Who was Paul Robbins? Long Beach man who jumped to death from Hollywood building didn't want to become a 'burden'
One of Hollywood’s most star-studded buildings became a site of suicide when a man jumped from the multi-million dollar building leaving a suicide note. Paul Robbins was a prospective buyer and was touring the luxurious Sierra Towers before he died on November 9. Now, it has been found that he had been suffering from a terminal illness and took his own life.
Before his death, the realtor of the building spent more than five minutes trying to convince Robbins from jumping off the building. Detective Steve Blagg told Too Fab, "He was very mattered of fact. He wasn't battling, he never yelled "Don't come close". He just said he'd made his mind up." The victim mentioned in his suicide note that he did not want to become incapacitated or a burden to people due to illness, reports suggest.
Who was Paul Robbins?
75-year-old Paul Robbins was a retired City of Long Beach worker where he served for 28 years before retiring in 2002. As per Daily Mail, he had divorced his wife in 2007 and decided to live on his own in a small apartment. He earlier lived in an LA condo where he owned that property before selling it up and shifting to the rented apartment named Hollywood Holtz Plaza about six years ago. His neighbors told that the man was “lonely and kept to himself”.
Daily Mail reported that Robbins had recently received the shattering news about his ill health that he was suffering from a terminal illness. Fearing to become incapacitated, Robbins did not want to be a burden to his children and family which he mentioned in the suicide note before taking the fatal step.
Robbin’s next-door neighbor, who mentioned her name as Susan, told Daily Mail that Robbins kept his illness secret from his acquaintances in the building. “I didn’t know before, I didn’t know he was sick even. I found out after that he was sick and he just decided to end his life. He didn’t want to make his family suffer. I don’t know how he did that. It takes a lot of guts. I can see taking a lot of sleeping pills, but to jump off a building?” she told.
Another neighbor at the Hollywood Holt Plaza apartment building, Halya Engel, reportedly concurred the same fact on his loneliness. “He was a nice guy. I spoke to him often. I think he was kind of lonely, and living alone. Whenever I ran into him we would strike up a conversation. We would talk for two hours at a time,” she said. “He never indicated anything was off. But in the last couple of weeks, I noticed he wasn’t talking. He would just say hello and keep going. He found out that he was ill. He left a note to his children. It said that he was ill and he didn’t want to be a burden to anybody. It had to be a terminal illness.”
The neighbor who is a hairdresser by profession said despite Robbins’ alleged mortal condition, he still took extreme care not to contract Covid-19. “Even a few days before he passed away, he was still avoiding the elevator,” she reportedly said. “That’s what I couldn’t understand. He was always wearing gloves and a mask. He would go out of his way, up the stairs. Him being over 65, I thought he was being very careful not to catch Covid. That’s why this whole thing didn’t make any sense to me.”
As per Daily Mail, Robbin’s Hollywood apartment building Sierra Towers, built-in 1965 for $12million, has emerged as a top luxury residence. It had previously resided celebrities like actor Sidney Poitier, actress Lindsay Lohan, singer Elton John, actress Sandra Bullock, singer Britney Spears, singer Cher, and actress Joan Collins. It currently resides stars like Adam Sandler, Lily Collins, and Kelly Osbourne.
Detective Blagg mentioned it is not clear why Robbins picked the building, adding: “He's the only one that could have told us and he didn't”.
As per Daily Mail, sources told Page Six that at least one of the building's notable residents saw the dead body on the ground. Managers for Robbin's building who spoke to police after his death declined to comment.