Britney Spears isn’t the only mainstream celebrity who’s had to struggle through a court-ordered conservatorship, as former daytime talk show host Wendy Williams has been living under a similar order since 2022. Williams, who was previously diagnosed with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia, is speaking out in a rare interview in which she says that her guardianship makes it feel like she’s living in a prison.
Due to her high-profile status and how much media exposure the story received, when most people think of conservatorships, their minds go straight to Britney Spears. Following a troubling period in her life, Spears was put under a conservatorship overseen by her father, and for a while, it seemed like it was the best choice for the mega superstar. She began selling massive amounts of records again, she went on world tours, and she had a Vegas residency that sold out regularly. On the flip side of that, Spears lost control of her life and couldn’t make basic decisions on her own. Her fans took notice of this and started the #FreeBritney movement, which played a big part in that conservatorship coming to an end after 13 years.
During an appearance on The Breakfast Club (via Variety) Williams spoke out candidly against the guardianship she has been living under since 2023. Last year, Williams was diagnosed with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia, the former of which might sound familiar: actor Bruce Willis was diagnosed with the same condition, which effectively ended his acting career. Despite her diagnosis, Williams asserts that she’s “not cognitively impaired.”
“I am not cognitively impaired, you know what I’m saying? But I feel like I’m in prison. 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.”
Host of The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne Tha God, who has long been a friend of Williams, said that the former host of The Wendy Williams Show was calling in to let listeners know that she is “trapped in a conservatorship” and isn’t allowed to leave her location, which is why she couldn’t be in the studio live. Williams was joined on the line by her niece, Alex Finnie, who explained that the facility she’s in is high security and that her aunt can only make calls, but relatives can’t call her. Finnie said, “They won’t allow you to leave or have visitors. So you can’t even leave and take a walk if you wanted to, or take a trip or visit family members.”
Wendy Williams Has Been Under a Guardianship Since 2022
Williams has been in this unknown facility since 2023, when she was placed under the care of a court-appointed guardian named Sabrina Morrissey following allegations that the former talk show host was of “unsound mind” and could no longer be in charge of her finances. This was taken to New York court, and it resulted in Wells Fargo bank petitioning to have Williams placed under a temporary financial guardianship to allegedly protect her finances. Finnie went on to say Williams’ life has been like this since 2023, and they are continuing to try to fight for her freedom.
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“That’s been the reality since 2023. She’s sitting in that room that she’s sitting in, she’s there every day, all hours of the day, every week, every month, she’s not getting proper sunlight. I went to New York in October to visit her. And the level of security and the level of questions that there were in terms of, ‘Who am I? Why am I here? What’s the purpose? I mean, it was absolutely just horrible.”
The story was explored in the Lifetime docuseries Where is Wendy Williams?, which showcased Williams trying to make a daytime comeback while also putting a focus on her new limitations, which included making it appear that she was showing early signs of being cognitively impaired. The series also drew attention to how hard it is for her own family members to see her, and adds credence to their insistence that the guardianship is shielding them from her. According to Williams, despite the complaints about the guardianship in the docuseries, it was Morrisey’s idea to do it. That’s what makes it especially weird that Morrisey sued to try to stop the release of the docuseries, but the request was dismissed by a judge.
Williams continued by saying what she’s going through is essentially “emotional abuse.” The former talk show host said, “What do I think about being abused? Look, this system is broken, this system that I’m in. This system has falsified a lot.” At this facility, Williams’ phone has been taken away, and she can’t even make her own purchases. She’s also afraid that she won’t be allowed to attend her father’s upcoming 94th birthday in February.
Finnie said that if anyone out there wants to help her aunt’s cause, they can use the hashtag #FreeWendy, much like the one Spears’ fans used during the #FreeBritney movement, and they can donate to a GoFundMe that has been set up by the family. Despite all the talk of Williams’ impairment, after listening to the interview, she doesn’t sound like someone who doesn’t know what’s going on. I’m certainly no medical professional, but she sounds just as alert as she was on her long-running talk show, which ran from 2007-2021. If anything, this should be looked into more, especially if she’s being wrongly imprisoned and stripped of basic freedoms.
Where Is Wendy Williams? is available to stream with a Lifetime subscription.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
