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Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Wendy Williams denies she's incapacitated in 'The View' interview. What she says about her guardianship, hospitalization, alcohol use.
Wendy Williams was back on TV talking again — but about her guardianship, not pop culture. The former TV host, who was put into a guardianship in 2022, called into The View on March 14 to discuss her hospitalization for cognitive testing this week. Williams insisted she's not incapacitated and pleaded for her guardian and the judge in her court-ordered guardianship to 'get off my neck.' Williams, who's living on the memory care floor of a senior living facility in New York City amid her frontotemporal dementia diagnosis, also told the co-hosts she's currently 'alcohol-free' but admitted to breaking her sobriety last year. Here's what Williams said on the talk show and in other interviews this week about the guardianship. Williams, joined by health care advocate Ginalisa Monterroso of Connect Care Advisory Group, insisted her mental abilities are strong, proven by acing cognitive testing conducted at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. 'It was my choice to get an independent evaluation on my incapacitation, which — I don't have," Williams said on The View. 'How dare they say I have incapacitation. I do not!' She railed against her court-appointed guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, and the judge in her case after Sunny Hostin read a statement from Morrissey's attorney that said Williams is 'legally incapacitated,' hasn't been kept from her family and is 'receiving excellent medical care.' 'I'm a college-educated woman. I'm a globally international person from radio to television. I've been doing important things all of my life,' Williams said. 'I need them to … get off my neck.' Williams said she wants 'to get out' of the guardianship. 'It's been over three years, and it's time for my money and my life to get back to status quo,' she said. Until then, she wants Morrissey replaced, 'I need a new guardian.' In the 2024 Lifetime docuseries Where Is Wendy Williams?, the star's alcohol use was concerning to viewers and filmmakers, and her son, Kevin Hunter Jr., said on camera that Williams's doctors diagnosed her with 'alcohol-induced dementia' because she had been 'drinking so much.' She also has a past history of cocaine addiction. Asked about her current relationship with alcohol and drugs, Williams said the 'relationship is fine,' and she can 'easily' be 'alcohol-free for the rest of my life.' She did admit to drinking alcohol on her birthday last year. 'But I must admit to you that when I got from Connecticut to New York, it was my birthday, July 18, and yes, I celebrated, you know what I'm saying?' she said. 'But no more, no more alcohol, thank you.' On the floor where her memory care unit is, Williams said, 'The people are 90 and 80 and 70. I'm 60." She stays 'in the bedroom the majority of the time' and can't have visitors. She called being in the hospital this week a 'breath of fresh air.' 'I wish I was allowed to actually put on nice clothing and come see you in person, but I cannot,' she told the co-hosts. 'All of my clothing, all of my sneakers, all of my handbags, everything [is] in storage.' The NYPD conducted a welfare check on Williams on March 10 and took her by ambulance to the hospital. Williams called into Good Day New York on March 11 from the hospital to report that she underwent a cognitive evaluation and 'passed with flying colors.' Williams, who was again on the line with Monterroso, said it was her idea to be 'independently tested,' noting, 'Getting out of [this] guardianship … is my No. 1 most important thing.' The same day, Williams called the radio show The Breakfast Club, and Monterroso detailed how the welfare check went down. Monterroso said she called authorities to report that Williams was 'isolated' and needed help. Multiple officers responded and came to Williams's room, where Monterroso was on the phone. 'I pleaded with the police, as if Wendy was my child, please, you need to get her off this floor. She is confined,' said Monterroso. Williams added, 'I told [police], 'I am not incapacitated' … as I've been accused, and the floor that I live on is the memory unit — the people who live there don't remember anything, unlike me. Like, why am I here? What is going on? It's a cry for help.' Williams said she got a 10 out of 10 on her cognitive test at the hospital. Monterroso said she actually passed two cognitive tests. Williams also said that while she was hospitalized, she was told that Morrissey was there outside her room, but the guardian didn't come in to talk to her. Monterroso claimed Morrissey tried to prevent some of the independent testing, but Williams's personal attorney was present and authorized it, so that's why it was done. Morrissey has not responded to Yahoo Entertainment's requests for comment.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Yahoo
