Wendy Williams is speaking out for the very first time about her state of health and the guardianship that deemed her “permanently incapacitated” by dementia in a recent legal filing.
Williams appeared on The Breakfast Club radio show this morning, where she opened up about the “broken” conservatorship system she has been under since 2022 under her guardian, Sabrina Morrissey.
“I am not cognitively impaired, you know what I’m saying? But I feel like I’m in prison,” she said of the care facility where she is currently living, per Variety. “I’m in this place where the people are in their 90s and their 80s and their 70s … There’s something wrong with these people here on this floor.”
She later said in the interview, “What do I think about being abused? Look, this system is broken, this system that I’m in. This system has falsified a lot.”
Williams’ team announced in February 2024 that she had been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), though they noted that she was “still able to do many things for herself” at the time.
Morrisey’s recent filing asked that any information regarding Williams’ “health, familial relationships, and finances” be redacted to protect her privacy. Williams’ guardian also filed a lawsuit against Lifetime’s parent company to block the release of the network’s Where Is Wendy Williams? documentary, though the move was ultimately rejected by a judge.
The documentary series showed Williams struggling with mental health issues and alcoholism.
During her appearance on The Breakfast Club, Williams’ niece Alex called in from Miami to corroborate that, though she has only seen her aunt in “a very limited capacity” under her guardianship, her behavior “does not match an incapacitated person.”
“That’s why we say she’s in a luxury prison, because she is being held and she is being punished for whatever reason that other people are coming up with as to why she has to be kept in this position,” Alex alleged on the show.
Williams later became emotional during the interview as she claimed that her guardian, whom she referred to as “that person that you talk about who is holding me hostage,” may not allow her to attend her father’s 94th birthday.
“I am exhausted thinking about, what if I can’t see my dad for his birthday? At 94, the day after that is not promised,” Williams said as she started to cry. “My life is, like, fucked up.”
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If you or someone you know is struggling with their mental health, call or text the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) hotline at 800-950-NAMI (6264).