For those who grew up listening to the radio in the New York Tri-State area in the 90s and 2000s, Wendy Williams was an undeniable force. From her outspoken hot topics on Hot 97 and 107.5 WBLS, she captivated listeners, making them feel like confidantes privy to the latest celebrity buzz. Even for those not typically drawn to celebrity gossip, Wendy’s unique delivery and engaging personality were magnetic. It was therefore no surprise when The Wendy Williams Show premiered in 2008. This local media icon was ready to take on daytime television, and indeed, things would never be quite the same.
In 2010, I had the opportunity to interview Wendy Williams. We met at the NASDAQ Marketsite as she celebrated the second anniversary of her show by ringing the opening bell. The photo captured from that day perfectly encapsulates Wendy’s larger-than-life persona. She playfully commented on our height difference – her towering over my 5’2” frame in her signature six-inch heels. This was before her struggles with lymphedema, a condition that would later prevent her from wearing heels due to swelling in her feet. My lasting impression of Wendy was that she was outspoken, witty, and incredibly personable.
However, as a writer who is rarely speechless, I find myself struggling to describe Lifetime’s documentary, Where is Wendy Williams?, with any word other than “disturbing.” This four-part series, intended to chronicle Wendy’s comeback, instead became a deeply unsettling and invasive look into her personal battles. It’s a documentary that arguably should never have been released.
Unveiling Wendy’s Private Struggles
The Lifetime documentary provided an unflinching, and at times uncomfortable, glimpse into Wendy Williams’ escalating challenges. Viewers witnessed her struggles with alcohol, her deteriorating health, and the concerning decline of her cognitive abilities.
One of the most shocking revelations was that, four years prior to filming, Wendy was found unresponsive at home and rushed to the hospital. Her nephew disclosed that she required three life-saving blood transfusions. Despite this near-fatal event, early in the documentary, Wendy openly declares her love for vodka. Later, in a distressing scene, she unleashes a barrage of curses at her manager when confronted about an empty vodka bottle found in her room.
The physical toll of Graves Disease, hyperthyroidism, and lymphedema is also starkly evident. In one particularly poignant scene, Wendy tearfully describes the lymphedema affecting her feet, stating she can only feel “2%” of them, highlighting their swollen and discolored state. “This is lymphedema…Do you see what this looks like?” she asks, her distress palpable.
Perhaps one of the most unsettling moments is when Wendy’s publicist inquires if she’d like to attend the Oscars. Wendy, a figure synonymous with celebrity culture, responds with a strained and confused expression, simply asking, “What’s Oscar’s?” This brief exchange speaks volumes about the severity of her cognitive decline and raises serious questions about her well-being. The question on everyone’s mind became, “How is Wendy doing?” The documentary made it painfully clear: she was far from well.
Wendy Williams’ Diagnosis Comes to Light
Just days before the documentary premiered, the public learned the full extent of Wendy’s health issues. She had been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). These diagnoses explained much of what was seen in the documentary. Aphasia impairs language and communication, while FTD is a degenerative disorder affecting behavior and cognitive functions. Wendy’s son revealed in the documentary that her dementia was, in part, caused by her struggles with alcohol abuse.
Wendy has been remarkably candid throughout her career about her battles with substance abuse. However, recent years have presented a series of additional hardships. In 2019, her two-decade marriage ended amidst her husband’s infidelity. That same year, she tearfully disclosed on her show that she was residing in a sober living house. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 brought global disruption, compounded for Wendy by the loss of her mother, Shirley Williams. Then, in 2022, The Wendy Williams Show was canceled after 14 seasons, with Wendy unable to host the final season due to her ongoing health issues.
While the documentary was ostensibly intended to document Wendy’s return to broadcasting via a podcast, the final product strayed far from this premise. Producers claim that had they been aware of Wendy’s diagnoses, they would not have proceeded with filming. This raises a crucial question: how could those filming not have recognized the signs of serious health issues and halted production?
Furthermore, Wendy has been under court-appointed guardianship since 2022, initiated after Wells Fargo raised concerns about financial exploitation. Despite her guardian’s attempts to block the documentary’s release, legal efforts were unsuccessful. This prompts another critical question: where was the guardian’s oversight during the filming process?
Adding to the complexity, Wendy and her family are listed as executive producers of the documentary. This begs the question: why would her family consent to such a deeply personal and potentially damaging project being made public? Seeking answers to these questions led to even more questions, drawing me into the complex and often troubling world of the guardianship system.
The Alarming Realities of Guardianship
Guardianship, also known as conservatorship in some states, is a legal framework designed to protect individuals deemed incapacitated. In the US, it is estimated that 1.3 million adults are under guardianship, controlling assets totaling approximately $50 billion. If there is any silver lining to the Where is Wendy Williams? documentary, it is that it shines a light on the significant flaws within this system, intended to safeguard vulnerable individuals.
Lack of Transparency: Guardianship proceedings are often shrouded in secrecy. Data is scarce, and laws vary significantly from state to state. In New York, adult guardianships are governed by Article 81 of the Mental Hygiene Law. Léonie Rosenstiel, author of Protecting Mama: Surviving the Legal Guardianship Swamp, has spent two decades investigating the systemic issues. Her own mother was placed under guardianship after becoming incapacitated. “One of the things that’s really painful for families, is they’re very often not given any explanation for what happened,” Rosenstiel explains. “It just happens. They’re in the dark and they can’t find out why because all the documents are sealed and secret.”
