Wendy Williams spoke out against her legal guardian last year, saying the former TV presenter was “cognitively impaired, permanently disabled and legally incompetent”.
Mr. A (60), who speaks during the day, claimed on Thursday morning, “I have no cognitive impairment.” Williams and her niece, Alex Finnie, called into “The Breakfast Club” radio show and raised suspicions that conservator Sabrina Morrissey was in Williams’ care.
“I feel like I’m in prison,” Williams said.
Williams became financial guardian in 2022 amid a legal battle with Wells Fargo. Later that year, “The Wendy Williams Show” aired its final episode after 13 seasons. The weekly series was canceled due to the presenter’s physical, mental and financial difficulties.
Williams has been receiving treatment at an undisclosed facility called a “luxury prison” in New York since 2022, her nephew said Thursday. Williams and Finnie spoke to “The Breakfast Club” about the facility’s tight security and accused Morrissey of preventing the former radio host from seeing and contacting his loved ones.
Morrissey’s role as Williams’ legal guardian came to public attention last year ahead of Lifetime’s four-part documentary “Where Is Wendy Williams?” Before the documentary was released in February, news broke that Williams had been diagnosed with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. That same week, Morrissey filed a lawsuit against “Where’s Wendy Williams?” The team, including its lifelong parent company, A+E Networks. At the time, Morrissey requested an injunction “to prevent publication of the documentary,” but a New York judge gave Lifetime the go-ahead.
On Thursday, Williams dodged questions about the documentary (“I don’t want to watch that again,” “I don’t want to talk about that”) and doubled down on his cognitive status. In the September lawsuit, Morrissey claimed that Williams “did not have the capacity to consent to being filmed” for the Lifetime documentary and that his dementia and aphasia diagnoses left him “cognitively impaired.”
“I dare you,” Williams said Thursday. “Do I look like that?”
“For the past three years, I have been trapped in the system,” she added.
Finney, who has publicly opposed her aunt’s guardianship, encouraged listeners of “The Breakfast Club” to spread the word about Williams’ experience and take action “to make sure my aunt is in a place where she can live a decent life.” She asked Williams’ caretaker to “give her the freedom she deserves.”
Before the new year, Williams attended her son Kevin Hunter Jr.’s college graduation. Williams said she would like to spend time with her family to celebrate her father’s 94th birthday, but as she fought back tears, she insisted Morrissey might not allow it. “I feel like my life is ruined,” Williams said.
Roberta Kaplan, the attorney representing Morrissey in his lawsuit against A&E, supported the guardian’s September claims about Williams’ cognitive health. “A state court ruled that she is legally incompetent,” Kaplan said in a statement Thursday. “This means she cannot make her own legal and financial decisions.”
“Unfortunately, Wendy’s condition will worsen over time and she will require treatment for the rest of her life,” Kaplan said. But as anyone with a family member with dementia knows, Wendy has her good days and her bad days. It’s truly a shame that there is so much voyeuristic interest in this case now. Because it will only lead to the same kind of exploitation seen in the so-called documentaries alleged in the complaint.”
Towards the end of his “Breakfast Club” appearance, Finnie criticized the “broken” guardianship system. Last month, Hunter expressed concern for his mother, telling fans she was “out of her mind and wanting to come home.”
“The longer she is under this guardianship, the longer they have the keys to her life,” Finnie said. Her personal, financial, emotional… “Everything,” he said.
