Wendy Williams Speaks Out: ‘I Am Not Cognitively Impaired’

Wendy Williams is speaking out against her guardianship and insisting she is not cognitively impaired.

In February 2024, a press release from the Ridge Hill Group claimed Wendy is suffering from primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia, the same medical condition as Bruce Willis.

Shortly after, Lifetime aired a documentary called “Where Is Wendy Williams?,” which shed light on her health issues.

The former talk show host and her niece Alex called into “The Breakfast Club” on Thursday and spoke with DJ Envy, Charlamagne Tha God and Jess Hilarious about her conservatorship.

“I am not cognitively impaired, you know what I’m saying?” Wendy said. “But I feel like I’m in prison.”

Wendy said of the NYC care facility where she lives, “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.”

Explaining her day-to-day life, Williams shared, “I watch TV. I listen to the radio. I watch the window. I sit here, and my life goes by.” She later added that she doesn’t have a smartphone, laptop or ipad.

Alex added, “She’s there in New York in this place, what some would call a ‘luxury prison’… it is small, she has a bed, a chair, a TV, a bathroom and she’s looking out one window at buildings across the street.”

Describing the security, Wendy said, “You have to get keys to unlock the door to press the elevator to go downstairs.”

Alex added, “She can call us, we can’t call her. That has been the reality since 2023. That room that she’s sitting in, she’s there every day all hours of the day… I went to New York in October to visit her and the level of security and the level of questions… it was absolutely just horrible.”

For her birthday, Alex tried to visit, but there was a “lockdown on that.” 

Williams said, “For the last three birthdays, I’ve spent my birthday by myself… this is what is called emotional abuse.”

Wendy doesn’t even have her cats to keep her company. They were taken away at one point, and she recently learned, “My cats are gone everybody, and I did not know that.”

Williams broke down in tears talking about how she may not be able to travel to Miami to see her dad for his 94^th birthday. “I am exhausted thinking about what if I can’t see my dad for his birthday, at 94, the day after that is not promised,” she said through sobs.

Alex said, “She wants to be here for his birthday and the fact that they are playing games about my grandfather being able to see his daughter and my aunt being able to see his daughter… that his absolutely sickening.”

By doing the interview, Wendy was worried she might lose contact with the outside world. “What if they take my phone?” she wondered through tears. “I won’t be able to talk to anybody.”

Alex added, “She could get moved and we may not even know where she is. That was the reality of where she was during the documentary. We weren’t permitted to go see her.”

As for how fans can help, Alex shared, “There is the hashtag #FreeWendy, a Change.org petition as well, and also making as much noise as possible… whatever we have to do make sure my aunt is in a place where she is living her life in dignity.”

She went on, “This is still a legal situation so there are things that my aunt can’t talk about… my aunt sounds great we are talking to her, this does not match an incapacitated person… she is being held and she is being punished for whatever reason other people are coming up with as to why she has to be kept in this position… give her the freedoms she deserves.”

Charlamagne added that Wendy wants to be released from her conservatorship and she wants to be in Miami with her family.

On a separate note, Wendy commented on the sex trafficking and racketeering charges against Diddy, which he denies.

“Diddy will go to prison for life, people,” Wendy said. “You don’t know things that I knew about Diddy back in the day. And you know what? It’s about time. Diddy done.”

Back in November, an attorney for Wendy’s guardian Sabrina Morrissey sent a memo to a judge regarding Wendy’s mental health.

According to Page Six, it stated, “[Wendy Williams Hunter], an acclaimed entertainer who, tragically, has been afflicted by early-onset dementia and, as a result, has become cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated.”

The memo was tied to Morrissey’s lawsuit against A+E Networks over the Lifetime doc “Where Is Wendy Williams?” A+E Networks has denied any wrongdoing.