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NEW YORK (AP) — Fox News' Shepard Smith says he regrets using the word coward while speculating on air what Robin Williams may have been feeling before his suicide.
Smith made the comment Monday night during coverage of the Academy Award-winning actor's death.
"I have no way of knowing the depths of Mr. Williams' suffering but I never meant to suggest that he acted in any such manner," Smith said in a statement. "He was a one-of-a-kind American treasure and I regret using any word during the hour-long special, reflecting on his extraordinary career, that would appear I disparaged him in any way."
Smith was speaking about how Williams' death might impact his three adult children.
Critics took to social media after Smith said Williams' children were giving him so much joy, "and yet something inside you is so horrible or you're such a coward or whatever the reason that you decide you have to end it."
Officials say the 63-year-old Williams hanged himself at his home in the San Francisco Bay area.
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