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Louise Thomas
Editor
Billy Connolly has shared what Robin Williams said to him during their final conversation before his death.
The Scottish comedian was a close friend of the Mrs. Doubtfire star, who died by suicide aged 63 in 2014. Williams visited Scotland on numerous occasions, often as Connolly’s guest. He also performed at Edinburgh Fringe during the early stages of his career.
Connolly revealed Williams called him on the week of his death and asked to go with him for dinner where he made an earnest declaration to his long term friend.
Speaking in the new BBC programme In My Own Words, Connolly said it had been a “lovely thing” to meet Williams, who made him feel less “alone” in the comedy world.
“When he took his life it was the saddest day,” he added.
Explaining their last encounter, Connolly continued: “He phoned me and said ‘let’s have dinner’, and during the dinner he said, ‘I love you’, I said thanks very much. He said, ‘do you believe me’, I said ‘of course I do’. He said, ‘believe me, I love you’, I said ‘that’s great.’”
Reflecting on the conversation, the comedian said: “I thought ‘how weird, how weird for him to say that, it’s not like his usual’. He was dead on the weekend.
“I always felt that was him saying goodbye. It was a sad day in my life because I saw his whole career and it was stunning. He was like a rocket-ship, just took off. He was the best ever,” he said.
Connolly and Williams had both been diagnosed with the neurodegenerative condition Parkinson’s disease, which can cause tremors, difficulty balancing, nerve pain, incontinence, insomnia, excessive sweating, depression and anxiety.
“We used to talk about Parkinson’s a lot,” Connolly previously told The Telegraph. “He would call me and we would compare notes. His was early onset, the same as mine. Everybody worries about it. It’s like a mugger following you around.”
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It later emerged Williams had been misdiagnosed with Parkinsons and, unbeknownst to the actor, he was suffering from Lewy body dementia, an incurable brain disease, which was only revealed following his autopsy.
The actor’s wife, Susan Schneider Williams, said that he battled to find answers to his health issues before he died after being misdiagnosed.
Despite this, he continued to work in film, and shot Shawn Levy film Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, alongside Ben Stiller, Rebel Wilson and Dan Stevens, at the height of his illness.
In My Own Words: Billy Connolly is available on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on 2 September.
