Susan Schneider said she does not blame husband Robin Williams for taking his own life rather than living with a crippling form of dementia.
The grieving 51-year-old revealed the condition would have killed him anyway .
He faced a miserable existence struck down by anxiety attacks as he rapidly deteriorated living in a care home.
It was thought Robin killed himself last August after battling depression.
But Susan said he had diffuse Lewy body dementia – which is often missed by doctors and was only discovered at his autopsy.
In her first interview since his death, she added: “It was not depression that killed Robin.
" Depression was one of let’s call it 50 symptoms and it was a small one. If Robin was lucky, he would’ve had maybe three years left.
"And they would’ve been hard years. And it’s a good chance he would’ve been locked up.”
Speaking of the 63-year-old’s decision to take his own life , Susan said: “I think he was just saying, ‘No.’
And I don’t blame him one bit. He was the bravest man I’ve ever known.”
She told how his condition, the third most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s, restricted his life.
Robin suffered from anxiety, delusions, impaired movement stiffness, slumping and “losing his ability in his voice”.
In the months before his death, the Good Will Hunting star also had a “miscalculation” with a door that left his head severely gashed.
Susan said: “It’s one minute, totally lucid, then, five minutes later, he would say something that wasn’t.
"It didn’t match. Symptoms present themselves like a pinball machine. You don’t know exactly what you’re looking at.
"I know now the doctors were doing the right things.
“It’s just that this disease was faster than us and bigger than us. We would have gotten there eventually.”
Susan also told of the last conversation she had with her husband before he hanged himself at their California home.
He offered to give her a foot rub before bed.
She added: “I said, ‘It’s OK, honey. You don’t have to tonight.’
"And I’ll never forget the look in his eyes of just, sad, because he wanted to. And I wished… you know?
“Then he came back in the room a couple of times. Once to his closet. And then he laughed.
"And he said, ‘Goodnight, my love.’ And I said, ‘Goodnight, my love.’”
Susan, who broke her silence to US magazine People, said she hopes the publicity surrounding Robin’s hidden dementia will raise awareness of the condition.
She added: “I’ve spent this last year trying to find out what killed him. To understand what we were fighting.
"One doctor said, ‘Robin was aware he was losing his mind and there was nothing he could do about it.’
"This was a unique case and 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.
"Because we didn’t know. He didn’t know.”
Graphic designer Susan was Robin’s third wife.
They were married for three years.
After his death, she became embroiled in a row over his estate with his three children Zak, 31, Zelda, 25, and 23-year-old Cody.
Court papers outlined a bust-up over money and property.
The trio claimed she attempted to change his wishes and alter his will.
Both parties settle the dispute last month but details were not disclosed.
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