Six Years After Robin Williams’ Untimely Death, This Is The Truth About His Finances

Williams died on August 11, 2014. He’d taken his own life. A vast amount of people posted tributes to him online, but the most touching ones were from his own family. His daughter Zelda seemed to speak for everyone when she said in a statement, “The entire world is forever a little darker, less colorful and less full of laughter in his absence.”

However, the exact reason Williams took his own life was a complicated and painful one. You see, the actor had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease months before his death. But it soon emerged, at his autopsy, that he’d also had something called Lewy body dementia (LBD), a terrible condition which is similar to Parkinson’s. LBD affects the brain and can cause hallucinations amongst other things.

Now, Williams’ wife, Susan Schneider, later published an article in 2016 detailing what living with LBD was like. The piece, entitled “The terrorist inside my husband’s brain,” was a difficult read to say the least. But it was intended to provide an insight into the disease and why, as Schneider claimed, Williams decided to end his life.

As the devastated widow went on to explain, “It felt like he was drowning in his symptoms, and I was drowning along with him. Typically the plethora of LBD symptoms appear and disappear at random times – even throughout the course of a day. I experienced my brilliant husband being lucid with clear reasoning one minute and then, five minutes later, blank, lost in confusion.”

Schneider continued, “Three months after Robin’s death, the autopsy report was finally ready for review. When the forensic pathologist and coroner’s deputy asked if I was surprised by the diffuse LBD pathology, I said, “Absolutely not,” even though I had no idea what it meant at the time. The mere fact that something had invaded nearly every region of my husband’s brain made perfect sense to me.”

And the article ended with a call to action. Schneider wrote, “Hopefully from this sharing of our experience you will be inspired to turn Robin’s suffering into something meaningful through your work and wisdom. It is my belief that when healing comes out of Robin’s experience, he will not have battled and died in vain.”

Needless to say, everything about the situation was completely devastating. The family had seen Williams deteriorate and then lost him. But before Williams had seemingly fallen victim to LBD, he had made arrangements for his family. You see, back in 2009 he had set up a trust fund for his kids Zelda, Zak and Cody.

In fact, the day after Williams died, celebrity tabloid website TMZ obtained the details of the trust fund. And it reported that the actor had arranged for his now-adult children to receive money, but only at certain ages. At 21 they got a third of what was put aside, at 25 they got half, and at 30 they got everything.

Separately, Williams had made another arrangement involving his money, but this one was less straightforward. He had, it transpired, decided to restrict the use of his likeness after his death. That meant that no new movies or advertising campaigns could use his image or voice, no matter the amount they would have paid for it, until twenty-five years had passed.

In recent years the technologies which can bring an entertainer “back from the dead” have become more and more common. If an actor passes away while shooting a movie, for example, archive footage and CGI can recreate missing parts of their performance. And Williams would have been well aware of this.

And attorney, Laura Zwicker, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the issue in March 2015. She said, “It’s interesting that Williams restricted use for 25 years. I haven’t seen that before. I’ve seen restrictions on the types of uses – no Coke commercials for example – but not like this. It could be a privacy issue.”

Indeed, Williams had always strived to maintain control over his image. One of his biggest and most beloved roles was as the Genie in Disney’s hit 1992 film Aladdin. But when signing onto that film, Williams required that the studio not use his voice in the movie’s promotion or feature the Genie heavily on posters and merchandise.

In fact, in November 1993 Williams told The Today Show, “The one thing I said was I will do the voice. I’m doing it basically because I want to be part of this animation tradition. I want something for my children. One deal is, I just don’t want to sell anything – as in Burger King, as in toys, as in stuff.”

So bearing that in mind, Williams’ decision to restrict his image after his death isn’t surprising. However, there was one thing which could use Williams’ likeness in campaigns – The Windfall Foundation. This is a charitable organization established by the actor and his then wife Marsha Garces back in 1992. And it helps raise money for charities including Make-A-Wish.

Yet despite so much careful planning, things did go wrong for the Williams family. Just a few months after the actor’s death, his wife Schneider and his three children began feuding over his estate. You see, both parties wanted to get their hands on Williams’ possessions, reported The New York Times.

What’s more, in legal documents from Schneider filed months after Williams passed away, she claimed that things belonging to the actor were “unilaterally removed” from the home days after the death. Yes, it seemed that the three Williams children weren’t that close to their stepmother, who had only been in their lives a few years.

A spokesperson for the Williams children told The New York Times in February 2015, “Notwithstanding Ms. Schneider Williams’s insinuations, the fact is that neither the Williams children nor any representative of theirs has been in the house or had anything taken from it since Robin Williams’s tragic death.” But the case continued.

Then, in October 2015, the media reported that both parties had come to an agreement. Now, the exact terms weren’t revealed, but apparently Schneider would be staying in the home she had once shared with Williams. And she would be given ownership of some of the items which had been in dispute, too.

The magazine People obtained a statement from Schneider about the matter. It read, “While it’s hard to speak of this as a win, given it stems from the greatest loss of all, I am deeply grateful to the judge for helping resolve these issues. I can live in peace knowing that my husband’s wishes were honored.”

And a statement from Schneider’s lawyers revealed a little of what had happened, as it read, “Mrs. Williams is able to keep the few emotional items she requested, such as their wedding gifts, selected clothing items, a watch Robin often wore, plus the bike she and her husband bought together on their honeymoon.”

