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In 2014, beloved actor and comedian Robin Williams took his own life at the age of 63.

There was a fair bit of speculation as to why he decided to end things, including rumours of financial troubles.

Four years later a documentary, Come Inside My Mind, detailed his life and career using old footage of the actor and interviews with those who had worked with him, detailing both his happier times and his darker side.

In it, he’s recorded addressing his “fear of abandonment, failure and drug use”.

It was also revealed, following his death, that he’d been battling a degenerative condition, Lewy Body Dementia – the second most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, which affects thinking, memory, and motor control.

Now a new documentary, Robin’s Wish, tackles the days leading up to his death, including his struggle with his condition.

According to NME, the documentary will include interviews with his widow, Susan Schneider Williams, as well as people he worked with towards the end of his life, including director Shawn Levy.

Schneider Williams says that making the documentary helped her to understand more about the condition that Williams was suffering from towards the end of his life.

“Armed with the name of a brain disease I’d never heard of, I set out on a mission to understand it, and that led me down my unchosen path of advocacy.”

“With invaluable help from leading medical experts, I saw that what Robin and I had gone through, finally made sense — our experience matched up with the science.”

Schneider Williams says that they chose the name of the documentary because “Robin wanted to help all of us be less afraid”.

A real-life Patch Adams.

Check out the trailer:

I’d get the tissues ready for this one.

Robin’s Wish will be available in the US on September 1.

We’re not sure when it will be released in South Africa, but keep an eye out for it in the coming months.

If you or someone you know struggles with mental illness, or you need help with depression or anxiety, you can find it here.

If you have a loved one with dementia, DementiaSA facilitates support groups led by trained volunteers where family members, caregivers, nurses, and others can learn and support each other.

[source:nme]