Wendy Williams says she feels like she's living in a prison while under a conservatorship
On Thursday morning, January 16, the legendary talk show host called into The Breakfast Club with her niece Alex Finnie and bluntly said her "life is f**ked up." Williams is under 24-hour surveillance at a care facility in New York City. She can call family and friends, but they cannot call or visit whenever they want due to her situation. Her guardian Sabrina Morrissey recently claimed Williams has "become cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated" due to early onset dementia. However, Wendy and her niece that's not true.
"Do I seem that way?" Williams told Charlamagne. “I am not cognitively impaired, you know what I’m saying? But I feel like I’m in prison,” she explained. “I’m in this place where the people are in their 90s and their 80s and their 70s … There’s something wrong with these people here on this floor.”
Wendy Williams was placed under a conservatorship and assigned a guardian who oversees her health and financial decisions in 2022. The famed talk show host was diagnosed with aphasia and dementia the following year. Fans got a glimpse into her life under the guardianship in Lifetime's Where Is Wendy Williams? docuseries. Morrissey filed a lawsuit last year to try and stop the release of the documentary.
During the interview, Williams and Finnie described the conditions she's been living under. She currently lives in a small apartment with only a bed, a chair, a large TV, a bathroom, and one window that she looks out each day. She needs a key to unlock her front door and press the elevator to get downstairs. The level of security that family and friends have to go through just to visit her is "horrible" according to both Finnie and Loren Lorosa, who also tried to see Williams. The talk show host also said she's spent the past three birthdays alone and claimed she's suffered from "emotional abuse."
"This system is broken," Williams said. "This system has falsified a lot ... Look for the last three years, I have been caught up in the system."
"I feel like I'm in prison," she added. "I'm definitely isolated and to talk to these people who live here .. that is not my cup of tea. They're good people but I keep the door closed. I watch TV. I listen to radio. I look out the window and sit here while my life goes by."
Wendy Williams and her family know there may be risks involved with speaking out against her conservatorship, but they're willing to face the consequences because there's nothing else she can do. She wants to leave New York and relocate to Florida where her family resides, but can't right now due to her situation. She was recently allowed to fly down to Miami and watch her son graduate from college. Williams remained strong throughout the interview but reached an emotional breaking point when she and her niece discussed the possibility of missing her father's 94th birthday in Miami.
"I'm exhausted thinking about, 'What if I can't see my dad for his birthday?'" Williams said before she burst into tears. "At 94, you know the day after that it's not promised. It's not promised."
Williams' family has launched a GoFundMe to raise funds for legal representation to help free her from the guardianship, which you can donate to now. Watch the entire interview below.