Wendy Williams Explains Removal From Assisted Living Facility for Hospital Evaluation, Insists She's 'Not Incapacitated'
Wendy Williams called in to New York morning radio show The Breakfast Club on Tuesday and explained what happened the day before when it was reported that she was removed from the assisted living facility where she's currently residing and taken to a New York hospital for evaluation. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed with the NYPD that 'it responded to a welfare check' at the location of Williams' assisted living facility. More from The Hollywood Reporter Wendy Williams Speaks Out Against Guardianship: "I Feel Like I'm in Prison" Wendy Williams' Team Asks Court for All Proceeds From Lifetime Docuseries to Fund Medical Care Bill Pullman Reveals He Almost Passed on 'Murdaugh Murders' Williams, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2023, has been residing at an assisted living facility since 2023. In November 2024, legal documents filed by court-appointed caregiver Sabrina Morrissey described her as 'cognitively impaired, permanently disabled and legally incapacitated.' Williams has since spoken out against her guardianship, calling in to The Breakfast Club in January, where she said she's 'not cognitively impaired' but feels as though she's 'in prison.' On Tuesday, Williams called in to The Breakfast Club with Ginalisa Monterroso from Connect Care Advisory Group, which assists older patients in navigating health care situations. 'I told them, 'I am not incapacitated,'' Williams said of her talk with the NYPD officers. 'You know, as I've been accused, and the floor that I live on is the memory unit — the people who live there don't remember anything, unlike me. Like, why am I here? What is going on? It's a cry for help.' Monterroso explained that she had sent a letter recently to Adult Protective Services formally requesting an investigation into 'troubling circumstances' surrounding Williams' care. On Tuesday's show, Monterroso explained to radio host Charlamagne tha God how she got the NYPD to arrive and take WIlliams out of the facility. 'Yesterday morning, during our morning call, I told Wendy, 'We will be calling the police and we will be speaking to police, and we were telling them that you are isolated.' We have a guardian telling the whole building and the world she's incapacitated.' With the police in Williams room, Monterroso requested that Williams have an independent medical evaluation. The facility pushed back on this, both Williams and Monterroso told the radio hosts, saying to her that testing could be conducted on the premises. After Monterroso insisted, NYPD officers eventually called an ambulance to take Williams away from the building. At that point, Monterroso called WIlliams' lawyer, who drove from Long Island to the New York hospital after being told by her that the former daytime host is 'being held captive.' Williams remained in the hospital on Tuesday as she called into the morning show as she and Monterroso explained how a tense showdown came over a cognitive test for Williams between Morrissey, who had also arrived at the hospital, and Williams' lawyer. 'There was a little back and forth as to whether [Morrissey] was going to allow Wendy to get evaluated,' Monterroso explained. 'The doctor saw there was a difference between the guardian's opinion and her lawyer's opinion, and had to go to his legal department from the hospital to clear it.' The tests, which indicate competency that a person is able to make decisions, were passed with flying colors, Monterroso and Willians said: 10 out of 10 questions answered correctly. Williams' fate in terms of housing and what happens next with her conservatorship are still unresolved. The APS and the NYPD are now currently investigating Williams' situation. Calls placed Tuesday to Morrissey and Monterroso by The Hollywood Reporter were not immediately returned. On Tuesday, Monterroso had some words for Morrissey as Williams continues her battle. 'I call it an old Jedi mind game,' she said. 'She really just wanted the world to believe that Wendy was incapacitated. She had her locked up. Yeah, she gave her a phone where she can receive calls. And her big mistake was that she didn't realize who Wendy Williams was. That's right, she has a platform like Breakfast Club, and she's very well connected. And there are connected, and there are people who will back her up.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Highest-Profile Harris Endorsements: Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen and More Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2024: Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, Olivia Rodrigo and More
