It’s been over a decade, but the shock hasn't really faded. We all remember where we were when the news alerts started hitting phones on August 11, 2014. Robin Williams, the man who felt like everyone’s manic, genius uncle, was gone. But beyond the headlines and the global mourning, there was a very quiet, very private tragedy that unfolded in a house in Tiburon, California. People still ask about the specifics—the "who" and the "how"—not out of morbid curiosity, but because it feels like a glitch in the universe that someone so full of life could just stop.
The person who found Robin Williams wasn't a stranger or a first responder breaking down the door in a raid. It was Rebecca Erwin Spencer, his longtime personal assistant and close friend.
This wasn't just an employee finding a boss. Rebecca had been a fixture in Robin’s life for years. She was part of the inner circle, the kind of person who knew his schedule, his moods, and his quirks. On that Monday morning, she arrived at the house like it was any other day. But things weren't normal.
The Morning Everything Changed
Robin’s wife, Susan Schneider Williams, had actually seen him alive just the night before. Around 10:30 PM on Sunday, they said their goodnights. It was a normal exchange. Susan later shared that she felt he was actually getting a bit better, maybe turning a corner with the health issues he’d been battling.
The next morning, Susan left the house around 10:30 AM to run some errands. She genuinely thought Robin was still asleep in his room. They had been sleeping in separate bedrooms recently—not because of marital trouble, but because Robin was struggling with severe insomnia and restlessness, symptoms we now know were tied to his undiagnosed Lewy Body Dementia.
When Rebecca Erwin Spencer arrived later that morning, she got worried. Robin wasn't answering her knocks. He wasn't responding to texts. This wasn't like him. Around 11:45 AM, the concern reached a breaking point. She entered the room and discovered the scene that would eventually change how the world viewed mental health and neurodegenerative disease.
She was the one who dialed 911. The dispatcher received a call from a "distraught" woman reporting an apparent suicide. By 12:02 PM, emergency personnel from the Tiburon Fire Department declared him dead at the scene. He was only 63.
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Why the "Who" Matters
The fact that it was Rebecca matters because it underscores how private Robin’s final months had become. He wasn't out at parties; he was in the trenches of a physical and mental war. Rebecca and Susan were the ones seeing the "disintegrating" version of the man we saw on screen.
What Most People Get Wrong
There's a common misconception that Robin's death was purely about depression or financial stress. For a long time, the narrative was: "The sad clown finally broke." But that's not the whole story. Honestly, it's barely the surface.
- It wasn't just depression. After he passed, the autopsy revealed he had one of the worst cases of Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) doctors had ever seen.
- He wasn't "broke." While there were rumors about alimony and TV shows, his publicist and family later cleared up that he was financially stable.
- It wasn't a relapse. Robin was eight years sober when he died. The toxicology reports confirmed there were no illegal drugs or alcohol in his system—just his prescribed medications for Parkinson’s and depression.
The Reality of Lewy Body Dementia
Susan Schneider Williams has spent years trying to explain that LBD was the real "terrorist" inside her husband's brain. Imagine your brain is a computer that is glitching every five seconds. One minute you're fine; the next, you can't remember how to walk or you're seeing things that aren't there.
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Robin was losing his mind, and the most heartbreaking part? He knew he was losing it. He kept saying he wanted to "reboot" his brain. He was struggling to remember lines on the set of Night at the Museum 3, something that would have been effortless for him just two years prior.
Rebecca, as his assistant, would have seen these "glitches" firsthand. She was there for the tremors, the confusion, and the overwhelming anxiety that LBD triggers. When she found him that morning, she wasn't just finding a celebrity; she was finding a friend who had been fighting a losing battle against his own biology.
Acknowledging the Limitations of Our Knowledge
We have to be honest: we will never know exactly what Robin was thinking in those final hours. Suicide is complex. While the LBD explains the "why" from a medical perspective, the internal experience is something he took with him.
Some people still blame the medications he was on. Others think the Parkinson's diagnosis—which was actually a misdiagnosis of the LBD symptoms—pushed him over the edge. What we do know is that the brain of the man who found Robin Williams' employer was riddled with protein clumps that shouldn't have been there.
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Moving Forward
The story of who found him is a reminder that even the brightest lights have people behind the scenes holding them up when the cameras stop rolling. Rebecca Erwin Spencer has mostly stayed out of the spotlight since then, and you can't really blame her.
If you or someone you know is struggling, the best thing you can do is look beyond the surface. Robin looked "okay" to many, but his brain was under siege.
Actionable Next Steps
- Learn the Signs of LBD: If an older loved one shows sudden cognitive shifts, tremors, and vivid hallucinations, look into Lewy Body Dementia. It’s often misdiagnosed as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s.
- Support the Foundation: The Lewy Body Dementia Association does incredible work helping families navigate the same "terrorist" that Robin faced.
- Check in on the "Strong" Friends: The people who make everyone else laugh often have the least energy to ask for help themselves. Reach out today. Not a "how are you?" text—a real conversation.
Robin Williams gave the world everything he had. Knowing the truth about his final moments doesn't diminish his legacy; if anything, it makes his ability to make us laugh while his own mind was betraying him even more heroic.