Mandatory Mental Health: New Documentary Reveals Robin Williams’ Final Days and How Lewy Body Dementia Led to His Death

Aug. 11, 2014 was a tragic day for comedy fans. That’s the day Robin Williams died of an apparent suicide at age 63. Now, a new documentary titled Robin’s Wish promises to reveal the Oscar-winning actor’s final days – and his struggle with a little-known neurological disease called Lewy body dementia.

“My husband had unknowingly been battling a deadly disease,” his widow Susan Schneider Williams says in a trailer for the film. “Nearly every region of his brain was under attack. He experienced himself disintegrating.”

The film follows Schneider Williams’ search to understand what led to her late husband’s death. Lewy body dementia is the most second common degenerative form of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease. It increases anxiety and self-doubt and causes delusions. Williams battled through these challenges and continued to work. The trailer shows him on the set of the Night at the Museum franchise.

“He was blessed with what his heart was capable of in the midst of fear,” Schneider Williams says. “He wanted to help people be less afraid.”

Despite his illness, Williams remained an inspiring and insightful man to the end.

“Self goes away. Ego, bye-bye,” he says in the trailer. “The thing that matters are others. That’s what life is about.”

Well said, Robin. You are truly missed. Robin’s Wish will be available on-demand and digital platforms on Sept. 1.

Cover Photo: Dave Hogan / Contributor (Getty Images)

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