Zelda Williams, Robin Williams' Daughter, Shares Memories of Dad and Talks About His Charity Work—Watch

The actor died at age 63 in August 2014

By Corinne Heller Feb 26, 2015 4:49 PMTags
Zelda WilliamsNBC

Robin Williams' daughter Zelda Williams recently shared memories of her late father and talked about the impact he made in people's lives, in what marked her first sit-down interview since the actor's death six months ago.

The popular Oscar-winning high-energy comedian and movie star, known for beloved films such as Mrs. Doubtfire, Aladdin, Dead Poet's Society and Good Will Hunting, took his own life at age 63 in August 2014. He was survived by his wife, Susan Schneider, and three children from two previous marriages—Zelda, 25, and sons Zak Williams, 31, and Cody Williams, 23.

Zelda said on NBC's Today show on Thursday that her father "was an incredibly kind and incredibly caring man and he was also very private and very calm and very subdued,"  adding, "So the side of him that people know and love and that is attached to their childhood is the characters that he had so much fun being. And that's what important and I do think that's what a lot of people will hold onto."

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After her father died, Zelda got a tattoo of a hummingbird on her hand.

"I like hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are fun and flighty and strange. It's hard to keep them in one place and Dad was a bit like that," she said. "Keeping a conversation in one moment was impossible with him. It was a bit like trying to put a bag around a storm and hoping that it wouldn't just blow away."

"Sometimes there are going to be days where things are really difficult," she added. "And having a reminder that is permanently there is nice.'

Zelda also said on the Today show that she doesn't question why her father took his own life.

"I don't think there's a point," she said. "It's not important to ask."

"I think a lot of people feel his absence, but for me especially, yeah, it's going to take a lot of work to allow myself to have the sort of fun, happy life that I had," she added. "Anybody who has ever lost anyone works very hard to continue that memory in a positive way."

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Off-screen, Williams was an avid cyclist and worked for years with the Challenged Athletes Foundation, a non-profit group that provides prosthetics to disabled athletes. For more than a decade, he joined its members at the group's San Diego Triathlon Challenge.

"He's done charity as long as he had the wherewithal and the ability to do it," Zelda said. "That was what his favorite thing other than comedy really was."

On Friday, she is set to present an award at the Noble Awards, which recognize humanitarian work, to honor her dad and his triathlon teammates, along with a $50,000 donation that will fund a Challenged Athletes Foundation endowment in her father's name.

Robin had met one of his teammates, Rudy Garcia-Tolson, in 1998 when he was a little boy. Garcia-Tolson, now 26, is a double above knee amputee and a Paralympic swimmer. When they met, the actor asked him if he would be part of his relay team for the upcoming San Diego Triathlon Challenge put on by Challenged Athletes Foundation, according to SwimSwam.com. They were made Team Braveheart.

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 Like many of his onscreen characters, Robin himself inspired scores of people with his kindness and energy.

"He would meet guys there that were not participating that had just lost limbs and were just there, maybe a family friend brought them, because they were depressed or because they needed to witness something remarkable and he would go and talk to them and he would be like, 'Next year, I want you to do this, bud,'" Zelda said.

Tabi King, a Challenged Athletes Foundation official, said in a blog post published on the group's website in October that Robin "especially loved the energy he got from the athletes, their excitement of being there and the attention he bestowed on them."

"The thing that resonates the most is he never wanted anything in return," she wrote. "In fact, he did not want us to actively promote his appearance."

King added that celebrities such as Will Ferrell and Jim Carrey followed suit.

"Before he came, people really didn't know what we were doing…he let others know that it was important," King wrote. "At the end of each day, each year, I always said the same thing…'Thank you Robin for being here, it means so much to our athletes.' His response, "No, it is I who thank you. It means more to me than it does to them.'"

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An enormous thank you to @tvkatesnow and the @todayshow, for allowing me the opportunity to raise awareness and help support one of Dad's favorite charities, the @cafoundation. Also, thank you to the Noble Awards, for letting me honor Dad's CAF triathlon teammates, Ironman Scott Tinley and Paralympian Rudy Garcia, and presenting them with a 50k donation to be allotted towards the endowment CAF is creating in my father's memory. The Challenged Athletes Foundation is a non-profit that provides education, community support and the sports adaptive prosthetics/specialty wheel chairs not often provided by health insurance that allow those in need the ability to regain the sort of mobility most believe they'd never have again. Whether they're veterans, children or adults, CAF does whatever they can to help them once more lead full, active lives. Dad did the 44 mile bike leg of the CAF triathlon with Rudy and Scott from 1998 until his health no longer allowed him to do so in 2009, and it meant the world to him. While I'm in no way capable (at least not yet ??) of biking 44 miles, I will do everything else in my (decidedly less athletic) power to continue Dad's legacy and support the charities he loved that I've watched first hand change thousands of lives. Thanks everybody ? (btw, if you TL;DR this, you're a lazy bum! Ha ??) fabulous hair and makeup by the lovebugs at @901too, and beautiful dress (and might I add, the comfiest ever) by @Prada

A photo posted by Zelda Williams (@zeldawilliams) on