Robin Williams: The Original Doubtfire Dad
For those parents that haven’t seen the movie, it’s worth checking out the poignant and often hilarious performance by the late, great, Robin Williams as a father who will go to any lengths to see his children.
Perhaps Cafcass and the Family Courts should prescribe this movie as mandatory viewing to hate-filled parents that seek to punish their ex-partners by denying them a relationship with the people they love the most, their children.
This weeks tragedy not only lies in the death of Robin Williams, a soul who was burdened by the toxic pain of two divorces and the disease of addiction, but in the fact that our court systems either side of the Atlantic continue to cruelly segregate children from their fathers as a matter of course. Mrs Doubtfire was made in 1993.
As a comedian, Robin Williams filled my lungs full of laughter at a time when I could barely breath in the suffocating secrecy of our family courts in 2001. His manic, infectious, edge-of-your-seat humour informed and shaped much of the campaigning we engaged in, though to my profound disappointment, I could never persuade enough dads to dress in drag for our Doubtfire Dad demos.
Whilst Mrs Doubtfire has a happy ending that relies on the mercy of a mother, we owe it to every child to continue to fight for all children as hard as Daniel Hillard’s character (Robin Williams) did in Mrs Doubtfire.
Just remember to walk like a man. Even when you’re wearing tights.
Matt O’Connor, Founder, Fathers4Justice
Court Room speech from Mrs Doubtfire:
Ever since my children were born, the moment I looked at them, I was crazy about them.
Once I held them, I was hooked. I’m addicted to my children, sir. I love them with all my heart.
And the idea of someone telling me I can’t be with them, I can’t see them every day…
It’s like someone saying I can’t have air.
I can’t live without air, and I can’t live without them.
Listen, I would do anything. I just want to be with them. I know I need that, sir.
We have a history. And I just…They mean everything to me.
And they need me as much as I need them.
So, please, don’t take my kids away from me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtVLlylQIsI
