Wendy Williams ‘permanently incapacitated’ from dementia court documents claim

Williams was diagnosed with aphasia and dementia in 2023, about a year after she was put under a legal guardian who controlled her health and financial decisions, People magazine reported. Williams had been diagnosed at the time with Graves’ disease, lymphedema and alcohol abuse.

[ Wendy Williams diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia, dementia ]

The legal filing is part of a battle between guardian Sabrina Morrissey and the producers of the “Where is Wendy Williams?” documentary which aired on Lifetime.

The documentary was released in February days after her diagnosis was made public, Entertainment Weekly reported.

“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],” the filing said, according to People magazine. “FTD [frontotemporal dementia] is a progressive disease, meaning that there is no cure and the symptoms only get worse over time.”

[ What you need to know about frontotemporal dementia ]

The lawsuit says those who created the documentary “filmed without a valid contract and released without Guardian’s consent,” and that Williams was “highly vulnerable” and was “clearly incapable of consenting to being filmed, much less humiliated and exploited.”

Morrissey wants to keep parts of the case redacted for privacy. She is asking for unspecified compensation and punitive damages. She also wants the show pulled from being aired, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Morrisey claims that Williams received only $82,000 while the producers have “profited immensely.”

Representatives from A&E, Lifetime, Creature Films and Ford have not responded to the Times request for comment.

Williams’ family said that Morrissey is the only person who has full access to the host and that they have not had information about her health shared with them since 2021.

“How did she go from this aunt or sister that we love and is healthy one minute to this person who’s in and out of the hospital?” Williams’ sister Wanda Finnie said, according to People magazine. “How is that system better than the system the family could put in place? I don’t know. I do know that this system is broken. I hope that at some point, Wendy becomes strong enough where she can speak on her own behalf.”

Williams has been away from the spotlight only being seen or heard a handful of times over the past few months, including a New Jersey shopping trip in August and an off-camera interview with the Daily Mail in October.

The television personality left her talk show in 2022 after 12 years citing medical reasons.