Robin Williams with his wife Susan Schneider and daughter Zelda (Picture: AP)

Robin Williams’ wife Susan Schneider has revealed her husband killed himself because he was suffering from debilitating brain disorder Lewy body dementia.

After the late comic took his own life last year there was speculation that it was due to depression, but Susan claimed that was just a symptom of the disease.

In an emotional interview with Good Morning America, she said: ‘It was not depression that killed Robin. Depression was one of let’s call it 50 symptoms, and it was a small one.’

Lewy body dementia or dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is frequently misdiagnosed and causes a progressive decline in mental abilities.


Susan said Robin kept it together as best he could – but ‘the dam broke’ (Picture: ABC)

The disease was only confirmed by an autopsy after his death although Susan revealed he was scheduled to go to a facility for neurocognitive testing a week before his suicide.



He had also been recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and this combined with the dementia was too much for him to cope with.

She said: ‘He was keeping it together as best as he could, but the last month, he could not. It was like the dam broke.’

Susan claims Robin, struggling under the weight of these illnesses, wouldn’t have long left.

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‘If Robin was lucky, he would’ve had maybe three years left. And they would’ve been hard years. And it’s a good chance he would’ve been locked up.’

She also revealed Robin offered to give her a foot rub before bed during their last moments together.

‘And I said, “It’s OK, honey. Not — you know, it’s OK. You don’t have to tonight.” And I’ll never forget the look in his eyes of just, sad because he wanted to. And I wished — you know?

‘Then he came back in the room a couple of times. Once to his closet. And he said — and then he laughed. And he said, “Goodnight, my love.” And I said, “Goodnight, my love.”‘

Susan claimed he never talked about killing himself but ‘we were living a nightmare’.

On the verge of tears, she said of their relationship: ‘It’s the best love I ever dreamed of.’



What is Lewy body dementia? Lewy body dementia, also known as dementia with Lewy bodies (DBL), it is a type of dementiat that shares symptoms with both Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. It is also known as Lewy body variant of Alzheimer’s disease, diffuse Lewy body disease, cortical Lewy body disease and senile dementia of Lewy body type. Lewy bodies are tiny deposits of protein in nerve cells that contribute to dementia. They are the underlying cause of several progressive diseases affecting the brain and nervous system – including DLB and Parkinson’s disease. What are Lewy body dementia symptoms? Symptoms vary depending on where the Lewy bodies are found in the brain or how they contribute to the dementia. heir presence is linked to low levels of of important chemical messengers (mainly acetylocholine and dopamine) and to a loss of connections between nerve cells. Over time, sufferers will experience a progressive death of nerve cells and loss of brain tissue. (Source: alzheimers.org.uk)

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