The family of former talk show host Wendy Williams has voiced their displeasure with the 59-year-old’s court-appointed guardianship.
Williams has been under guardianship since 2022 after leaving her role as the host of her eponymous show. She is now currently residing in an undisclosed facility that treats cognitive issues after she had a breakdown last year.
Wendy Williams’ Family Hopes She Becomes ‘Strong Enough’ To Speak For Herself
It’s been almost two years since Williams was put under the care of a court-appointed legal guardian, as she was deemed susceptible to financial exploitation due to her numerous cognitive issues and health problems.
The former “Wendy Williams Show” host family is now speaking out against the guardianship, saying that a system that has extensively restricted their access to her and has only seemed to worsen her well-being is “broken.”
“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, asked in an interview with People magazine.
She added, “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.”
There Are Numerous Unanswered ‘Questions’ About Wendy Williams’ Guardianship
Williams’ family concerns were also shared by executive producer Mark Ford, who is helming the TV personality’s documentary “Where Is Wendy Williams?”
“Just because you’re under a guardianship doesn’t mean that you’re getting 24/7 care,” Ford said. “When we got to know Wendy’s family, it was clear to us this was a nice family, and the question remained in our minds: Why is the family not able to be a part of Wendy’s life? Why is the family not able to serve as her guardian? I still don’t fully have those answers.”
Ford also revealed that several attempts by his crew to get in touch with Williams’ guardian have proved futile, leaving them unable to ask cogent questions about their star character’s well-being.
He added, “So, we weren’t able to really ask the questions that we would’ve loved to have asked, like, ‘What’s going on here on a daily basis? And why is there no food in Wendy’s apartment, for example?’ Simple things that we were able to see just because we were there so often.”
Will Wendy Williams Ever Be Free Of Her Guardianship?
The documentary, set to debut in two parts later this month, is believed to hint that Williams wants to break free from her guardianship. However, this possibility looks bleak, according to investigative journalist Diane Dimond.
“I frankly worry that Wendy will never get out of guardianship because when a judge establishes a guardianship, it is most often for life,” she said.
The author of the book We’re Here to Help: When Guardianship Goes Wrong also claimed that the government only seems to care about “putting people who’ve got some money in guardianships,” just like Williams.
She also revealed that her investigations over almost a decade have shown that “judges are overlooking family members and friends” to opt for “profit appointees” who are “complete strangers” to the wards.
The Former Talk Show Host Is Currently In A Facility To Treat Cognitive Issues
As to Williams’ current location, she is living in a facility for cognition issues after she had a breakdown last year in April.
According to Wanda, Williams is now in “a healing place emotionally” and is no longer the out-of-sorts person her upcoming documentary portrays.
“I don’t know what is working, but I do know that when she did reach out to me, it was a person who is remarkably different than what we see in that documentary,” Wanda added, per People.
Willams’ niece, Alex Finnie, also claimed that her aunt is making a remarkable recovery, and she hasn’t heard her sound this good in years.
She continued, “To hear my aunt now in terms of just how clear she is, just how focused she is on the importance of family and the reality in terms of facing and understanding where she’s at physically and mentally and emotionally, it is like a 180.”