The premiere of the Lifetime docuseries, which is about the ongoing health and financial problems of talk show host Wendy Williams, has gained the public’s attention on her court-appointed financial guardianship.
The two-part docuseries Where is Wendy Williams? – is described as an unfiltered look into the 59-year-old’s life after the end of her iconic show. It takes place in the months following the start of her guardianship in May 2022.
Williams tells viewers the shocking truth about her financial problems during the first part of the series,
“I have no money, and I’m going to tell you something,” Williams said. “…If it happens to me, it could happen to you.”
In 2022, Williams was placed under temporary financial guardianship after Wells Fargo claimed in a New York court she was an “incapacitated person” and the “victim of undue influence and financial exploitation,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Over the past few years, questions have been raised at times about Wendy’s ability to process information, and many have speculated about Wendy’s condition, particularly when she began to lose words, act erratically at times, and have difficulty understanding financial transactions,” her team states in a press release.
The statement continued, “In 2023, after undergoing a battery of medical tests, Wendy was officially diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia.”
On February 22, the days ahead of the series premiere on Lifetime, Williams’ team announced that she had been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. Aphasia affects a person’s ability to speak and understand speech, while frontotemporal dementia, aka FTD, leads to a loss of function in the frontal and temporal lobes. Williams also has Graves’ disease, which is an autoimmune disorder affecting the thyroid.
While Williams herself, her family, and her team of managers appear and discuss her ongoing guardianship in the docuseries, Williams’ guardian — identified as Sabrina Morrissey — does not appear. The same day Williams’ diagnosis was revealed, Sabrina Morrissey filed a lawsuit against Lifetime’s parent company, A&E Television Networks.
What is a guardianship?
A guardianship, or conservatorship, is a legal process set up by a court when an individual can no longer manage their affairs because of an illness, disability, or injury. Other celebrities placed under guardianship include singer Britney Spears, actress Amanda Bynes, former NFL player Michael Oher, and singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell.
New York, where Williams’ guardianship is in place, has three different types of legal guardianships.
- Article 17-A Guardianship: for adults 18 years or older with an intellectual or developmental disability, in which their guardians have the power to make most decisions for them.
- Guardianship of a Child: when there is a concern that one or both parents cannot care for their child, a parent or individual can request a court to grant them guardianship.
- Article 81 Guardianship: This is a type of guardianship in which a judge gives a guardian the power to meet the needs of the incapacitated person, such as managing the person’s finances, property, and personal needs.
Due to Williams’ private court documents, it’s unclear which type of guardianship she has been under since 2022.
