Sad but true: ‘Robin was losing his mind and was aware of it’
Late actor’s wife writes all that led to his suicide in emotional letter
Schneider noted that Williams’ conditions were so severe that he wanted to reboot his brain. PHOTO: FILE
Robin Williams’ fans may have yet to properly move on from the actor’s suicide in 2014 but his wife has written a letter containing details of his condition before he took his life. In a piece titled, The Terrorist Inside My Husband’s Brain, Susan Schneider chronicles the couple’s battle to arrive at a proper diagnosis, reported The Indian Express.
“Robin was losing his mind and he was aware of it,” Schneider wrote in the Journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “Can you imagine the pain he felt as he experienced himself disintegrating? And not from something he would ever know the name of or understand. Neither he, nor anyone could stop it. No amount of intelligence or love could hold it back.”
She added, “At times, Robin would find himself stuck in a frozen stance, unable to move and frustrated when he came out of it. He was beginning to have trouble with visual and spatial abilities in the way of judging distance and depth. His loss of basic reasoning just added to his growing confusion.”
Schneider noted that the Jumanji star’s conditions were so severe that he wanted to reboot his brain. “Robin kept saying, ‘I just want to reboot my brain’,” said Schneider. Doctor appointments, testing and psychiatry kept the troubled couple in perpetual motion. “Every test came back negative, except for high cortisol levels. We wanted to be happy about all the negative test results but Robin and I both had a deep sense that something was terribly wrong.”
According to Schneider, the actor had trouble remembering just one line while filming Night at the Museum 3. “On May 28th, he was diagnosed with Parkinson disease and we had an answer. My heart swelled with hope. But somehow I knew Robin was not buying it,” she shared.
It wasn’t until results of the autopsy came in that Schneider had a diagnosis: the little-known but deadly Lewy Body Disease, a type of degenerative dementia closely associated with Parkinson’s. “This likely caused the acute paranoia and out-of-character emotional responses Robin was having,” she explained. “How I wish he could have known why he was struggling, that it was not a weakness in his heart, spirit, or character!”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 4th, 2016.
“Robin was losing his mind and he was aware of it,” Schneider wrote in the Journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “Can you imagine the pain he felt as he experienced himself disintegrating? And not from something he would ever know the name of or understand. Neither he, nor anyone could stop it. No amount of intelligence or love could hold it back.”
She added, “At times, Robin would find himself stuck in a frozen stance, unable to move and frustrated when he came out of it. He was beginning to have trouble with visual and spatial abilities in the way of judging distance and depth. His loss of basic reasoning just added to his growing confusion.”
Schneider noted that the Jumanji star’s conditions were so severe that he wanted to reboot his brain. “Robin kept saying, ‘I just want to reboot my brain’,” said Schneider. Doctor appointments, testing and psychiatry kept the troubled couple in perpetual motion. “Every test came back negative, except for high cortisol levels. We wanted to be happy about all the negative test results but Robin and I both had a deep sense that something was terribly wrong.”
According to Schneider, the actor had trouble remembering just one line while filming Night at the Museum 3. “On May 28th, he was diagnosed with Parkinson disease and we had an answer. My heart swelled with hope. But somehow I knew Robin was not buying it,” she shared.
It wasn’t until results of the autopsy came in that Schneider had a diagnosis: the little-known but deadly Lewy Body Disease, a type of degenerative dementia closely associated with Parkinson’s. “This likely caused the acute paranoia and out-of-character emotional responses Robin was having,” she explained. “How I wish he could have known why he was struggling, that it was not a weakness in his heart, spirit, or character!”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 4th, 2016.