An actor from “Mrs. Doubtfire” has shared how co-star Robin Williams defended her when her participation in the film created tension with her high school.
Lisa Jakub, who played Williams’ daughter Lydia Hillard in the 1993 comedy-drama shared on a recent episode of the “Brotherly Love” podcast that the late comedian and actor penned a letter on behalf of her. It had addresssed how her 9th grade principal decided she would not be welcome back to school as a result of her professional obligations, as noted by The Hollywood Reporter.
“We were going to set up this system, pre-internet, where I’d mail my school work back and forth to the school. We did that for a while,” Jakub said on the episode, which also featured co-stars Mara Wilson and Matthew Lawrence.
“We had tutoring, three hours of schoolwork on set every day,” she continued. “We were a couple of months into filming, and my school in Canada sent a note saying, ‘This isn’t working for us anymore, don’t come back.’ . . . I was devastated. It was just so heartbreaking, because I had this life that was very unusual and that was the one normal thing.
“The amazing thing was Robin saw that I was upset; he asked me what was going on,” she remembered. “He wrote a letter to my principal saying that he wanted them to rethink this decision and that I was just trying to pursue my education and career at the same time, and could they please support me in this.”
Ultimately, Williams’ efforts were futile. “The principal got the letter, framed the letter, put it up in the office, and didn’t ask me to come back,” Jakub said. “Amazing.”