A year after Robin Williams' tragic death, his widow Susan Williams finally broke silence on the real reason behind the actor's suicide.
"It was not depression that killed Robin," Susan Williams shared in an interview with ABC's Good Morning America aired on Nov. 4, Wednesday. The interview was the first time that she opened up about her husband's cause of death.
Contrary to earlier reports and speculations, Susan Williams revealed that what triggered Robin Williams to kill himself was not depression but something that was "going on his brain." "Depression was one of let's call it 50 symptoms and it was a small one," she said.
Instead, the late comedian and actor committed suicide due to a "chemical warfare that no one knew about," according to his wife. The "chemical warfare" she was referring to was the actor's illness called Lewy body dementia (LBD), which had been found on Robin Williams' autopsy result.
According to Mayo Clinic, Lewy body dementia is an illness with symptoms similar to Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. It is the second most common type of progressive dementia which causes sufferers to experience progressive decline in their mental abilities.
"Lewy Body Dementia killed Robin," Robin Williams's wife reiterated. She recalled how her late husband became a hypochondriac when he began to experience an "endless parade of symptoms," such as sleeplessness, severe pain in his gut and constipation, among others. A few months after, she said Robin Williams was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
It was not easy to admit, but Susan Williams believed that her husband knew he was already "losing his mind" at that time, leading to his decision to commit suicide.
Susan William shared that she had spent months after her husband died investigating the exact cause of his death. She finally figured it out and found the illness to be of rare kind. She said she was hoping that she could help those who suffer from LBD, after her husband was diagnosed of the strange illness.
