Robin Williams Suicide Led To 1,841 Additional Deaths

Robin Williams suicide in 2014 led to an temporary increase in the suicide rate of almost 10%. That's 1,841 additional deaths, of which 1,398 were men.

There has been a lot of speculation as to what caused Williams to hang himself. His wife said it was Lewy body dementia. Others have pointed out that the crippling alimony payments he was making combined with his increasing inability to work due to his illness was the real reason he took his own life.

Alimony, more often than not, is awarded not for need but as a result of successful criminal fraud. Often, as with my case, blatant criminal fraud. People become trapped by it. They work and work and then one day, due to the economy or illness, like in Robin Williams case, or even just old age, they cannot make as much money as before. So they kill themselves so that their loved ones at least get something before they die. You could not design a better program to promote suicide.

The unfortunate thing is that there is a cascading effect with suicides. The more famous you are the larger the effect tends to be but in aggregate the effect is greater with suicides of the non-famous because there are so many more.

Robin Williams suicide, which likely would never have happened if the court and not awarded alimony to his ex-wives, led to an additional 1,841 deaths. But suicides due to the burden of alimony happen every day.  And those suicides likewise lead to other suicides. Every day. This will go on a long as family courts rule unjustly and with impunity.