Two divorces cost him £20m. So why is Robin Williams risking it all again on wife No.3?



Robin Williams got married for the third time last month, much to everyone’s surprise, including, possibly, his own.



After all, two high-profile divorces had reportedly cost him more than £20 million in settlements, and his on-stage humour — once delightfully surreal (‘Do you think God gets high? I think so, look at the platypus’) — had taken a bitter turn.



Newlyweds: Robin Williams with wife Susan Schneider at the Los Angeles premiere of Happy Feet Two

‘Instead of getting married again, I’m going to find a woman I don’t like and just give her my house,’ he would philosophise.

‘Alimony comes from the Latin word meaning to rip a man’s genitals out through his wallet.’



But something happened to soften him up, for he and graphic designer Susan Schneider slipped away to a smart hotel in California’s Napa Valley and exchanged vows in front of what Williams calls ‘a guest list of ordinary people nobody’s ever heard of’.



So what made the 60-year-old comedy actor change his mind about marriage? ‘Well, I’m certainly not having a mid-life crisis’, he says. ‘I had that 20 years ago!’ As, indeed, he did, constantly teetering on the edge of a breakdown through drink and drugs.

‘You think, “Be grateful for what you have,” instead of looking around to get something else. You probably learn not to repeat the same mistakes, to be more accepting.



‘And I’m enjoying being married, and really being present. I was present with the other marriages, but . . . ’ he trails off.



So this marriage is for ever? There is a touch of his old cynicism — or is it a new realism — in his reply. ‘You never know. You just take it on a daily basis,’ he says.



Alter ego: Movie characters Lovelace, left, voiced by Robin Williams, and Mumble, right, voiced by Elijah Wood, pose on arrival for the world premiere of the movie 'Happy Feet Two' in Hollywood

He and Susan are just back from their honeymoon in Paris. And, in the Beverly Hills hotel suite where he and I are talking, he is the picture of health — fit and slim in a black T-shirt and jeans. His hair is grey and his face is lined, but there is an appealingly boyish air about him, a perpetually mischievous twinkle that makes him seem years younger.



He has fully recovered from heart surgery in March 2009 to replace a faulty aortic valve, and it was Susan’s devoted care that convinced him she would make the perfect wife. ‘The valve comes from a cow, so now I have to eat standing up,’ he jokes.



Recalling the first time he saw Susan, Williams says: ‘I kept thinking, “She’s so beautiful”, but I also had the feeling that I knew her. I said: “Don’t I know you?”’ He pauses and grins. ‘I know it sounds like a bad pick-up line. But it’s true.’



He says 47-year-old Susan gave him a fresh perspective on life following a tough few years in which he fell off the wagon after 20 years and divorced his second wife of 19 years, Marsha Garces, mother of two of his children, Zelda, 22, and Cody, 19.



Relaxed: Elijah Wood and Robin Williams attending the Happy Feet Two premiere - and it seems Robin is certainly happy with his new relationship

Williams was previously married to Valerie Velardi — their son Zachary is 28. ‘It’s been a wild time, but it’s pretty wonderful right now. My wife has helped me through so many things. Love is the most important thing in life.’



He’s still starry-eyed about honeymooning in Paris after their wedding last month. ‘It was really lovely, just walking around. Everyone was saying “We’re so sorree about ze weather” [he slides into a cartoon French accent]. I told them: “I come from San Francisco — don’t be afraid.” ’



The conversation morphs into a classic Robin Williams monologue with rapid-fire repartee that includes a vivid description of their hotel room, which he jokingly refers to as the Toulouse Lautrec suite. ‘It was tiny.’ He jumps up and bounds around the room hunched, hitting his head on an imaginary ceiling.



‘It was crazy! They kept saying they’d give us the presidential suite instead and I said: “No, no, please . . . this room is perfect.”



‘They would leave hearts made out of rose petals on the bed.’



Moved on: Williams, pictured with his ex-wife Marsha Garces, is hoping for a bit of calm in his life now

He closes his eyes in a fake swoon before segueing into recounting his experience of Parisian restaurants.



‘We were having dinner and a cat was sitting at the next table.’ He flashes a self-satisfied feline expression. ‘They have cushions for cats and dogs on the chairs. It’s crazy: they won’t let women breastfeed but they’ll let you bring your pets.’



I get the feeling this scenario will turn up — given added Williams-style observational satire — in his next comedy routine or a film.

‘I’m always on the lookout for actuality,’ he says.



In a rare moment of seriousness, Williams once observed that ‘you are only given a little spark of madness, so you must be careful not to lose it’.



That spark — or in his case it may be more of a fireball — has stood him in good stead through a long film career that has brought three Oscar nominations (Good Morning, Vietnam, Mrs Doubtfire and Dead Poets Society) and a Best Supporting Actor gong for Good Will Hunting.



Is he still driven? ‘Not as much as I used to be. I just want to do interesting things with interesting people.’



He plays a priest in the forthcoming film The Big Wedding, with Robert De Niro and Diane Keaton. ‘It’s a midsummer night’s sex farce that takes place in Greenwich, Connecticut — a place full of wealthy Botox ladies.’



His latest film is Happy Feet Two, the delightful 3D animation sequel directed by George Miller. Elijah Wood is back as tap-dancing Emperor penguin Mumble while Brad Pitt and Matt Damon give scene-stealing performances as the shrimp-like krill Will and Bill.



Blast from the past: Robin Williams in a scene from the massive hit film Jumanji - things have certainly changed for the talented actor since then

This time the penguins are victims of global warming and find themselves trapped in a pit. Williams voices two penguins — Lovelace, ‘a colourful Rasta, a bit like Barry White’, and Ramon, an incurable romantic who is scared at times. It’s an emotion that Williams can relate to.



‘I get insecure as a comedian and a person; you’re still wired from how you were as a child, awards don’t change you. I was an only child, so I was always working the room, checking everything out.’



Williams was born in Chicago, but the family moved around the U.S., making it hard for him to build friendships.



‘There were long periods of my life that I spent alone,’ he says.



‘I collected model soldiers, thousands of them. You learn how to create games for yourself and you read a lot. It wasn’t exactly fun, but later on it helps with your range as a comedian and it gives you an imagination.’



After a successful stand-up comedy tour last year, he plans another one soon. ‘Going back out on the road is good for me; it’s also my back-up. I can always do stand-up to pay the bills.’



I wonder whether Williams always performs or if he’s more subdued out of the limelight. ‘No, I’m not on all the time and it’s weird because people expect me to be.



‘I was waiting in an airport once and a woman came up to me and said: “Be zany.” It’s like walking up to Mikhail Baryshnikov and going: “Dance!”



A lot of the time I’m just quietly observing people, picking things up. Sometimes something friends say will trigger me and off I go, but I can’t do it all the time.



‘I remember reading a story to Zelda when she was three and I was putting on all these voices. She said: “Just read the story.” ’



He beams when he talks about his children. ‘I’m so proud of them, and we get on really well. Zac’s going for a business degree, Cody’s studying music production, Zelda’s acting and doing great. She’s so natural. But I tell her what my father told me: “Great! But have a back-up profession, something secure like welding.” ’