Robin Williams’ first wife: I tolerated his infidelities for our marriage

Robin Williams’ first wife Valerie Velardi has revealed she had to tolerate his infidelities during their 10 year marriage, as she breaks her silence for the first time since his death.

The comedian, 63, took his own life in August 2014. He had been incorrectly diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, but it was later revealed he had been suffering from a rare brain disorder called Lewy body disease, which causes dementia.

Now, his first wife, and mother of his son Zachary, has spoken out in new documentary Come Inside My Mind, claiming he couldn’t resist straying with different women at the time.

“He loved women. Absolutely loved women. And I got it,” she said, according to the Mirror. “I understood and I wanted him to have that. But I also wanted him to come home.”

The former couple first met in San Francisco in 1976. Robin was bartending at the time, and Valerie revealed they fell for each other straight away.

“He was bartending. He had a French accent, offered me a drink, chatted me up and was absolutely delightful,” she recalled.

“He asked me for a ride home. He was speaking French and I was teasing him and we had a kiss.”

However, it wasn’t to last as Robin left Valerie 10 years later for their son’s nanny Marsha Garces, who later welcomed his other two children Zelda and Cody. They split in 2010.

Robin moved on the following year with third wife Susan Schneider, and was still married to her when he died.

His first son Zak has also opened up about the huge impact his father’s death had on them all, and according to the news outlet, he admitted he even jumped into the sea where his father’s ashes were later scattered, to get over the shock.

It comes after close friends of the actor previously shared an insight into his final days, and the intense troubles plaguing him before he took his own life.

Speaking in Dave Itzkoff’s biography, Robin, some of them shared how his health declined, and  revealed how he became increasingly down in the days before he died.

Read more: ‘He was sobbing in my arms’: Friends recall Robin Williams’ final days

“He was sobbing in my arms at the end of every day. It was horrible. Horrible,” makeup artist Cheri Minns said, according to the New York Post.

“I said to his people, ‘I’m a makeup artist. I don’t have the capacity to deal with what’s happening to him’.”

The book claimed he began to struggle with some of his lines due to his health issues, and it became particularly apparent in Vancouver in 2014 during the filming of Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.

When Minns suggested he try returning to comedy to boost his confidence again, she recalls him breaking down amid huge insecurities. She reportedly explained: “He just cried and said, ‘I can’t, Cheri. I don’t know how anymore. I don’t know how to be funny’.”

What are your memories of Robin Williams? Could you deal with knowing a partner was cheating on you?