Late Actor Robin Williams Talks Family, Addiction In 2013 Interview With CBS2's Pat Harvey

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The entertainment world, as well as scores of fans, were devastated by the news of veteran actor and comedian Robin Williams on Monday.

Reports emerged shortly after 3:30 p.m. Monday of the funnyman's death, which is being reported as a possible suicide. Williams' publicist, Mara Buxbaum, shared that the late actor had "been battling severe depression of late".

Williams, who got his screen break out on Mork & Mindy (1978-82), most recently appeared on television on CBS' The Crazy Ones (2013-14).

Williams sat down with CBS2's Pat Harvey in 2013 to discuss the show, as well as his family and previous battles with addiction.

"My daughter and my sons; my oldest son, I mean I'm so proud of him, I'm proud of all of them," Robins told Harvey. "(My daughter), she's an actress, which is a tough way, but she's also a writer and producer, and doing all these different things. And my oldest son is working kind of on social network sites right now."

Williams was open about his battles with alcohol addiction, and his eventual sobriety, which he said has allowed him to live more in the "now".

"I've done the research on playing an alcoholic," Williams said. "Having sobriety now, (for) like seven years, they have these things when you're drinking called 'blackouts'. It's not really blackouts, it's like sleepwalking with activities, but it's the idea of, you know, 'yeah, I'm more focuses on the present', and that helps, especially when you're doing a series. When I did Mork and Mindy, it was just sort of a crazy ride, and I was on pretty much everything but skates. But now, to be here and doing this is to appreciate it and participating, saying 'what can I bring to it, and how can I help'."

Following a 20-year sobriety, Williams had relapsed in the early 2010's.

Fellow entertainers, as well as co-stars — all fans alike — took to Twitter to react to the acting great's death.