[Blitzer:] You're looking at live pictures of the Hollywood Walk of Fame where fans are leaving flowers in memory of Robin Williams. Today authorities confirmed the actor and comedian committed suicide. But while this afternoon's news conference at times went into some very, very gruesome detail, it left some important questions still very much unanswered. Let's go live to CNN's Ted Rowlands, who's joining us from San Raphael, California, with the very latest. What are we learning, Ted?
[Ted Rowlands, Cnn Correspondent:] Well, the question we don't know, Wolf, is why? Why did Robin Williams take his own life? What we do know because of a preliminary report from the coroner, an autopsy was conducted this morning at 8 a.m. Pacific Time. We know that Robin Williams did take his own life, dying of asphyxiation by hanging. He was last seen by his wife, Susan, at 10:30 in the evening. She went to bed in one area, thinking that he was going to be going to bed a little later. She woke up the next morning and left the house at 10:30 a.m., thinking that Robin Williams was still asleep. It wasn't until his personal assistant, who was having trouble getting a hold of him, got into the room where he was. She's the one that found him. She's the one that called 911. We don't know if there was a suicide note. Investigators do not want to answer that question at this point. They say they are still investigating. They're waiting also on toxicology reports. They expect those to take two to five weeks. The bottom line is, though, no other evidence of any other conclusion than than Robin Williams took his own life by hanging himself.
[Blitzer:] What a terrible, terrible situation. What a terrible story this is. All right. Thanks very much, Ted Rowlands. Robin Williams was very open about his battles with alcohol, drugs and depression. As we're about to see, he mentioned it in a number of his routines and interviews over the years.
[Robin Williams, Comedian/actor:] Look at this thing. Look, Flipper. Right now, what are you doing? Oh, my God. Right now there's a sound man, going, "What are you doing?" Relax, relax, relax. You're a nice man. You won't hurt me.
[Johnny Carson, Former Talk Show:] No, no.
[Williams:] Do I perform sometimes in a manic cell? Yes. You like me! You really like me! Am I manic all the time? No. Do I get sad? Oh, yes. Does it hit me hard? Oh, yes.
[Diane Sawyer, Journalist:] Is there a sadness about these past two years, then?
[Williams:] Yes, there's a sadness. And then you have to go, but there's also there's also hope. Sadness, it's almost like, yes, you wish they hadn't happened, but they did. And the purpose is to make you different. And alcohol is especially dangerous for people like myself, alcoholics. Or I can say ethanol challenged. Whatever you want to call it. You get drunk, you go out to Indian food, you wake up in Bombay with a camel licking your
[Larry King, Former Cnn Host, "larry King Live":] You went through it?
[Williams:] Yes.
[King:] For what were you addicted?
[Williams:] I had a little problem with alcohol. It wouldn't be a problem if everybody had it. But it was the idea I was an alcoholic I was a drunk.
[King:] You were a drunk?
[Williams:] That's nice of you to say that.
[Sawyer:] To talk about it as caused by something. But-
[Williams:] It's not caused by anything; it's just there. It's latent. It waits. It lays in wait, and for the time when you think, I'm fine now. I'm OK. And then, beep. Then the next thing you know, it's not OK. Things are not going so well. Always good for me to come to Vegas after rehab. I love that.
[Billy Crystal, Comedian:] It's a good time for you.
[Williams:] Good time for me. It's like going to Colombia, you know. Where are you going for detox? Colombia. Just go take it easy in a 24-hour alcohol town. Get out of rehab, and you know, like getting out of Jenny Craig and let's go work at the Haagen-Dazs factory.
[King:] Now, do you think you've beaten it?
[Williams:] Oh Larry, it's always there. Have you beaten it? Yes, I kicked it. I'm fine. No, the idea is that you always have a little bit of fear. Like you have to just keep at it. You know, it's a day by day.
[Blitzer:] Robin Williams in his own words. At a news conference today, a coroner's office official said Robin Williams had been seeking help for depression. Let's discuss all of this with the psychologist, Jeff Gardere. Jeff, thanks very much for joining us. It sort of stand out to be, in July of this year, just a month ago, he was at a rehab facility in Minnesota, obviously trying to get some treatment. But all of a sudden, he goes ahead and hangs himself. Explain how this how this happens.
