Hallucinations preceded Robin William’s suicide

They say life imitates art, and in the case of the late, great Robin Williams his life sadly decided to imitate his 1991 film The Fisher King. In this Terry Gilliam-helmed fantasy Williams played a homeless man plagued by visions of a red knight. According to a report, the actor suffered from hallucinations in real life caused by Lewy body dementia shortly before taking his own life in August. This form of dementia – which symptoms include depression, delusions of objects, people, or animals with whom the patient often tries to talk – is commonly associated with Parkinson’s disease, with which Williams had been diagnosed.

Celebrity news website TMZ cited documents of unknown origin according to which the actor’s widow Susan Schneider told authorities that Williams had encountered some problems with his medications. The New York Daily News reported that the Marin County coroner final autopsy report showed the thespian had prescription drugs mirtazapine and levodopa in his body at the time of death, but no traces of illegal drugs or alcohol – the performer was a recovering addict and alcoholic. Along with Parkinson’s disease, Williams had had bouts with depression and “a recent increase in paranoia.”

“(Williams) had been having a difficult time sleeping and would sometimes move around a lot in bed or talk loudly in his sleep, which is why he was sleeping in a separate bedroom,” the report added. On the night when he hanged himself Williams put a number of wrist watches in a sock and brought them over to an unidentified recipient’s location because he was reportedly “worried about the watches” and wanted to keep them “safe.” The previous night he was “in and out” of the bedroom he shared with his wife. At one point he went for his iPad which Schneider construed as good sign because he hadn’t read or watched TV in six months. In fact he was looking up websites centered on anti-seizure and tremor medications. He “had complained in the past about not liking the way some of his medications made him feel.”

During an interview with Schneider investigators established that Williams had no history of autoerotic asphyxiation. The actor left no suicide note and a search of his cell phone yielded “nothing to suggest suicidal ideation or that any message of suicidal intent had been sent to anyone.” However, when his assistant found him – after receiving no response to a note she slipped under the door of his locked bedroom asking if he was all right – he was wearing black short-sleeved t-shirt and jeans that were “buttoned and fully zipped up.” There were also signs that he attempted to slit his left wrist. Even though Parkinson’s is lethal, a study of William’s brain tissue found “diffuse Lewy body dementia,” and investigators believe this played a key and critical factor in his decision to take his own life.

Related Read:

Robin Williams coroner’s report finds no illegal drugs or alcohol in system.

Robin Williams had hallucinations before suicide: report.

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