Topline
In a rare interview following a series of health issues and a financial guardianship, former daytime television host Wendy Williams appeared on “The Breakfast Club” radio show, denying that she is cognitively impaired, lamenting her lack of access to her family and slamming the guardianship as “broken” and “a prison.”
Williams has seldom made public appearances since being placed under a financial guardianship. ... [+]
Key Facts
Williams called into “The Breakfast Club” Thursday morning, stating she is “not cognitively impaired,” asking the hosts: “Do I seem that way, god damn it?”
Williams called her financial guardianship—which she was placed in by a judge in 2022 after her bank, Wells Fargo, froze her accounts—a “prison” and “emotional abuse,” stating she does not have access to her money, a cell phone, a laptop or other technology, and that she cannot receive phone calls from anyone.
Williams called the guardianship system “broken” and choked up while stating she’s not sure if she will be allowed to see her father, who she said turns 94 next month, for his birthday, while her niece Alex Finnie, who appeared on the show with her, said her family wants Williams free and to live with “dignity.”
Williams and Finnie said the former television host can’t leave her room without permission and has little contact with other people, outside of “nursemaids” who come to her room and give her pills, which Williams said she has “no idea” what they are for.
The interview comes nearly a year after Lifetime released a four-part docuseries, “Where Is Wendy Williams?” which Williams said she watched, though she declined to comment further when host Charlamagne Tha God asked her thoughts on the series.
What Did Williams Say About Sean “diddy” Combs?
Charlamagne Tha God asked Williams about Combs, who is being held in jail after the rap mogul was hit with dozens of lawsuits alleging rape, sexual assault and sex trafficking. “Diddy done,” Williams said, echoing an insult 50 Cent frequently lobbed at Combs, adding: “Diddy will go to prison for life, people. You don’t know the things I knew about Diddy back in the day, and you want to know what? It is about time.” Williams’ fans, including Charlamagne Tha God, have long speculated whether Williams knew about Combs’ behavior, and the “Breakfast Club” host and former Combs bodyguard Gene Deal have both previously claimed in interviews Combs played a role in Williams being fired from her Hot 97 radio job in the 1990s.
Key Background
Williams, a former radio host and host of the daytime “Wendy Williams Show” from 2008 to 2021, largely disappeared from the public eye after her show was canceled due to reported health issues. Williams had previously revealed Graves’ disease and hyperthyroidism diagnoses. Wells Fargo froze Williams’ accounts in January 2022 and a judge appointed a financial guardian for Williams four months later, after Wells Fargo reportedly called her an “incapacitated person” in a letter to a judge. Williams’ attorney, LaShawn Thomas, said at the time Williams “strenuously denies all allegations about her mental health and well-being” and claimed Wells Fargo “unlawfully” froze her accounts. Representatives for Williams said in February 2024 she was diagnosed with “progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia,” adding in a press release questions about her condition were raised when she began to “lose words, act erratically at times, and have difficulty understanding financial transactions.” Williams’ guardian, Sabrina Morrisey, filed a lawsuit against A&E Television Networks and Lifetime over the four-part docuseries, which aired last year, claiming Williams was not able to consent to being filmed. In a court filing in November as part of the lawsuit, Morrisey called Williams “cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated.”
Further Reading
Wendy Williams is 'cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated,' guardian says (NBC News)
