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During Robin Williams' incredible career, he spent years entertaining the masses. Truly hilarious, Williams also could be surprisingly vulnerable when a scene called for it which helped him to win the hearts of so many people.After Williams took his last breath, many fans argued that his passing was the saddest celebrity death. The reason for that is simple, generations of kids and adults alike grew to have a lot of affection for Williams over the years.Related: What Craig Ferguson Really Thought Of Robin WilliamsLooking back on Williams' legacy, there are a lot of reasons to look up to him including his involvement in Comic Relief. However, even though Williams was a lot of people's hero, he was a human being like everyone else, and he was capable of doing messed up things.On top of acting inappropriately on the set of Mork and Mindy, one of Williams' biggest misdeeds was cheating on his first wife with their nanny. With that in mind, it begs an obvious question, how did Williams' first wife handle that affair ending their marriage?

Who Was Robin Williams' First Wife?

When people look back on Robin Williams' life, some years appeared to be extremely important. A perfect example of that is 1978 since that is the year he first became famous because he appeared on Happy Days and Mork and Mindy premiered.

Related: Fans Remember Robin Williams, Who Would Have Turned 70 Today

On top of Williams' career taking off in 1978, that year was a huge deal in his personal life too. After all, in 1978 Williams walked down the aisle for the first time when he married a woman named Valerie Velardi.

Before Velardi and Williams got married, they met for the first time in a bar where she was working as a waitress. As Velardi explained decades later, she was charmed by Williams after he went behind the bar and pretended to have an accent.

“He was bartending. He had a French accent, offered me a drink, chatted me up and was absolutely delightful. He asked me for a ride home. He was speaking French and I was teasing him and we had a kiss. And I just knew I was going to see him again,”

After hitting it off that first night, Williams and Velardi became a couple. Unfortunately, Williams' life often wasn't as perfect as it seemed from the outside looking in and his marriage to Velardi ended in divorce roughly a decade later.

Did Valerie Velardi Forgive Robin Williams After His Affair With The Nanny?

In the years since Robin Williams passed away in 2014, millions of people have continued to adore him and enjoy his body of work. Evidently fully aware of how much people care about Williams, a documentary filmmaker worked to document his life.

Related: Robin Williams' Widow Susan Schneider Says The Actor Was Completely Different At Home

In 2018, the documentary Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind which was directed by Marina Zenovich was released. An extremely well-made documentary, it provided Williams' fans with the opportunity to understand the comic genius better.

On top of the documentary including some stunning footage of Williams' life, the other key to the film's success was that Zenovich interviewed many of the people who knew Robin best.

Arguably the most impressive thing about Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind is that Williams' first wife Valerie Velardi was interviewed for that project. After all, before she was interviewed for the documentary, Velardi stayed out of the spotlight for decades.

During her interview for that documentary, Velardi revealed that she knew Williams wasn't faithful during their marriage. Based on what she said in the documentary, Velardi seemed to accept Williams' inability to remain faithful.

“He loved women. Absolutely loved women. And I got it. I understood and I wanted him to have that. But I also wanted him to come home.”

Decades before that documentary and shortly after her separation from Williams, Velardi also spoke about Williams' infidelity. When she was interviewed by People back then, Velardi explained it was harder to take the unfaithfulness after they had a baby.

"Very attractive women throw themselves at men in his position. You’d have to be a saint to resist. Besides, neither of us was prepared for the sudden life shift. But I admit the other women were harder to take after I’d had a child."

Unfortunately, after Velardi gave birth to Williams' eldest son. they hired a woman to be their nanny who would later adopt the name Marsha Garces Williams. While Marsha worked for the family as a nanny, she had an affair with Robin which led to Williams and Velardi separating.

During their separation, Robin and Marsha started to build a life together, and after he got divorced, they walked down the aisle in 1989.

During Velardi's aforementioned People interview from decades ago, she spoke about the separation. Thanks to that, it is known that Velardi also briefly moved on to another relationship during the separation. While Williams committed to his next relationship, however, Velardi's fling didn't last.

As she told People at the time, instead of putting most of her energy into that new relationship, Velardi focused on her own growth during the separation.

"We separated to reexamine our lives. It’s a time for personal growth for both of us. I see another man but I live alone, and I like it that way."

After the separation became a divorce, there were rumors about Velardi marrying and having a daughter with South African drummer Ricky Fataar. However, that has never been confirmed or denied.