Robin Williams’ heartbreaking final days revealed in new book
A new book has claimed that Robin Williams struggled to remember his lines as he unknowingly suffered from an undiagnosed devastating brain disorder.
Speaking to his closest family and friends and admirers in Hollywood, Dave Itzkoff's new biography on the late actor seeks to answer the many questions still lingering over Robin’s life and sudden death.
According to the book, while the Oscar-winning actor was filming Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, he was unable to remember his lines.
“He was sobbing in my arms at the end of every day. It was horrible. Horrible,” makeup artist Cheri Minns said, according to the New York Post.
“I said to his people, ‘I'm a makeup artist. I don't have the capacity to deal with what's happening to him.’”
She said she suggested to Robin to return to stand-up comedy to get out of his rut, but Robin said he couldn’t.
“He just cried and said, ‘I can’t, Cheri. I don’t know how anymore. I don’t know how to be funny.’”
The book paints a portrait of Robin as a deeply complicated man who battled alcohol, drugs, and infidelity, as well as deep loneliness and insecurity.
He was a contradictory man who was “both wildly outgoing and painfully introverted”, the book claims.
According to Williams' third wife, Susan Schneider, the actor started complaining about a variety of symptoms that included trouble urinating, insomnia, loss of his sense of smell and a slight tremor in his left hand.
“It was like playing whack-a-mole. Which symptom is it this month? I thought, is my husband a hypochondriac? We're chasing it and there's no answers, and by now we'd tried everything,” she said.
Actor Billy Crystal also spoke about seeing his friend after a four-month absence who looked frail and was “uncharacteristically quiet”.
After they had dinner and were preparing to say goodbye, Robin suddenly burst into tears.
“What's the matter?” Robin asked.
“Oh, I'm just so happy to see you. It's been too long. You know I love you,” Robin replied.
It was on August 11, 2014, when Robin’s assistant found the comedian dead in his bedroom. He had hanged himself by a belt. He left no note or given any warning.
It later emerged that Robin, who had long battled depression, had been diagnosed with Parkinson's, a degenerative disease that gradually shuts down the body and mind.
But three months later his autopsy revealed Robin was actually suffering from undiagnosed Lewy body disease, a devastating brain disorder that causes dementia.
The book asks if his suicide was caused by his confused mind at the time, rather than a deliberate act.
No one will ever know what Robin faced in those final days, but Billy provides some insight into what it must be like for someone who was renowned for his sharp wit and high-functioning mind to live through its unravelling, not knowing what it was or what to do about it.
“I put myself in his place. Think of it this way: The speed at which the comedy came is the speed at which the terrors came,” Billy said. “And all that they described that can happen with this psychosis, if that’s the right word — the hallucinations, the images, the terror — coming at the speed his comedy came at, maybe even faster, I can’t imagine living like that.”