Michael J. Fox was ”stunned” to learn Robin Williams had Parkinson’s Disease.
The ‘Back to the Future’ star – who was diagnosed with the condition in 1991 – hailed the late actor as a ”true friend” and recalled all the work he did to raise money for his foundation, which raised money and awareness of Parkinson’s, in a Twitter tribute.
Michael wrote: ”Stunned to learn Robin had PD. Pretty sure his support for our Fdn predated his diagnosis. A true friend; I wish him peace.”
Robin’s wife, Susan Schneider, revealed yesterday (08.14.14) that the ‘Hook’ star was in the early stages of the disease when he took his own life.
Meanwhile, comedian Jeff Kilstein, 32, has spoken of how Robin – who battled alcohol addiction but got sober in 1982, relapsing briefly 20 years later – would help him whenever he was ”struggling”
He told Us Weekly magazine: ”Every time I struggled with addiction myself, or depression, or thought about quitting he would chat with me on the phone.
”I’d be sitting in my office and Robin Williams, in the softest voice, would just be helping me through it all. He would help me out of my darkest moments.”
And Jeff revealed his friend – who was found hanged on Monday (11.08.14) following a long battle with depression – even paid his wages at one point when his radio show was struggling.
He recalled: ”My radio show Citizen Radio had a moment where we almost had to stop because we were getting kicked out of our space.
”Robin heard about it through our mutual friends and called me, just saying, ‘What do you need?’ He made up the difference in my salary while we were struggling. Our inside joke was that we didn’t have sponsors but we were brought by ‘Robin Williams.’ ”
