Zak Williams, the eldest son of the late comedic actor Robin Williams, honored the memory of his father with the name he gave to his newborn son. After the baby’s birth, Zak and his fiancée Olivia June decided to name him McLaurin Clement Williams after Robin, whose middle name was McLaurin.
Olivia revealed McLaurin’s birth in an Instagram post weeks after he was born.
“Introducing you to my little family! My fiancé, Zak, and I were so happy to welcome baby McLaurin to the world on May 22nd,” she wrote. “We are beyond thrilled he chose us to be his parents, and obviously think he’s the best, smartest, and cutest baby ever!! In life today, we expect everything to be live shared on social media, and many who are close to me are even just learning this news. We’ve kept this news private for a number of reasons, one of which is my increasing emphasis and appreciation for living life away from social media and focusing on my offline relationships, another being the challenges that face us as women startup founders.”
Olivia, who is also a tech start-up founder, went on to talk about the difficulties women in her industry face, which caused her not to announce her son’s birth right away.
“Becoming a mom is something I’ve always known I wanted, but as an early stage startup founder sometimes sounded impossible, not because I didn’t think I could manage it, but because I knew the extent of bias in the industry against me as a female founder and the fight to be taken seriously in building a business focused on solving social challenges for women,” she wrote.
“I’m excited to be expanding my role from global change-maker startup CEO, connecting millions of women to their best friends, to a milk factory, raising a really amazing little man who has a boss mamma,” Olivia concluded.
Robin’s daughter Zelda Williams also confirmed the birth on Instagram.
“News is finally out: I’m an auntie! Meet Mclaurin Clement Williams, aka Mickey, aka Dr. Baby!” Zelda wrote in her own Instagram post. “He’s a squishably cute pterodactyl cooing tiny wonder and I love him so much already ♥️ big shoutout to Mickey on being the fastest swimmer, and huge congrats to @heyoliviajune and my big bro @zakpym on creating this little joy (and poop) factory!”
Days later, Olivia posted a Father’s Day tribute for Zak.
“Happy 1st Father’s Day @zakpym!! Mickey and I couldn’t be luckier to have you as Dad,” she wrote. “You make us laugh, you keep us very well fed, you teach so many things, and go above and beyond in every way… The reviews are in, and you’re truly keeping the legacy of ‘Great and Amazing!’ dads alive!! ❤️ We love you!”
Zak has previously been open about how difficult it has been dealing with the death of Robin, who committed suicide back in 2014.
“I miss him all the time,” he said, adding that he had taken up volunteering at a local prison to honor his father’s spirit. “It’s through helping others that I’ve begun to heal.”
Robin Williams’ son Zak opens up about his father’s death: http://t.co/IzRsVoaxCq pic.twitter.com/4bcv0dCayD
— MTV NEWS (@MTVNEWS) December 19, 2014
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