Robin Williams' Widow Says Dementia Killed the Actor

In two interviews given to People magazine and to the ABC network, Williams said she does not blame Williams for killing himself since "he would've had maybe three years left. And they would've been hard years" as he was paranoid and anxious.

"And it's a good chance he would've been locked up," explained Williams.

"It was not depression that killed Robin. Depression was one of 50 symptoms and it was a small one," she added.

She said the actor suffered from Lewy body dementia, a neurodegenerative disease that is the third leading cause of dementia after Alzheimer's and vascular dementia.

"I pray to God it will shed some light on Lewy bodies for the millions of people and their loved ones who are suffering with it," she said.

Lewy body dementia is often confused with Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease because the symptoms are similar, and in Williams' case it was not diagnosed till the autopsy as his doctors believed he had Parkinson's.

In the last few months of his life, Williams' condition deteriorated fast and he began experiencing anxiety attacks and an accident at home against a door that caused heavy bleeding in his head.

"I know now the doctors the whole team was doing exactly the right things. It's just that this disease was faster than us and bigger than us. We would have gotten there eventually," said the widow of the actor, known for movies that include Good Morning Vietnam, Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society among others.

Williams, 63, had hanged himself with a belt in his house in Tiburon in San Francisco Bay Area, California, last year in August.