Robin Williams and Susan Schneider: How actor's traumatic time with Lewy body dementia brought the couple closer
Robin Williams’ widow Susan Schneider has been extremely vocal about her late husband’s mental health struggles following his death by suicide in 2014. The 56-year-old landscape artist, during her interview with the ‘Today Show’ on September 1, spoke about the relief she experienced on learning about Lewy body dementia (LDB) after Williams’ death.
She described the “invisible monster” that took a toll on the actor’s mental health in the final years of his life and how it played "whack a mole" with his symptoms, according to Daily Mail. "I was relieved it had a name. Robin and I had gone through this experience together, really being chased by an invisible monster. And it was like whack-a-mole with the symptoms. I left there with a name of the disease, the thing that Robin and I had been searching for," Schneier painfully explained.
Following two divorces, the father-of-three reportedly met his third wife at an Apple Store in 2008. After dating for almost three years, the couple tried the knot in 2011. They got married on October 22 in St Helena, California. She and Williams lived at their house in Sea Cliff, San Francisco, California. However, their marriage only lasted for three years before the actor took his own life.
While the legendary actor suffered from a traumatic experience due to his illness, Schneider was as much involved in his issues as she stayed by his side until his last breath. Following his demise, Schneider expressed in an op-ed to American Academy of Neurology how “the terrorist” inside her husband’s brain impacted their life together and what it’s been like to live in his absence. Schneider said, “After Robin left, time has never functioned the same for me. My search for meaning has replicated like an inescapable spring throughout nearly every aspect of my world, including the most mundane."
Recollecting the difficulties of dealing with mental illnesses, especially when one of your loved ones is affected by it, Schneider further wrote in her letter, "It felt like he was drowning in his symptoms, and I was drowning along with him. Typically the plethora of LBD symptoms appear and disappear at random times — even throughout the course of a day. I experienced my brilliant husband being lucid with clear reasoning 1 minute and then, 5 minutes later, blank, lost in confusion.”
Recounting their last few words for each other, Schneider said that her late husband wished “Goodnight, my love” and waited for a similar reply from her end before retiring for sleep on the night before he took his own life. She has written in her letter, “His words still echo through my heart today.”
Since Williams’ passing, Shneider has gotten more deeply involved with medical professionals to gain a better understanding of LBD. "The journey Robin and I were on together has led me to knowing the American Academy of Neurology and other groups and doctors. It has led me to discover the American Brain Foundation, where I now serve on the Board of Directors,” she added.