Robin Williams’ Final Days Revealed in Touching New Documentary Robin’s Wish
Robin Williams' final days are the subject matter of an emotional new documentary.
Directed by Tylor Norwood, Robin's Wish documents the comedian's battle with Lewy Body Dementia, a type of brain disease that affected his thinking, memory and movement control which ultimately led to his death by suicide in August 2014 at age 63. It’s the second-most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s disease.
Among those interviewed in the film are Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy, The Crazy Ones creator David E. Kelley, and Williams' widow, Susan Schneider Williams.
"Armed with the name of a brain disease I’d never heard of, I set out on a mission to understand it, and that led me down my unchosen path of advocacy," Schneider Williams told Entertainment Weekly in a statement. "With invaluable help from leading medical experts, I saw that what Robin and I had gone through, finally made sense — our experience matched up with the science."
"And what I discovered along the way was bigger than me and bigger than Robin," she continued. "The full story was revealed during the making of this film, and it holds the truth that Robin and I had been searching for."
Explaining the movie's title and Williams' main "wish," Schneider Williams said the Oscar winner "wanted to help all of us be less afraid."
"We had been discussing what we wanted our legacies to be in life; when it was our time to go, how we wanted to have made people feel," she recalled. "Without missing a beat, Robin said, 'I want to help people be less afraid.'"
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Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic Robin Williams and Susan Schneider Williams in March 2011
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Last month, on what would have been the actor's 69th birthday, his daughter Zelda, 31, honored her father by making a donation to a local homeless shelter.
"Today would’ve been Dad’s 69th birthday, so to honor him (& that glorious number), I will be donating $69.69 to as many local homeless shelters as I can. Join me if you like, but regardless, know I am wishing you all at least one hearty, immature belly laugh on Dad today," she tweeted, later sharing screenshots of all the places she donated to.
Zelda has previously been open on social media about grieving her father, who died when she was 24, and how difficult his birthday is for her. In 2018, she posted a lengthy message before his birthday describing the mixed emotions she felt that day.
“It’s that time of year again. Everyone who has dealt with loss knows the pain of certain anniversaries, moments full of memory that come round like clockwork and usurp all others, no matter how hard you may try to prepare for or avoid them,” Zelda captioned a father-daughter photo at the time.
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“These weeks are the hardest for me, and thus, you’ll see me a lot less, if at all. For all the internet’s good intentions in expressing to me their fondness for dad, it’s very overwhelming to have strangers need me to know how much they cared for him right now. It’s harder still to be expected to reach back,” she wrote.
“So while I’ve got the strength, consider this my one open armed response, before I go take my yearly me time to celebrate his and my birthdays in peace. Thank you for loving him. Thank you for supporting him and his life’s work. Thank you for missing him. I do too,” Zelda continued.
Robin's Wish will be available on demand on Sept. 1.
