“I just can’t afford” – Robin Williams lost millions of dollars in the final years of his life

Seven years ago Robin Williams sadly passed away just after he celebrated his 63rd birthday.

Although he is gone his legacy remains strong in many ways.

Robin had a reputation for being a genuinely lovely family man and an all-around funny person.

In 1951 he embarked on a career which turning him into one of the most appreciated actors of all time. However during his childhood hardly anyone imagined this shy child would charm the whole world and become a millionaire.

Robin revealed his mother was a vital influence on his humor; as he always made her laugh.

In 1969, he graduated from high school and was voted “Most Likely Not to Succeed” and “Funniest” by his classmates.

He dropped out of college to follow his dreams and become an actor where he was offered a full scholarship to the Juilliard School in New York, which is regarded as the world’s best schools for a career in music, dance, or drama. Robin’s classmates and teachers soon realised he was extraordinary.

One of his drama professors, James Dunn, said he had a talent with his larger-than-life personality.

”I first knew he was more talented than the other kids when he played Fagin in ‘Oliver!’ We were having light board issues and by midnight had only made it through half the musical. At one point he started talking to a baton he was carrying, and the baton talked back. It cut the tension and he had people laughing in hysterics. I remember calling my wife at 2 a.m. and telling her that this young man was going to be something special,” Dunn explained.

However after leaving Juilliard School he found it difficult to get a job so he moved back to San Francisco. “So I went to this workshop in the basement of a Lutheran church, and it was stand-up comedy, so you don’t get to improvise with others, but I started off doing, ostensibly, it was just like improvising but solo,” h explained “And then I started to realize, ‘Oh.’ [I started] building an act from there.”

Trying to survive as a stand-up comedian in San Francisco in the ’70s was far from the Hollywood glamor which would surround Robin Williams later in life.

”I [was] led to comedy as a survival mechanism,” Robin said.

Salary on Mork & Mindy

In 1978, Robin got a breakthrough on the Mork & Mindy sitcom where he played an alien from the planet Ork.

The deal with the production team gave him $3 million, Robin earned $35,000-per-episode.

Movie earnings

Following the sitcom he also appeared in Good Morning Vietnam and Dead Poets Society and high-profile films like AladdinMrs. DoubtfireHookJumanji, and Good Will Hunting.

“He was so hilarious we were rolling on the floor in the control room. Then later on we’d have to try and boil it down to his funniest stuff. Which was hard, because Robin would just get to the point of a character, and then he’d just zing around something – and someone – else. We took the lines that Robin gave us and we basically just ran them,” Joe Haidar commented.

Alladin paycheck

Robin accepted $75,000 for his part in the Alladin movie despite being able to earn more but his main objective was “to leave something wonderful behind for his kids,” he said. Robin refused to work with the company for many years.

“Not only did they use my voice, they took a character I did and overdubbed it to sell stuff. That was the one thing I said: ‘I don’t do that.’ That was the one thing where they crossed the line,” the actor explained.

Highest salary

In 1997, Williams’s career highlight was his Oscar award for the role as Dr. Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting.

Two years later Robin was paid his highest salary ever for starring as the robotic Andrew in Bicentennial Man. Walt Disney Studios decided to cut the budget by approximately $20 million and so he fell out with Disney again.

Net worth at the time of his death

Williams managed to amass a considerable fortune with his movies earning him $5.1 billion worldwide.

Towards the end of his life he facecd some financial problems AND partly blames two costly divorces after paying out $30 million to his two ex-wives.

Robin explained:

”Well, not all. Lost enough. Divorce is expensive. I used to joke they were going to call it “all the money,” but they changed it to “alimony.” It’s ripping your heart out through your wallet. Are things good with my exes? Yes. But do I need that lifestyle? No,” he told the newspaper in 2014.

He also revealed that he decided to star in the sitcom The Crazy Ones because he needed a “steady job” and because “there are bills to pay.”

“My life has downsized, in a good way. I’m selling the ranch up in Napa. I just can’t afford it anymore,” Williams said.

In 2016, Robin was forced to sell it for $18.1 million, when Robin passed away, he had a net worth of $50 million.

Williams was loved by millions of people all over the world.