Topics: Robin Williams, Mental Health, Social Media, Celebrity
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
Robin Williams' daughter, Zelda, has spoken out against what she's described as a 'BS' claim circulating online about her late father.
Zelda, who is now 35 years old, shared her thoughts after a post featuring an image of Williams emerged on Twitter one day before the 10th anniversary of his death.
The Mrs Doubtfire star was just 63 when he died by suicide on August 11, 2014, but he continues to inspire fans across the globe thanks to the characters he created in movies and who he was as a person.
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On August 10, Williams appeared in an image on Twitter which featured him looking sideways at a monkey perched on his shoulder.
A caption alongside the tweet reads: "A thread of the final images of historic figures.
"1. Robin Williams: One of the last photos of a gem of a man, with his pet monkey, taken a few days before he committed suicide [...] at the age of 63."
The image has garnered more than 41,000 likes and thousands of retweets at the time of writing (August 12), as well as multiple comments from fans remembering Williams.
However, Zelda has hit back at the claim made in the post and has gone as far as to suggest it may have been written by an artificial intelligence program.
Zelda, who is now an actor and director herself, shared the post to draw attention to it and wrote: "It’s been brought to my attention some probably AI written BS like this is going viral."
Zelda went on to make clear that Williams 'didn't own a pet monkey', and she criticized anyone promoting the ownership of wild animals.
"NO ONE should, and if you’re ever tempted to, support your local exotic animal rescues instead," she wrote, adding: "That is his Night at the Museum costar, who now lives at one."
Williams played former president Theodore Roosevelt in the Night at the Museum movie series, which starred Ben Stiller.
The movies also featured a trained capuchin monkey named Crystal, owned by an animal supplier company in Hollywood called Birds & Animals Unlimited.
Crystal is the monkey seen in the image with Williams - not a 'pet' that he owned.
Zelda followed up her initial post to warn people to be cautious of the information they might see in relation to the anniversary of her dad's death, claiming the majority of posts could not be trusted.
She explained: "And since more completely false or badly researched posts are likely to go viral on Dad’s death anniversary, maybe just assume they’re all BS (they usually are).
"Ignore the creepy robots trying to farm your clicks & do something nice for yourself instead. I sure as hell will."
After Zelda spoke out about the post, a community note was added which reads: "As per Robin Williams' daughter, he did not own a pet monkey."
If you or someone you know is struggling or in a mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.
If you see an animal in distress and/or in need of help, call 911 if a crime is in progress. You can also visit a directory of animal abuse investigation agencies by state here.
