Robin Williams is greatly missed. Far from just an actor, Williams was a good soul and often went out of his way to help others. For instance, he would hire military veterans on the set of his classic movies. Speaking with Fox News, his former Lisa Jakub reflected on the actor's good nature.
Jakub played Williams' daughter in the 1993 film Mrs. Doubtfire. She said that he would hire "local veterans" on his set. "Robin was everything you would hope Robin would be, and it's so wonderful to think back on him now," Jakub said of the late actor. She said she was "grateful that I got to be in his presence, that I got to be working with him, that he was so kind to me."
She said that Williams was "thoughtful and generous." Jakub also said he was "probably one of the first people who ever really spoke to me super honestly about mental health. And he would talk to me about his struggles and the things that he went through. And it was the first time that I felt like, 'Oh, I'm not a freak. I don't have to hide this about myself. This is just something that some of us have to deal with.'"
Jakub later learned about Williams' support of the troops.
Robin Williams' Co-Star Works With Veterans
"So many people have told me that Robin did a lot of work with the veteran population as well, and that he always had production crews hire local veterans to be background actors or things like that on set, which is not something I ever knew about when I worked with him," Jakub explained, "but I also love that little connection as well."
Like movie father, like movie daughter as they say. Williams' co-star opened Mission Flexible in 2022. It's a program designed for people with anxiety. Through her work, Jakub has worked with military veterans and taught therapeutic writing at a veteran's retreat.
"I just absolutely fell in love with the veteran community," she said. Jakub felt a connection. "I don't know if I had ever talked to a veteran before I went and did that. I was so intimidated." She continued, "I am a total civilian! But what was interesting is, on one of my first veteran retreats, one of the vets asked me if there was anything I miss about working in the film industry."
Jakub does feel connected to military veterans in one way. She understands the isolation they sometimes feel.
"There is 90 percent of the veteran experience that I will never understand," she explained, "but I understand what it's like to miss that camaraderie, to miss your community. And so that's what I love that Mission Flexible is able to provide for them again, because that is honestly the most effective form of suicide prevention that I know of."
