Robin Williams Had Three Years to Live, Widow Says

Robin Williams had just a few more years to live at the time of his August 2014 suicide, his widow Susan Schneider Williams has revealed.

In a new interview aired on Good Morning America, Schneider Williams told ABC News' Amy Robach that in spite of her grief, she fully understood why the beloved comedian had chosen to take his own life. She had previously revealed that he was living with a neurodegenerative disease and was coping with Lewy body dementia. Publicly opening up almost a year and a half after his death, she now says it was even worse than fans knew. The depression he was suffering from largely stemmed from his very grim prognosis.

“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,” Schneider said (quotes via Yahoo).

Williams was with Schneider Williams for seven years and married to her for three. Despite his tragic death by asphyxia from hanging, she remembers the Oscar-winning actor as "just a dream."

"It’s the best love I ever dreamed of. You know, it’s what I always dreamed of love would be … really based on just honor, love, respect.”

She maintained that he was sober when he died, but his Parkinson's Disease diagnosis, and the physical suffering he experienced, took an enormous toll. Schneider Williams also says now that post-mortem autopsy results and self-education have explained a lot of the "anxiety," depression and uncharacteristic behavior he displayed before he died.

“[A]fter a year of digging into what killed my husband, finding out all about Lewy body disease, lo and behold, one of the symptoms, their vision is affected. Spatially, depth, the ability to recognize, identify objects,” she said.

For a detailed — and very sad — description of Williams' diagnosis, illness and death, watch the entire interview with Schneider Williams at Yahoo.