Robin Williams' widow: He had just three years to live
Robin Williams' widow has revealed he had just three years to live and says she doesn't blame her late husband "one bit" for taking his own life.
In her first interview since Williams' death, Susan Williams tells ABC News' Amy Robach about the health problems the late actor was suffering before he committed suicide in August 2014 at age 63.
“If Robin was lucky, he would've had maybe three years left. And they would've been hard years. And it's a good chance he would've been locked up," says Williams of a doctor's prognosis that the comedian had the early stages of Parkinson's Disease. A coroner's report found signs of Lewy Body Dementia, a condition that leads to a decline in thinking and reasoning abilities.
Williams was suffering from depression and paranoia, but more problematic was his extreme anxiety. “That (depression) was a small piece of the pie of what was going on … really, what was overriding that more than depression was anxiety. And the anxiety was huge,” she says.
Was suicide was his way of taking back control? “In my opinion, oh, yeah,” Williams says. “I mean, there are many reasons. Believe me. I've thought about this. Of what was going on in his mind, what made him ultimately commit – you know, to do that act. And I think he was just saying, ‘No.’ And I don't blame him one bit. I don't blame him one bit.”
Williams says that upon arriving to find emergency responders trying to revive her husband, she was able to see him. “I just wanted to see my husband. And I got to see him ... and I got to pray with him. And I got to tell him, ‘I forgive you 50 billion percent, with all my heart. You're the bravest man I've ever known.’ You know, we were living a nightmare,” she says.
The full interview airs tonight on World News Tonight with David Muir and Nightline, and Friday on The View.
