LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The daughter of Robin Williams quit social media on Wednesday, upset by Internet trolls and the online pilfering of photos of her Oscar-winning dad following his death by suicide.
"I will be leaving this account for a bit while I heal and decide if I'll be deleting it or not," Zelda Williams, 25, wrote on Instagram beneath a photo of a butterfly.
"In this difficult time, please try to be respectful of the accounts of myself, my family and my friends," she urged.
Monday's death of Williams - one of the finest comedy talents of his generation - at the age of 63 prompted a global outpouring of public grief on social media.
But his grieving daughter expressed frustration at the way family photos she had posted online had been used, and how Internet trolls had attacked her.
"Mining our accounts for photos of dad, or judging me on the number of them is cruel and unnecessary," added the actress, who appeared with her father in the 2004 drama House of D.
On Twitter, Zelda Williams invited fans to make donations to St Jude Children's Research Hospital, a renowned paediatric medical centre in Memphis, Tennessee that her father supported.
Twitter reaction to Zelda Williams' situation:
Williams - whose films included Good Will Hunting, Good Morning Vietnam and Mrs Doubtfire - was found dead in his San Francisco-area home on Monday by his personal assistant, hanging by a belt with superficial cuts to his wrist.
The father of three, who sometimes made light of his troubles with substance abuse and his stints in rehab, had been seeking treatment for severe depression.
"His life ended due to asphyxia due to hanging," Marin County assistant coroner Lieutenant Keith Boyd told a press conference on Tuesday as an investigation continues.
In New York, the Broadway League said theatres along the Great White Way would darken their marquees on Wednesday evening for one minute in Williams' honour.
"Whether on screen or live on stage, his multi-faceted talent always created memorable performances," said executive director Charlotte St Martin in a statement.
Show business trade journal Variety, meanwhile, reported a surge in online sales of Williams' rich body of work, with 12 of the 13 top-selling DVDs on Amazon.com featuring the comic genius.
Topping the list was Mrs Doubtfire, followed by Good Will Hunting, Dead Poets Society, Good Morning, Vietnam, Patch Adams, The Birdcage and What Dreams May Come.
Apple's iTunes downloading service also saw an uptick in sales, although not as strong as on Amazon, the world's biggest Internet retailer.
