Zak Williams is paying tribute to his late father, Robin Williams, on what would have been the late actor and comedian's 73rd birthday. Almost a decade after the Good Will Hunting star's death at 63, Zak took to X (formerly Twitter) with a touching message posted alongside a photo of his dad smiling for the camera while sitting near a couch.
"Dad, on what would be your 73rd birthday, I remember you for all the hope and joy you brought to the world," Zak, 41, wrote on Sunday, July 21. "There's not a week that goes by without someone sharing with me how you helped them through a dark time or a rough patch. I'm so grateful to be your son. Love you forever."
Robin Williams is joined by his 18-year-old son, Zachary, at the premiere of the movie "Death to Smoochy" at the Ziegfeld Theatre in 2002.
- Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)The Dead Poets Society star died by suicide in August 2014 after years of battling anxiety and depression as well as Parkinson's disease. Robin's autopsy also revealed he had been suffering the effects of Lewy Body Dementia.
The Mrs. Doubtfire star was father to eldest son Zak, whom he shared with first wife Valerie Velardi, as well as daughter Zelda, 34, and son Cody, 32, whom he welcomed with second wife Marsha Garces. Robin and Garces split in 2008 after nearly a decade of marriage, and the actor would go on to marry Susan Schneider Williams in 2011.
Zelda previously opened up about her father's passing to Chelsea Handler on Netflix's Chelsea in 2016, saying, "It's funny, because for a while I think nobody would let me do anything. It was like, 'Oh s-t, are you OK?' and then even if you are OK, they're like, 'But what's wrong?'"
Actor Robin Williams holds his daughter Zelda as he poses with his son Zachary and wife Marsha during the 'Jumanji' Culver City Premiere on December 10, 1995 at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California.
- Ron Davis / Getty Images)"And so for a while, I was kind of left to my own devices and a lot of stuff came out of that, because I ended up writing 12 scripts," said Zelda, who has acting, writing and directing credits to her name. "But then, I was also like, 'Is there something wrong with me?' And also, I didn't see a lot of daylight for a while. But now I'm doing a lot more of that!"
In January 2024, Zelda told ComicBook.com that her favorite of her father's films was 1988's What Dreams May Come, a fantasy drama that chronicles Williams' character visiting heaven, saying that it "reminds [her] the most of him."