkey. "No visit to the Betty Ford Center, no therapeutic support," a friend said of Robin's action. "He just quit, and he never touched drugs or drink again."
Valerie: "Robin has an incredibly strong will. He didn't need help. He has inner resources and he used them."
Robin had simly gone back to his origins; he knew he could do this if he willed himself to do it. And that was exactly the turn he took. He had read the boks. He knew how tough it would be. But he had made his mind up. He managed it. After all, he once pointed out, his mother had been brought up as a Christian Scientist, believing in "mind over matter."
When he did stop drugs and alcohol, he knew he was through with them for life. "For me there was the baby coming. I knew I couldn't be a father and live that sort of life."
Robin Williams married Valerie Velardi on 4 June 1978. Williams eventually separated from Valerie and began a long-term relationship with Marsha Garces, their son Zachary's nanny. The marriage of Valerie and Robin Williams officially ended when they divorced in 1988. Williams married Marsha soon thereafter, on 30 April 1989. Marsha and Robin Williams had two children together, and remain married as of this writing (2005).
I guess living in the bluest of states has made me look beyond all that. If I held people's political views against them, I wouldn't be talking to my parents, most co-workers, most friends and at least one my kids.
Robin Williams' father was a senior executive for an automobile manufacturing company, and spent considerable time away from the home at work and on business trips. But Robin Williams' father retired and moved the family to California when Williams was in high school. (Source: Andy Dougan, Robin Williams, Thunder's Mouth Press: New York, 1998, pages 7-15.)