Wendy Williams is “permanently unable to work” due to her dementia, her guardian says

Wendy Williams’ legal guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, recently shared a grim update on the former host’s battle with dementia in a court filing.

Morrissey, a lawyer, said in the filing, obtained by, that the 60-year-old writer is now “permanently disabled.” The Independent. In May 2023, Williams was officially diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and primary progressive aphasia.

Williams is described in the filing as “an acclaimed entertainer who tragically suffered from early-onset dementia and as a result has become cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated.”

“In January 2022, after becoming aware of a pattern of troubling events regarding (Wendy’s) well-being and finances, Wells Fargo took the highly unusual step of commencing conservatorship proceedings on its own initiative in the Supreme Court of New York, New York County ( “the “Guardianship Proceedings”) to request the court appointment of an independent guardian for (Wendy’s) financial affairs,” the filing continues.

Morrissey’s legal team added a plea asking the court to protect Williams’ privacy by redacting some aspects of her “health, family relationships and finances” already outlined in the case.

The guardian’s legal team said, “We respectfully request that the court grant plaintiff’s request for limited redactions to protect non-public information from the guardianship proceedings that has been sealed by the court overseeing those proceedings.”

Williams’ legal battle began in 2022 when Wells Fargo froze her bank accounts. The bank then filed a petition for temporary financial guardianship over her, arguing that she was “mentally unsound.”

In February, Morrissey unsuccessfully tried to stop Lifetime from releasing the documentary Where is Wendy Williams?. The appeals judge ruled that preventing the documentary’s release would be an “impermissible prior restraint on speech that violates the institution’s First Amendment.”

Williams’ guardian filed a lawsuit days later against Lifetime and the production companies – Entertainment One Reality Productions, Lifetime Entertainment Services, A&E Television Networks, Creature Films and Mark Ford – before amending her lawsuit in September. The case was then referred to the New York Supreme Court in October.

On November 22, Williams’ attorneys filed a motion for a jury trial. The Independent has reached out to Lifetime and Creature Films for comment.

Throughout the documentary, Williams appears unsteady on her feet and has difficulty walking without assistance. Her emotions fluctuate between sweet, suddenly irritable, belligerent, and tearful or frustrated. The former talk show host often admits to drinking alcohol. “I love vodka,” Williams says in the first episode.

In a review diversity called the series “an exploitative depiction of her cognitive decline and emotional well-being.” Danie Buchanan, an Atlanta radio DJ, posted a video reaction on Instagram in which she said, “I couldn’t finish it…It was so hard Watching, it was so hard to see her like that,” she said.

Williams made her cocaine addiction public and was living in a “sober house” in 2019.

Filmmakers said back in February that they were unaware of the star’s dementia diagnosis while filming most scenes.

“We decided not to film as a team anymore. “We kept hoping that she would get better, but it became clear to us that she wasn’t getting better and that she really needed help,” said executive producer Erica Hanson.