Wendy Williams Speaks Against Court-Ordered Guardianship: ‘I Feel Like I Am In Prison’
Wendy Williams is not happy to be under court-ordered guardianship.
The 60-year-old former talk show host made her thoughts known after calling in to the popular morning radio show “The Breakfast Club” and speaking with host Charlamagne tha God, her former protégé.
In February 2024, Williams’ team announced that she had been diagnosed with progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). She has been ordered to live in a wellness facility in New York City.
“I am not cognitively impaired but I feel like I am in prison,” Williams said during the call, per People. “I’m in this place with people who are in their 90s and their 80s and their 70s. …. These people, there’s something wrong with these people here on this floor. I am clearly not.”
She continued, “Listen, this system is broken, this system that I am in. This system has falsified a lot. For the last three years, I have been caught up in the system.”
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Williams also noted that she doesn’t have access to her money. The former host said she spends all her time watching TV and eating in bed.
“I can call you but you can’t call me,” Williams went on. “I don’t even know what kind of phone I have. I can’t sit on the phone and look at things and scroll through things. I can’t do that. I do not have a laptop. I do not have an iPad.”
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Williams’ niece, Alex Finnie, was on the call and added her thoughts. “[It’s] essentially what some people would call a luxury prison,” Finnie said of the accommodations. “It’s small. She has a bed, a chair, a TV, a bathroom, and she’s looking out one window at buildings across the street.”
The celeb also discussed restrictions on visitors, and not being allowed to leave the premises. Williams expressed skepticism about the medication she’s being given at the facility.
“Everybody is like a nursemaid so to speak,” she said. “They come in and give your pills and then they leave. I’ve had two pills all of my life. …There are seven pills, I have no idea what this pill is doing? I haven’t been to a pill person in a matter of a long time [to ask] ‘Excuse me doctor, can you tell me what this pill is for?’”
Williams became emotional when she spoke about not being able to see her father on his 94th birthday. She also feared retaliation after speaking with Charlamagne.
“My life is like, f***ed up,” she said. “What if they take my phone? I won’t be able to talk to anybody!”
Finnie urged fans to publicize the situation and use the “FreeWendy” hashtag on social media. This is similar to how fan pressure led to pop star Britney Spears’s release from her conservatorship in 2021.
Williams hosted “The Wendy Williams Show” from 2008 until 2021. She stepped down from hosting due to medical issues related to lymphedema and Graves’ disease, per Variety.