Wendy Williams was placed under a conservatorship with a court-appointed guardian in 2022 after being diagnosed with dementia.
NEW YORK — Wendy Williams, the former talk show host diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia last year, called for her release from conservatorship Thursday on a talk show.
In a 37-minute conversation on “The Breakfast Club” radio show, Williams and her niece Alex Finnie expressed frustrations to longtime friend and host Lenard Larry McKelvey, known professionally as Charlamagne tha God.
“I am not cognitively impaired… I feel like I am in prison,” Williams said. “This system is broken.”
Her niece described Williams’ care facility as a small “luxury prison” consisting of “a bed, a chair, a TV, a bathroom, and she’s looking out one window.”
The New York Times reports an independent guardian was appointed after Wells Fargo, which was involved in her finances, initiated guardianship proceedings in 2022. Her family has previously questioned the arrangement.
Court-appointed guardian Sabrina Morrissey previously stated Williams is “cognitively impaired, permanently disabled, and legally incapacitated” in legal proceedings, according to People Magazine. Her family lives in Florida, while Williams remains in New York in the care facility.
Attorney Roberta Kaplan, who represented Morrissey in a lawsuit regarding the “Where Is Wendy Williams?” documentary, told the Los Angeles Times that “a state court found her to be legally incapacitated, meaning that she is not capable of making legal and financial decisions on her own.”
“I feel like I’m emotionally abused. Anything I want to do, I cannot do. I am made to be held like (I’m in) a prison. I feel isolated,” Williams told CNN.
Williams broke into tears when discussing whether she’d be able to attend her fathers 94th birthday since “the day after that is not promised.” She said she cannot shop for a gift, has belongings in storage and lacks access to digital devices.
Her brother, Tommy Williams, told CNN: “Wendy is solid in her thoughts and in her delivery. I think the only thing she takes pause on is that with all this legal stuff going on, she has to make sure she is doing things appropriately and not speaking outside of her realm.”
While he was surprised she spoke publicly on this, he says his family believes she should have full autonomy without conservatorship, adding the “only hold up is the courts.”
The hashtag #FreeWendy is trending among family and supporters.
Frontotemporal dementia affects parts of the brain controlling behavior and language, causing these areas to shrink. The disease often includes primary progressive aphasia, which impairs language skills, making it difficult to find words or understand speech.