[Jeff Gardere, Psychologist:] Well, there are many different reasons why this could have happened. I'm sure we will find out more later. Especially as we get results of the toxicology report. It could be, quite frankly, that this was a person who was just plain tired. Sick and tired of being ill; of having an addiction; of being sick, physically. He had some physical issues that he was experiencing. But we can also look at perhaps side effects of anti-depressants. It was not compliant. So there are all sorts of issues going on. But this was someone, Wolf, who was profoundly sad, profoundly depressed, and even though he was very resilient, and had that manic energy and was so funny, that was a mask for what he was hiding.
[Blitzer:] Because you would think, Jeff, that someone who brought so much joy to the world, everyone who watched him, whether a serious role, in a movie, or stand-up comic, he really gave so many millions of millions of people pleasure. You would think that would make him not so depressed, if you will.
[Gardere:] Well, certainly, we gave him a lot of love. But that also enabled him, too. When we saw Billy Crystal, and Whoopi Goldberg sitting with him and he was talking about his addiction, all three of them laughed. And they laugh because it was a joke, and they felt it was something they had to do; and they felt perhaps he was on top of it and he was beating it. But in fact, it was something that he was struggling with every day. And when we give him that adulation then it just allows him to mask a lot of that depression that he's experiencing.
[Blitzer:] So he was masking that pain with humor. Is that what you're saying?
[Gardere:] That's what I'm saying. And also trying to work out a lot of his demons, as many comedians do. That is their catharsis. That is their coping mechanism, using humor. But we found out a lot of these comedians still, like with the laugh factory, they are offered additional psychological care, because they convince themselves that, if they can step on stage and deliver the routine, do the movie, do the television show, then they're OK. They're on top of it. But as Robin said in his own words, he's not on top of it. It's something that you have to do every single day. You have to stay on top of that addiction and your depression.
[Blitzer:] In 2009, about five years ago, he had open heart surgery. I'm told and you know a lot more about this than I do that people who have open heart surgery, they can go through some major depression in the aftermath, as well.
[Gardere:] That's right. Because now they are really slowed down. Things change for them tremendously. They're facing their own mortality. So there is a period of very deep depression. Most of them make it through, but some see this as a call or signal that they're not the person that they once were. And imagine Robin Williams with all of that manic energy to come to the realization that he is a mere mortal.
[Blitzer:] Yes, when I saw him perform here in Washington, a few years ago, he spent a couple hours doing stand-up at George Washington University. Behind him he had bottles of water. He was drinking the water. He was sweating. He was giving us everything he had. It was such a powerful he made us all laugh. We were laughing so hard. But you could see this guy was driven to make us all enjoy what he was doing.
[Gardere:] And who knows, because he because perhaps he couldn't keep up that energy level any longer. Through the heart surgery. Through the depression, which was very deep that he was experiencing. That may have been what pushed him over the edge to do something as horrible as this.
[Blitzer:] All right. So very quickly, Jeff. The most important lesson viewers here in the United States and around the world watching us right now should draw from this, this shocking tragedy is?
[Gardere:] That a lot of people are saying that perhaps, you know, he did this and he was selfish in doing this. He wasn't selfish. He was in the throes of the depression. And people have to understand, depression is a mental illness. It's a brain illness. Having a substance abuse problem change is your brain. This person was extremely ill, and he made a decision in the middle of an illness.
[Blitzer:] Jeff Gardere, thanks very much. Important information for our viewers watching right now. This depression, it's a major, major illness, and you have to treat it. You can't just ignore it, despite some of the problems that are out there. Jeff Gardere, thanks, very, very much. The stigma of depression. Tonight, by the way, at 11:30 Eastern here on CNN, you can watch or DVR a special edition of CNN Spotlight, "Remembering Robin." And as we go to break, Robin Williams' poignant graduation speech from the 1996 movie "Jack."
[Williams:] In the end, none of us have very long on this earth. Life is fleeting. And if you're ever distressed, cast your eyes to the summer sky. And the stars strung across the velvety night. And when a shooting star streaks through the blackness turning night into day, make a wish. Think of me. Make your life spectacular. I know I did.