Robin Williams’ widow 'had to fight to keep his slippers' during court battle over his estate

Susan Schneider went to court with his children over his estate

Robin Williams’ widow has claimed she had to fight to be allowed to keep her late husband’s slippers in the weeks shortly after his death.

Susan Schneider went to court with the trustees of Williams’ estate over personal items belonging to the actor before his death in 2014.

Schneider told People she was forced into taking legal action over items such as wedding gifts, after being warned she might not be able to keep them because they were considered memorabilia.

"They were going to come and start clearing out items in the house without me even here," she recalls. "And the definition of 'memorabilia' kind of included everything, meaning there were no [parameters]. I raised my [concern]. I said, 'Can we discuss this?'

"I had to fight to keep my husband's slippers.

"I'm on the phone with one of the trustees saying, 'Are you kidding me? What? That makes no sense.' So they were stonewalling me, and I was forced to go to the courts. Did I want to? No. But you know what, I was going to stand up for what Robin wanted, and I was going to stand up for me and my sons, so I was forced to do that and then all kinds of ugly things started happening."

Schneider said Williams was “living in a nightmare” in his final weeks because of Lewy Body Dementia, which he was diagnosed with after taking his life in August 2014.

In an emotional interview with ABC News earlier this week, Ms Schneider revealed this condition was the real cause of his death. “It was what was going on inside of his brain,” she said. “The chemical warfare that no one knew about."

Williams had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease three months before killing himself. Ms Schneider, who married him three years before his death, said it was not depression that killed him, but the progressive brain disorder that causes symptoms such as stiff limbs, tremors, confusion and mental decline.

“Lewy Body Dementia killed Robin. [...] People in passing will come, they would say to me, ‘God, I wish I had done something more for him. If only I had called him.’ And I’m thinking, 'No one could have done anything more for Robin,’” she said. “I just want everyone to know that. Nobody – no one– everyone did the very best they could.

“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."

The Independent has contacted Robin Williams’ estate for comment.