According to CNN report, Robin Williams was suffering an early stage of Parkinson disease, his widow talked to CNN, read the full report bellow
“Robin Williams was sober but was struggling with depression, anxiety and the early stages of Parkinson’s disease when he died, his widow said Thursday.
The diagnosis of the progressive illness was
“an additional fear and burden in his life,”
a person familiar with Williams’ family told CNN on Thursday.
Williams was found dead in his Northern
California home Monday from what investigators suspect was a suicide by hanging. While fans and friends have looked for answers to why the 63-year-old comedy icon would take his own life, his wife, Susan Schneider, issued a written statement about Williams’ health that he had kept a secret.
“Since his passing, all of us who loved Robin have found some solace in the tremendous outpouring of affection and admiration for him from the millions of people whose lives he touched,”
Schneider said. “His greatest legacy,
besides his three children, is the joy and
happiness he offered to others, particularly to those fighting personal battles.
“Robin’s sobriety was intact and he was
brave as he struggled with his own battles of depression, anxiety as well as early stages of Parkinson’s disease, which he was not yet ready to share publicly.”
“It is our hope in the wake of Robin’s tragic passing, that others will find the strength to seek the care and support they need to treat whatever battles they are facing so they may feel less afraid.”
Williams had been active as an actor in the last year of his life, performing in a CBS sitcom that was canceled this year and acting in four films that have yet to hit theaters .
It is not clear whether the early-stage
Parkinson’s disease affected his ability to
work.
“Friends and family can usually detect
changes in the Parkinson’s patient
including poor posture, loss of balance, and abnormal facial expressions,” according to the National Parkinson Foundation. ”
During this initial phase of the disease, a patient usually experiences mild symptoms. These symptoms may inconvenience the day-to-day tasks the
patient would otherwise complete with ease.
Typically these symptoms will include the
presence of tremors or experiencing shaking in one of the limbs.
” Parkinson’s disease “causes certain brain cells to die,” according to the website of the National Institutes of Health. It is more likely to affect men
than women and most often develops after age 50.
“Williams used exercise and cycling to manage his stress and depression, and the prospect that the illness would prevent him from doing that was
extremely upsetting, adding to the depression, the person familiar with his family said.”
Investigators believe Williams used a belt to hang himself from a bedroom door sometime between late Sunday and when his personal assistant found him just before noon Monday, according to
Marin County Assistant Deputy Chief Coroner Lt. Keith Boyd.
Boyd would not confirm or deny whether Williams left behind a letter, saying that investigators would discuss “the note or a note” later. The coroner’s investigation “revealed he had been seeking treatment for depression,” Boyd said.
He spent time in a treatment facility in July, a time when his wife and representative have said he was
battling depression. Media reports at the time speculated that Williams had resumed drinking alcohol, but the statement from his wife appears to dispute those reports.
Williams entered rehab because of drug and alcohol addiction at least twice previously.
“Robin spent so much of his life helping others,”
his wife said. Whether he was entertaining millions on stage, film or television, our troops on the front lines, or comforting a sick child — Robin
wanted us to laugh and to feel less afraid.”
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