Wendy Williams‘ well being seems to be in steep decline, together with her guardian claiming the previous TV host is “completely incapacitated” following her analysis of main progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia.
In a courtroom submitting from earlier this month, and considered by a number of publications, legal professionals for Williams’ court-appointed guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, stated the 60-year-old “has change into cognitively impaired, completely disabled, and incapacitated” from dementia.
Morrissey argues that Williams didn’t “have the capability to consent to being filmed” for Lifetime’s contentious The place is Wendy Williams? docuseries, which was launched earlier this yr.
The docuseries explored Williams’ well being challenges, life after The Wendy Williams Present and her guardianship, and has descended into an ongoing authorized battle with A&E Tv Networks, Lifetime Leisure and different associates concerned with the discharge.
“This case arises from the brutally calculated, deliberate actions of highly effective and cravenly opportunistic media firms working along with a producer to knowingly exploit (Williams),” the paperwork learn, in keeping with Individuals, referencing her frontotemporal dementia analysis. “FTD is a progressive illness, that means that there is no such thing as a remedy and the signs solely worsen over time.”
The submitting claimed the defendants “cruelly took benefit of (Williams’) cognitive and bodily decline by creating and publishing a documentary at a time when (Williams) was extremely susceptible and clearly incapable of consenting to be filmed.”
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Lifetime has not publicly commented on the submitting.
Williams has been underneath a court-appointed guardianship since Could 2022 after her financial institution, Wells Fargo, claimed she was “incapacitated.”
Earlier this yr, when Williams and her workforce determined to share her diagnoses publicly, they defined their reasoning for doing so.
“The choice to share this information was tough and made after cautious consideration, not solely to advocate for understanding and compassion for Wendy,” the previous speak present host’s workforce famous within the Feb. 22 press launch, “however to boost consciousness about aphasia and frontotemporal dementia and assist the hundreds of others going through related circumstances.”
“Sadly,” the assertion continued, “many people recognized with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia face stigma and misunderstanding, significantly after they start to exhibit behavioral modifications however haven’t but acquired a analysis.”
The place is Wendy Williams? was filmed between August 2022 and April 2023. Producers on the venture stated they had been, on the time of filming, unaware of Williams’ cognitive points.
In an interview earlier this yr with As we speak, govt producers Mark Ford and Erica Hanson, who can be showrunner, stated they perceive why a few of Williams’ followers have moral issues concerning the documentary.
“We formed the documentary, finally, in a method that we felt may benefit Wendy, her household and the world at giant,” Ford stated. “What began as a narrative about Wendy and her biography changed into one thing very totally different. (It grew to become) extra about what it’s like when your member of the family, who you care about, is positioned underneath authorized guardianship and also you don’t have any entry to her anymore.”
The episodes, whereas highlighting the cultural influence of Williams’ speak present profession, present the star in various susceptible moments.
All through the documentary, a lot of Williams’ relations claimed they’d been reduce off from contacting Williams, who the household stated was surrounded solely by individuals on her payroll. Within the second episode, Williams’ supervisor, Will Selby, finds an empty vodka bottle by the star’s mattress and confronts Williams about alleged heavy ingesting.
Within the documentary, Williams is commonly agitated, weepy and confused.
The grievance asks that the defendants pay Williams unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and asks the courtroom to order the defendants to completely cease airing the present.
Morrissey stated in her submitting that whereas Lifetime has “profited immensely” from the manufacturing, Williams herself was paid “a paltry $82,000.”
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