Williams—who previously kicked cocaine and battled alcohol abuse in '82—well knows that getting "here" wasn't easy. By this summer he'd begun hitting bars in Vancouver, where he was working. By July he knew he needed to get help—not just for himself, but for the sake of his beloved wife of 17 years, Marsha, 50, and kids Zach, 23, Zelda, 17, and Cody, 14. "Robin didn't need an ultimatum from Marsha," says a friend. "He knew he was out of control, hurting his family." Williams won't go into detail about rehab but says his drinking wasn't prompted by any single incident. "It's not caused by anything," he told Good Morning America on Oct. 2. "It lays in wait for the time when you think, 'It's fine now, I'm okay.'"
Now he's mining that nightmare for laughs. "Robin is going to work this into his act," says Comic Relief creator Bob Zmuda, who will reteam with Williams for a Nov. 18 Hurricane Katrina benefit. "I'm sure he already has 10 zingers." Indeed, Williams is already busy "thanking" Mel Gibson for stealing the spotlight with his recent DUI arrest. "That allowed me a certain anonymity," he quips. Friends have rallied to his side. "There's a humanity about him that's wonderful," says his Man costar Laura Linney.
For now, Williams is finding healing in a busy schedule—in addition to Man, he plans to promote his upcoming movies Happy Feet and Night at the Museum. A more powerful incentive to stay sober: the woman who stood by him in his darkest hour. "Marsha is unflappable; that's one of the reasons he fell in love with her," says the pal. "Robin would be lost without her."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