The statement continued to explain, “The Williams children will receive the vast majority of the items they demanded, such as more than 50 bikes and over 85 watches, as well as thousands of never-disputed items like Robin Williams’ Academy Award statue. With an overall estate estimated at more than $100 million, Mrs. Williams will be receiving only a fraction of the overall estate, representing those funds sufficient to allow her to remain in the home for her lifetime.”

But Williams reportedly had financial troubles before he passed away. Despite the fact that when put together his movies had grossed over $5.1 billion, his divorces from Valerie Velardi and Marsha Garces brought him to the verge of bankruptcy. Williams himself said as much in a 2013 interview to Parade magazine.

You see, that year Williams did his first television series since the star-making Mork & Mindy in the late 1970s. The new show on CBS was called The Crazy Ones. And during his Parade magazine sit-down, the interviewer asked him, “It’s been 31 years; why was now the right time to do TV?” Well, the answer was all to do with money.

Yes, Williams told the magazine, “The idea of having a steady job is appealing. I have two [other] choices: go on the road doing stand-up, or do small, independent movies working almost for scale [minimum union pay]. The movies are good, but a lot of times they don’t even have distribution. There are bills to pay. My life has downsized, in a good way.”

But then Parade asked Williams if he’d lost all his money through his divorces. He answered, “Well, not all. Lost enough. Divorce is expensive. I used to joke they were going to call it ‘all the money,’ but they changed it to ‘alimony.’ It’s ripping your heart out through your wallet. Are things good with my exes? Yes. But do I need that lifestyle? No.”

And just one day after Williams died, an alleged “family friend” spoke to website Radar Online about the money. They claimed, “All he could talk about were serious money troubles… Robin was known for being so generous to his friends and family during the height of his success, and would help anyone out that needed it.”

They continued, “There was also frustration that Robin expressed at having to take television and movie roles he didn’t want to take, but had to for the paycheck. Doing sequels was never Robin’s thing, and he wasn’t that excited at having to reprise the role of Mrs. Doubtfire, which was scheduled to start filming later this year.”

Apparently, the fact that The Crazy Ones had been cancelled in May hadn’t helped matters. The source told Radar Online, “Robin slipped into a deep depression. He felt embarrassed and humiliated that the show had been a failure. It was very hard for Robin to accept. Here he was in his 60s, and forced to take a role on television for the money. It’s just not where he thought he would be at this point in his life.”

However, the following day Williams’ publicist Mara Buxbaum spoke to magazine TheWrap about the actor’s finances. And she said, “Robin had no financial problems. We should be blessed to have Robin’s financial status. I understand the desire to understand the ‘Why.’ It’s not going to happen. The better thing to do is to try to understand severe depression.”

And Buxbaum said that regarding the Parade interview, “Robin often said things in jest, and sometimes it just doesn’t translate in print… Robin wanted to do The Crazy Ones because of [show creator] David Kelley and the material. That’s why he took the show… not because he needed the money.”

But despite this, in October 2018 the Williams family began to auction off some of the possessions their father had left behind. And there was quite an incredible collection – famous artworks, bicycles, furniture and more. However, some of the money would be going to charities including the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and the Challenged Athletes Foundation.

Still, a lot of the collection was of great interest to film fans. For instance, up for sale was a Hogwarts Gryffindor robe worn by Daniel Radcliffe on the Harry Potter film set; Williams’ Golden Globe award for his performance in Good Morning Vietnam; and a Hook-themed pinball machine given to Williams by Steven Spielberg.

In an interview with the website of famous auction house Sotherby’s in September 2018, Williams’ ex-wife Marsha Garces spoke about the vast collection of art she had watched Williams gather over time. She mused, “Robin’s favorites were as mutable as he was. It might be a different answer every day.”

Furthermore, Garces discussed the charities which would be receiving some of the money. She said, “The Reeve Foundation goes without saying. Robin and Christopher were longtime friends since being college buddies at Juilliard. Robin and I always went to that event together, and I still go every year. They are part of our family, and we’ll always support that group.”

And Garces went on, “Challenged Athletes is the earliest cause we supported as a family. Robin would do the event, and I would take the kids there. It was a way for me to help them realize how fortunate they are and were. All the kids are still involved with the organization. There is an endowment in Robin’s name, and we help them do events and raise money.”

The Sotheby’s interviewer asked Garces, “Is it difficult to part with so many treasures that are filled with memories? What would Robin think about the auction?” And she answered, “It’s mixed for me – but they all deserve to be loved and appreciated by the next group of guardians. Robin would love it if a lot of money is raised for the causes he was most motivated to be a part of.”

Then, in November 2019, the San Francisco home which had once belonged to Williams went on sale as well, with the price tag set at $7.25 million. Now, the house boasted six bedrooms, a swimming pool, a large kitchen, and views of San Francisco Bay. But it was also the place where Williams had died.

In fact, the website Realtor.com spoke to appraiser Randall Bell about what might happen to the house. He said, “The fond memories of Robin Williams will probably offset the negative aspects of the suicide. I think it will ultimately sell at full value. But it may take longer, because it’s a tricky situation.”

Regardless of the money issues surrounding Williams’ death, his family still hurts. Daughter Zelda said it best in a 2018 Instagram post she made for fans on what would have been her father’s 67th birthday, “Thank you for loving him. Thank you for supporting him and his life’s work. Thank you for missing him. I do too.”