Rubber Stamping Petitions: The process for initiating guardianship can be alarmingly easy. In most states, almost anyone, including government agencies, family members, or healthcare providers, can petition the court. Diane Dimond, an investigative journalist and author of We’re Here to Help: When Guardianship Goes Wrong, has conducted an eight-year investigation into guardianship abuse. She notes a critical flaw: petitions are often approved without sufficient scrutiny. “For a guardianship to start, someone has to initiate it, go to a lawyer and the lawyer draws up a petition for guardianship. And in that petition, they explain to the court why the targeted person needs protection,” Dimond states. “Judges keenly just rubber stamp those. Okay, good, fine, guardianship. Next case, please.”
Flawed Appointment Process: The selection of guardians is another area ripe for potential abuse. Dimond, who has spoken with Wendy’s sister, Wanda Finnie, revealed that Wanda was considered for guardianship. Wanda was willing to take the required training in New York, but ultimately, she was not chosen. Courts have the authority to appoint professional guardians or agencies, even when family members are willing and able. “That’s what judges across the country are doing, they’re not picking the family member because then the money stays in the family,” Dimond argues. “They want to spread it around amongst their cronies.”
Potential Abuse of Power: A 2023 hearing by the Senate Aging Committee highlighted the grim reality of exploitation, abuse, neglect, and financial misconduct in some guardianship cases. Even well-intentioned guardians wield immense power that can be misused. “The guardian is not just in charge of the money, the guardian is in charge of all medical decisions,” Dimond emphasizes. “The guardian can order medications to be given to the person. The guardian can take the person out of their abode and put them in a facility…They can keep the family away. They can take the ward and put them in another state. If a female ward is pregnant, they can order an abortion. These people have complete judicial authority.”
Wendy’s family has voiced their distress at being excluded from decisions regarding her care and not knowing her whereabouts, underscoring the potential for guardianships to isolate individuals from their loved ones. “Guardianship is a system designed to protect the most vulnerable, at-risk people,” Dimond points out. “How does it help protect them if you keep them from people who love them? Why is that allowed?”
Never-Ending Oversight: While guardianships can be terminated during the person’s lifetime, as seen in Britney Spears’ case, they often persist until death. This means individuals under guardianship may permanently lose fundamental rights. “Wendy Williams is now a ward of the court,” Dimond explains. “She loses all of her civil rights. She can’t vote. She can’t spend her own money. She can [not] decide where to live. She can’t decide who gets to see her. She can’t travel. She can’t do anything. And all of her money is put into the name of the guardian. All of her assets or property, her money, her investment, everything.”
The Guardianship Bill of Rights Act, introduced in 2023, seeks to reform this system. It aims to establish a national council to advocate for less restrictive alternatives to guardianship. Similar legislative efforts are underway in states like Florida and Michigan to strengthen protections for vulnerable adults.
The Lingering Question: Where is Wendy Williams Today?
So, Where Is Wendy Williams now, a year after the documentary filming? She is reportedly in a medical facility receiving care, with her exact location undisclosed. Dimond learned from Wanda that Wendy is showing positive signs of progress. However, Wendy’s family still remains unable to directly contact her; communication is only possible from Wendy to them. This raises serious concerns about whether this arrangement truly serves Wendy’s best interests.
“The mechanism would be to hire a lawyer, hire an expensive lawyer to fight it,” Dimond suggests regarding challenging a guardianship. However, this is a daunting prospect for families, often facing well-resourced legal opposition. Dimond notes that Wendy’s son, as her heir, could potentially hire legal representation. Yet, this path is financially draining and time-consuming. “The guardian now has the right to hire their own lawyer to protect them,” Dimond explains, highlighting the inherent imbalance. “Wendy Williams pays for that. Wendy Williams will pay for every aspect. Wendy Williams’ estate will pay to fight her own son. As he fights, I don’t know where he would get money to hire a lawyer to fight this. He’s also diminishing his inheritance. The attorneys and the guardian on Mom’s side are draining the money that he would otherwise inherit. There are cases where I’ve seen millions of dollars spent in fights and then the person dies and there’s no money left. It’s all gone.”
Lessons in Incapacity Planning
Reflecting on Wendy’s situation, it’s crucial to consider the broader implications for personal finance and planning. Rosenstiel emphasizes that while Wendy is relatively young at 59, discussions about incapacity planning should occur long before it becomes a pressing issue. Families should explore advance directives like living wills and healthcare proxies, as well as powers of attorney and trusts. Attempting to establish these legal arrangements after cognitive decline is evident can raise suspicion, as reportedly happened with Wendy’s son.
“There are people like Bruce Willis or other people who are getting dementia younger and younger and younger. So you need to have this in place,” Rosenstiel advises. “It’s not a question of when I get to be 70 I have to sit down and do this. You don’t know. You could be in an accident anytime. People are incapacitated, either for a period of time or forevermore. You never know when something is going to happen. You need to have a mechanism in place. And you need to have people use trust.”
Wendy’s situation evokes personal reflections on my own experiences caring for my mother in her later years. I often consider what her fate might have been without my involvement. I proactively established myself as her power of attorney, healthcare proxy, and Social Security representative payee, ensuring these systems were in place before her health declined. This proactive approach allowed me to effectively manage her medical care and finances, ensuring she remained in the comfort of her home, and enabling me to visit, support, and cherish her presence without restriction. It serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of proactive planning to safeguard the well-being of our loved ones.
