In 2023, Wendy Williams was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and aphasia. Williams recently completed another medical exam that determined that she will remain under a legal guardianship. According to court documents obtained by People, doctors gave their opinion on Williams’ mental condition after completing several medical and neuropsychological tests, including brain imaging.
Per the documents, Williams is now re-diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, which affects her language, behavior and personality. The 61-year-old talk show host was also once again diagnosed with aphasia, which affects her communication, The Daily Beast reported.
Wendy Williams’ representatives say she’s mentally competent
Following the latest medical update, Williams’ guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, asked the court to extend her authority to oversee the star’s assets. However, Williams’ lawyer Joe Tacopina spoke up for his client in a recent statement, saying she remains mentally competent and she needs to be released from the guardianship.
“She’s lucid and in control of her faculties,” Tacopina said in July, per The Hollywood Reporter. “What’s happening here is not normal.”
Kevin Hunter, Williams’ ex-husband, also filed a $250 million lawsuit against Morrissey in June.
“Guardianship is a civil death. In New York, more than 28,000 adults, which includes [Williams], are being abused, neglected, and defrauded under the care of court-appointed guardians,” Hunter’s lawsuit stated, according to People.
Hunter said he’s not trying to end the guardianship, but he’s requesting a “new impartial guardian.” The lawsuit also requested for Williams to be released from “involuntary confinement,” as well as $250 million in relief for loss of finances, damage to reputation, emotional distress, legal expenses and deprivation of liberty. People reported that Hunter said Williams “has been the victim of unrestrained abuse, maltreatment, and fiscal malfeasance.”
Williams made an appearance on The View in March and opened up about her life in a memory care facility.
“I am not permitted to do anything but stay on this floor, the memory unit floor, where these people are 90 and 80 and 70. Look, I’m 60. Why am I here…where people don’t remember anything?” she said, per Complex. “I want to terminate the guardianship and move on with my life. If that’s possible at all.”
Sabrina Morrissey sued A+E Networks on behalf of Wendy Williams
Williams found herself at the center of another legal battle after her story was chronicled in the Lifetime documentary, Where Is Wendy Williams? in 2024. In the lawsuit against A+E Networks, Morrissey said the talk show host didn’t have the mental capacity to authorize the documentary.
Morrissey asked the court to delay the litigation with A&E while Williams’ representatives look to solve the dispute over the guardianship, TMZ reported. A+ E also agreed to delay the case for three months, but asked for an early deposition of Williams, saying they have concerns of her “purported progressive neurological disease.”
