Wendy Williams, the previous daytime TV host who received diagnosis of dementia and positioned beneath guardianship, insisted in an interview Thursday that she just isn’t cognitively impaired and complained in regards to the limitations she faces residing in a care facility.
Williams final filmed her common speak present in the summertime of 2021, and a yr later a court docket appointed a authorized guardian to supervise her private and monetary affairs, based on court docket paperwork. Attorneys for her guardian argued in court docket paperwork that Williams “suffers from dementia and has turn into cognitively impaired, completely impaired and legally incapacitated in consequence.”
However Mrs. Williams, whose household has questioned the guardianship in the past, dismissed that characterization of his well being Thursday throughout a cellphone interview on “The Breakfast Membership.”
“I am not cognitively disabled,” she stated on this system. “However I really feel like I am in jail.”
Ms Williams was at occasions upbeat and at occasions emotional, complaining about life within the nursing residence and breaking down when discussing the potential for not having the ability to depart and journey to see her father as he celebrates his 94th birthday day.
She complained in regards to the medical facility, which she didn’t identify, indicating that it housed sufferers as much as 90 years outdated. “One thing is unsuitable with these individuals right here on this flooring,” she stated. “And I am not saying something unhealthy. I am simply saying I am with these individuals.”
“Look, I’ve breakfast, lunch and dinner right here on the mattress,” she stated. “I watch TV, take heed to the radio, look out the window, speak on the cellphone.” She stated she did not have entry to a laptop computer or iPad and assumed her cellphone’s capabilities had been restricted.
Williams’ niece, Alex Feeney, who additionally known as into the present, described the power as a “luxurious jail.”
“I do not ask for a lot,” stated Mrs. Finney. “All I am saying is simply deal with the lady with dignity and provides her the freedoms she deserves.”
She stated members of the family “need her to be free.”
Ms Williams stated she spent quite a lot of time in isolation on the facility, together with her final three birthdays there. “I would relatively spend my birthday alone than open the door and spend my birthday with these individuals on this flooring,” she stated.
Questions on Ms Williams’ well being have unfold lately amid reviews of bizarre conduct and movies circulating on social media. The court docket appointed an impartial guardian to supervise her affairs after Wells Fargo, which was concerned in her funds, started guardianship proceedings in 2022.
In keeping with court docket paperwork filed by the guardian who was ultimately appointed, Wells Fargo had “documented a sample of bizarre and disturbing occasions” associated to Ms. Williams’ well-being and funds. The specifics of the powers granted to the guardian, Sabrina E. Morrissey, are unclear as a result of the court docket has sealed lots of the associated court docket paperwork.
Ms Morrissey wrote in public court docket paperwork that Ms Williams was identified in 2023. with frontotemporal dementia and aphasia.
Considerations about Ms. Williams’ well being and well-being resurfaced final yr when Lifetime aired a two-part documentary, Where’s Wendy Williams? which gave followers a glimpse into her life after leaving her present. Her guardian, Mrs. Morrissey, whose id was withheld within the documentary, tried to dam the community from broadcasting, however failed. Ms. Morrissey is at present in a civil dispute over the documentary with A&E Tv Networks, which owns Lifetime.
Ms. Morrissey couldn’t be reached for remark Thursday about Ms. Williams’ complaints.
Roberta Kaplan, a lawyer representing Ms. Morrissey within the emergency case, stated in a press release that Ms. Williams suffered from a “degenerative mind illness that has no treatment” and {that a} state court docket had discovered her incompetent and unable to care for herself authorized and monetary choices.
“Sadly, because of her prognosis, Wendy’s situation will solely worsen over time and he or she would require look after the remainder of her life,” Ms Kaplan stated. “However as anybody who has had a member of the family with dementia is aware of, Wendy has her good days and her unhealthy days. It is actually unlucky that there’s a lot voyeuristic consideration to this proper now, because it solely results in the identical sorts of exploitation that we noticed within the so-called documentary as alleged in our criticism.
Within the interview, Ms. Williams hesitated to share some particulars about her present case, however complained that she solely had $15 and that her private belongings had been in storage. “I am undoubtedly remoted,” she stated.
