The widow of the late Robin Williams has opened up about his struggle with “losing his mind” towards the end of his life.
The beloved comedian and actor took his own life in August 2014, and Susan Williams has since explained that it wasn’t depression alone that killed Robin, previously telling People magazine: “Depression was one of let’s call it 50 symptoms and it was a small one.”
In a more recent interview, Susan has further opened up about Robin’s struggle in his final days. Speaking to The Times, Susan explained how he was suffering with Parkinson’s disease, which he was told would give him another “10 good years if treated properly.”
And Susan explained that in the run up to his passing, the actor was having difficulties “letting go of his fears” saying how he was also suffering from anxiety and insomnia. At moments, he felt he needed to “reboot his brain,” as Susan recalls a time he expressed this after forgetting his lines on the set of Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.
Talking of his broken sleep patterns, she told how:
“If we were lucky, we would get two hours' sleep and then he would thrash and we would be up. He was always awake and ready to talk.
“Usually, he would be looping on a delusional fear or paranoia that he couldn't shake, and we would talk it through.”
She explained that even after trying a rehabilitation centre for anxiety, that the positive effects only lasted a week or so before the anxiety and paranoia crept back in.
“He had become so mad at himself for the uncontrollable fears and paranoia that were ravaging him, like walking into a room and just freezing.
“He was sick of being unable to talk or move for moments on end sometimes. In times of clarity, he would tell me how he couldn't bust out of the prison of his delusional thinking. His brain was attacking him.
“He was losing his mind. He knew it, although he didn't know why, and there was nothing he could do.”
Only after his death did Susan and her family find out that he was suffering with Lewy body disease, which one expert described as if he “had cancer throughout every organ in his body.”
Robin Williams' best quotes and funniest moments:
Robin Williams: 10 funniest quotes and best moments
1 of 10On working on the set of Mrs Doubtfire
“One time in makeup as Mrs Doubtfire, I walked into a sex shop in San Francisco and tried to buy a double-headed dildo. Just because. Why not? And the guy was about to sell it to me until he realised it was me – Robin Williams – not an older Scottish woman coming in to look for a very large dildo and a jar of lube. He just laughed and said, "What are you doing here?" and I left. Did I make the purchase? No.* Did I walk away with a really good story? *Yes.”
2 of 10“I think I wore it better!”
On Kim Kardashian’s Doubtfire-esque Met Gala 2013 Dress
3 of 10On heaven
When asked what he’d like to hear God say to him if he got to heaven, Williams told Inside Actor's Studio: “There’s seating near the front. The concert begins at 5:00. It’ll be Mozart, Elvis, and anyone of your choosing. Or if Heaven exists, it would be nice to know there’s laughter. That would be a great thing, to hear God go, ‘Two Jews walk into a bar…’”
4 of 10On divorce
“Ah yes, divorce… from the Latin word meaning ‘to rip out a man’s genitals through his wallet’.”
5 of 10On his two ex-wives
“I get on fabulously with my exes – now we’re not together any more. And they always appreciated my body hair, which was a plus, obviously.”
6 of 10On the experimental heart surgery that saw him fitted with a cow’s heart valve
“I can go to the toilet standing up now, which is nice, but I can’t eat meat, because I’ve become one of them, so it would be cannibalism.”
7 of 10On Aladdin
Explaining that the role of the Genie was originally meant to be very small, Williams said: “Initially they came in and I was just doing the scripted lines and I asked 'Do you mind if I try something?' and then 18 hours of recording later, they had the Genie. I just started playing, and they said, ‘Just go with it, go with it, go with it.’ So I improvised the character. I think that in the end, there were something like 40 different voices that I did for that role.” So much of the Genie’s part was improvised that the Academy Awards rejected the film’s bid for the ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ nomination.
8 of 10On biology
“God gave men both a penis and a brain, but unfortunately not enough blood supply to run both at the same time.”
9 of 10On being a big kid
“You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.”
10 of 10On life
“I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel alone.”