‘His brain was under attack’: Robin Williams’ final days explored in new documentary investigating the neurodegenerative disorder that contributed to his death
- Williams committed suicide on August 11, 2014, at his San Francisco area home
- The beloved comic and actor was 63
- An autopsy revealed he had been suffering from Lewy body dementia
- The documentary Robin’s Wish centers on his widow and third wife Susan Schneider Williams’ search for answers about the disorder
- Filmmaker Shawn Levy and producer David E. Kelley are also featured in the trailer released on Thursday
It’s been six years since beloved comic and Oscar-winning actor Robin Williams died by suicide at his San Francisco Bay home.
And now a new documentary documents his final days and for the first time, explores what he went through as a result of suffering from the neurodegenerative disorder Lewy body dementia.
In Robin’s Wish, William’s widow Susan Schneider Williams details her search to better understand what afflicted her famous husband and caused him to take his own life at the age of 63.
Final days: In the documentary Robin’s Wish, Susan Schneider Williams, the widow of Robin Williams, goes in search of answers about the neurodegenerative disorder that led to his death
Trailer: ‘For so many, it was difficult to understand why Robin would go,’ Schneider Williams explained. ‘When someone takes their own life, there is always more to it. This film is that more’
‘For so many, it was difficult to understand why Robin would go,’ Schneider Williams said in a statement as the first trailer for the documentary was released.
‘When someone takes their own life, there is always more to it. This film is that more,’ she said.
In the newly released preview, footage and photos of Williams from various stages of his career are interspersed with news reports about his death.
The Hollywood star had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, something he had kept secret, but an autopsy performed after his death on August 11, 2014, revealed he had been misdiagnosed and had instead been suffering from Lewy body dementia.
The official cause of death was ‘asphyxia by hanging’. Toxicology reports revealed Williams had antidepressants, caffeine and levodopa, a drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease, in his system.
Shock: In the newly released preview, footage and photos of Williams from various stages of his career are interspersed with news reports about his death
Gone too soon: The beloved comic and actor committed suicide at his Marin County home on San Francisco Bay on August 11, 2016
His brain was under attack’: Williams had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, something he had kept secret, but an autopsy revealed he had been misdiagnosed and had instead been suffering from Lewy body dementia
In the trailer for Robin’s Wish, Dr Bruce Miller, the director of the Memory and Aging Center at University of California, San Francisco, and a distinguished professor of neurology, is heard explaining: ‘Lewy body dementia is a devastating illness. It increases anxiety, self-doubt, causes delusions.’
Filmmaker Shawn Levy, who directed Williams in his final film Night At The Museum: Secret of The Tomb, shared that it had been ‘clear to all of us on that set that something was going on with Robin.’
He said: ‘I remember him saying to me, ‘I don’t know what’s going on. I’m not me any more.’
Not right: Shawn Levy, who directed Williams in his final film Night At The Museum: Secret of The Tomb, shared it was ‘clear to all of us on that set that something was going on with Robin’
Close friend: The filmmaker had worked on three Night At The Museum movies with Williams and witnessed his neurological decline
Troubled: Levy recalled: ‘I remember him saying to me, ‘I don’t know what’s going on. I’m not me any more’
Knew something was wrong: Another close friend, producer David E. Kelley is seen in the trailer, saying: ‘There was something eroding within him’
Another close friend, producer David E. Kelley is seen saying: ‘There was something eroding within him.’
Schneider Williams married the star of Mork & Mindy, Mrs. Doubtfire and Goodwill Hunting in 2011 and was his third wife.
She is heard explaining over a montage of photos of the couple together: ‘Nearly every region of his brain was under attack. He experienced himself disintegrating.’
The trailer ends with Williams, in his own voice, declaring: ‘The thing that matters are others – that’s what life is about.’
Wedding day: Schneider Williams married the star of Mork & Mindy, Mrs. Doubtfire and Goodwill Hunting in 2011 and was his third wife
Sought answers: ‘Nearly every region of his brain was under attack. He experienced himself disintegrating,’ she explained
Robin’s Wish, directed by Tylor Norwood, will be available digitally and on demand on September 1 and is being released by Vertical entertainment.
As for the film’s title, Schneider Williams explained in her statement: ‘Robin wanted to help all of us be less afraid. That was Robin’s wish.’
She went on: ‘We had been discussing what we wanted our legacies to be in life; when it was our time to go, how we wanted to have made people feel. Without missing a beat, Robin said, ‘I want to help people be less afraid.”
In addition to Schneider Williams, the legendary star is survived by his first two wives Valerie Velardi and Marsha Garces and his three children, Zak, Zelda and Cody.
Coming soon: The trailer ends with Williams declaring: ‘The thing that matters are others – that’s what life is about.’ Robin’s Wish will be released digitally and on demand on September 1
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