Following the release of Lifetime’s documentary, Where is Wendy Williams?, it sadly seems like the former talk show host’s health condition has worsened.
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A court admission by attorneys for Wendy’s guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, revealed the declining state of Williams’ health, according to reports from The U.S. Sun. In the filing, Morrissey’s legal team referred to the 60-year-old as “an acclaimed entertainer who, tragically, has been afflicted by early-onset dementia and, as a result, has become cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated.”
This comes after viewers were able to see a glimpse into her battle with dementia in the documentary, which Wendy’s guardian tried to stop from releasing by filing a restraining order. The request was quickly overturned by an appellate judge, who said that stopping Lifetime from airing the special would be an “impermissible prior restraint on speech that violates the First Amendment of the institution.”
Many fans were hoping to someday see Wendy Williams return to the world of talk shows, but with this new development, that seems especially unlikely. Many viewers saw the documentary as an invasion of privacy for someone who didn’t seem in the right mind to agree to such extensive behind-the-scenes filming, which is exactly what Sabrina is arguing against in court.
Morrissey filing further states, “In January 2022, after becoming aware of a pattern of disturbing events concerning [Wendy’s] welfare and finances, Wells Fargo took the highly unusual step of initiating a guardianship proceeding on its own initiative in the Supreme Court of New York, New York County (the ‘Guardianship Proceeding’), to seek the court appointment of an independent guardian for [Wendy’s] financial affairs.”
The guardian’s legal team then asks the court to redact certain portions of the case about Wendy’s “health, familial relationships, and finances” to protect her privacy.
The Sun alleges that Williams was diagnosed with alcohol-related brain damage before being placed in guardianship in 2022.
She was given the alcohol-related brain damage diagnosis in 2019 during a rehab stay in Delray Beach, Florida.
While in Florida, a brain scan was done as part of Wendy’s rehab stay, which led to a neurologist sitting down with Wendy, her son, Kevin Hunter Jr., 23, and her then-husband, Kevin Hunter Sr., 51. Her son told the world about her diagnosis in the Lifetime documentary, saying his mother’s medical team “basically said that because she was drinking so much, it was starting to affect her headspace and her brain.”
“So, I think they said it was alcohol-induced dementia,” Kevin Jr. said.
At the time, Wendy’s team noted that the star “maintains her trademark sense of humor and is receiving the care she requires to make sure she is protected and that her needs are addressed.”