Wendy Williams has become ‘permanently disabled and legally incapacitated’

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Wendy Williams’ battle with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) has taken a sad turn.

According to the former talk show host’s court-appointed guardian, Williams has become “cognitively impaired, permanently disabled, and legally incapacitated.”

Wendy Williams in 2019.

Manny Carabel/Getty Images


The news of Williams’ health comes courtesy of the ongoing legal battle between Williams’ guardian Sabrina E. Morrissey and A&E Television Networks, Lifetime Entertainment and other affiliates involved with the release of Where Is Wendy Williams?

The docuseries, released in February just days after Williams FTD diagnosis was made public, covers the radio and television personality’s life after ending The Wendy Williams Show, including her health problems and the guardianship she was placed under in April 2022.

“This case arises from the brutally calculated, deliberate actions of powerful and cravenly opportunistic media companies working together with a producer to knowingly exploit [Williams],” according to documents obtained by PEOPLE. “FTD is a progressive disease, meaning that there is no cure and the symptoms only get worse over time.”

Morrissey alleges Williams was unjustly taken advantage of by the doc, as she was “clearly incapable of consenting to being filmed, much less humiliated and exploited.” The filing also alleges Where Is Wendy Williams? was “filmed without a valid contract and released without Guardian’s consent.”

Morrissey is asking the court approve “narrowly applied redactions” to certain parts of the ongoing lawsuit against the media companies involving her “health, familial relationships, and finances” in order to protect Williams’ “privacy and dignity.”

After battling Graves’ disease, lymphedema, and alcohol abuse, Williams was put under court-ordered guardianship in April 2022. Then in February of this year, her medical team released a statement on Williams’ FTD and aphasia diagnosis.

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“Over the past few years, questions have been raised at times about Wendy’s ability to process information and many have speculated about Wendy’s condition, particularly when she began to lose words, act erratically at times, and have difficulty understanding financial transactions,” the statement read. “In 2023, after undergoing a battery of medical tests, Wendy was officially diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).”

Over the summer, Williams was photographed in public for the first time in more than a year, shopping with her son Kevin Hunter Jr. in New Jersey. The 60-year-old was reportedly “sharp, upbeat and aware” and “very bubbly.” 

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