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In her first interview since Williams hanged himself with a
belt at their California home, Susan Williams described how the
"Good Morning, Vietnam" Oscar winner was "just disintegrating"
physically and mentally in the months before his death.
Williams died in August 2014 at age 63 and had been diagnosed
with Parkinson's Disease three months prior. He was showing
symptoms including stiffness, slumping gait and confusion, she
told ABC television's "Good Morning America."
An autopsy found Williams also had Lewy body dementia, which
causes a progressive decline in mental abilities, his widow
said.
"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 said, referring to a doctor's
prognosis for the comedian.
After a lifetime of struggles with addiction, Williams had been
"completely clean and sober" in the eight years before his
death, but his chronic depression had returned along with
paranoia, she added.
The beloved actor was aware he was losing his mind and although
he was keeping it together "in the last month he could not. It
was like the dam broke," his widow told ABC. The last week of
his life doctors were planning to check him into a facility for
neurocognitive testing, she said.
Yet he never talked about taking his own life, she said.
In the tearful interview, Susan Williams recalled their last
affectionate conversation the night before the actor took his
own life, and how she raced home from work after he was
discovered by an assistant the following morning.
"I just wanted to see my husband. And I got to see him ... and I
got to pray with him. And I got to tell him, ‘I forgive you 50
billion percent, with all my heart. You're the bravest man I've
ever known.’ You know, we were living a nightmare," she said.
The actor's third wife was speaking out after reaching a
settlement last month with his three children from previous
relationships that ended a bitter dispute over his estate and
the dividing up of his personal belongings.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Susan Heavey)
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