Susan Williams, Robin William’s widow, has spoken through tears about her last conversation with her late husband and has revealed it was Lewy Body Dementia, not depression, that led to his death.
Speaking to Good Morning America, Susan, 51, sobbed as she recalled her final conversation with her 63-year-old husband who took his life in August 2014.
“I was getting in bed and he came in the room a couple of times … and he said, ‘Goodnight, my love,'” she said.
“And then he came back again. He came out with his iPad and he looked like he had something to do. And that was like, ‘I think he’s getting better.’ And then he said ‘goodnight, goodnight.’ That was the last.”
Susan revealed that prior to his death, Robin was diagnosed with the early stages of Parkinson ’s disease, recalling one time where he hit his head in the bathroom and was holding a blood-soaked towel.
“My best friend was sinking,” she said.
While many believe it was depression that claimed his life, she told PEOPLE that, “Depression was one of let’s call it 50 symptoms and it was a small one.”
“Lewy Body Dementia killed Robin,” she said. “It’s what took his life.”
A coroner found that Robin suffered from the condition – a common but difficult-to-diagnose illness that shares characteristics of both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
“We were living in a nightmare,” she said before explaining that he was also battling anxiety, depression and paranoia.
She described Lewy Body Dementia as “chemical warfare in the brain,” and said that “no one could have done anything more for Robin.”
“I just want everyone to know that… everyone did the very best they could. This disease is like a sea monster with 50 tentacles of symptoms that show when they want. And we can’t find it until someone dies definitively. There is no cure.”
