The man who could improvise any scene suffered a panic attack because he could no longer remember his own lines. And even he didn’t understand what was happening to him.
During the filming of Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Robin Williams called his wife, Susan Schneider, in desperation. His memory problems were getting worse, and other symptoms began to appear: anxiety, insomnia, paranoia, tremors, and moments of profound confusion.
In May 2014, doctors diagnosed him with Parkinson’s disease. However, he continued to experience symptoms they couldn’t fully explain. Just a few months later, on August 11, the actor died at the age of 63.
Then came a revelation that changed how his final months were understood.
The autopsy performed that same year revealed that Robin had Lewy body dementia, a neurodegenerative disease that causes changes in thinking, behavior, sleep, and movement.
His wife said that when specialists explained the results to her, she finally found answers to many of the things they had experienced. Depression wasn’t the only problem he was facing and, as she recounted, his brain was severely affected by the disease.
In 2016, Susan published a personal account in the medical journal Neurology, titled The Terrorist Inside My Husband’s Brain. Her intention was to help doctors and families better understand the disease.
Robin died without knowing the full extent of what was happening in his brain. His wife decided to tell his story so that other people and their families could find the answers they had searched for until the very end.