‘Where Is Wendy Williams?’ Doc Explains Guardianship, Isolation From Family

The last episode of the four-part Life time docudrama Where is Wendy Williams? presents a brand-new personality using previous daytime talk program host Wendy Williams’ sibling, Wanda, that, though originally reluctant, consented to belong of the movie one year after manufacturing started.

“It has been a long journey in terms of the experience for our family and for Wendy,” Wanda states in the docudrama.“I hope to come out of this letting people see the love that we have as a family together for each other as well as the love we have for Wendy, and to understand the journey we’ve been through that has not always been perfect. Everyone wanted the same thing, which is to see Wendy healthy and happy.”

Though Wanda does not show up onscreen up until component 4 of the docudrama collection, Williams, that is an exec manufacturer of the task, refers her sibling in episode one, which broadcast on Feb. 24. When inquired about reports that she’s still fighting drug abuse concerns, Williams informs manufacturers,“I love vodka and the problem is with Wanda; she’s my sister. I love Wanda, but she hates that I love alcohol.”

Wanda aids ground her family’s circumstances in trying to reclaim possession of Williams’ treatment from her court-appointed guardian, that has actually currently been determined as Sabrina Morrissey adhering to a Thursday lawful problem looking for to obstruct the collection, which was refuted. This likewise comes in the middle of the docudrama’s discovery of a cognitive condition that varies from the medical diagnosis of main modern aphasia and frontotemporal mental deterioration that was revealed by Williams’ group in a news release 2 days before the docudrama’s launch. The family’s problems concerning that has accessibility to Williams and the intents of those people likewise caps, as the minimal individual legal rights of the guardianship under which Williams has actually been positioned play out on display. (Williams likewise launched an uncommon declaration on Friday by means of her rep.)

Below are the most significant inquiries increased from components 3 and 4 of Where is Wendy Williams?

Williams’ family states she’s been identified with alcohol-induced mental deterioration

Partly 4 of the docudrama, Williams goes back to Miami, Florida, to go to with her family virtually a year after her last journey in the autumn of 2021. When a manufacturer asks Williams’ child, Kevin Seeker Jr., why his mama concerned remain with them throughout her previous check out, he discloses that physicians informed him she was dealing with alcohol-induced mental deterioration. “From taking her to appointments and things like that, I was able to really learn more about things going on with my mother internally,” he states.“They basically said that because she was drinking so much it was starting to affect her headspace and her brain.”

Williams’ niece, television support Alex Finnie, shares that she discovered her auntie’s medical diagnosis via her family one year later on in the autumn of 2022. “All I know is that it was dementia,” she explains in the doc.“You look back at little things and it’s a slow roll, right? It’s little things like, ‘When’s your birthday again?’ ‘What’s his name again?’ But after seeing my aunt and really spending time with her in the state where she’s in right now, I quickly realized that things were just not normal. It’s heartbreaking.”

Repeating the aspects that added to Williams’ boosted alcohol usage, as gone over partially one and 2 of the docudrama, Alex states,“When it’s come to my aunt’s dementia, there are three things that didn’t help her: divorce, the pandemic and then losing my grandmother.”

Williams can not make any type of choices without her guardian’s authorization

Though Williams’ guardianship has actually been placed as entirely economic, Morrissey lawfully has control over all facets of the media individuality’s life, consisting of if and when she can take a trip, where she lives and with whom she has get in touch with and when.

Near completion of component 4, Williams’ supervisor Will certainly Shelby, among couple of individuals that has accessibility to her, informs manufacturers she’s shared the need to someday relocate to Miami where her family lives. Asked by manufacturers whether that moving would certainly require to be accepted by the court, Shelby responds,“Everything with Wendy is a court decision, everything. She’s not making any decisions on her own. Everything has to be decided by the court.”

Target markets were offered a look right into just how much control Williams’ guardian has more than her upcomings and goings partially 3 of the docudrama when her press agent, Shawn Zanotti, flies Williams to Los Angeles in March of 2023 to meet NBC concerning going back to tv without Shelby or Morrissey’s understanding. NBC decreased to discuss the conference to manufacturers, however Shelby shared his unhappiness both with Williams and Zanotti, prior to informing manufacturers,“I don’t even know how the guardianship feels about this.”

Beeping out Morrissey’s name– as her identification had actually stayed personal in court-sealed records at the time of manufacturing– he takes place to state,“[Blank] texted me asking me, ‘Is Wendy in L.A.?’ I ignored her. I don’t even know what to tell her ‘cuz now she’s gonna look at me like, ‘How did you let Wendy go up to L.A.?’ So now, she’s not going to trust me. They don’t understand the position they put me in. I’m just pissed.”

Also prior to Williams was formally positioned under a court-ordered guardianship, her legal rights and those of her family began to be removed from them, Seeker Jr. states in the doc.

“My power of attorney was taken away from me when the court proceeding started,” he explains. “And then they tried to say that while the court case was going on that if we wanted to bring her to Florida, it’d be considered kidnapping.”

Williams’ family believes she’s being capitalized on

Zanotti was currently viewed as a suspicious number by Williams’ family, specifically by her niece that welcomes her coldly when she locates Zanotti at home with her auntie in New york city when she involves go to. Not long after, Alex excuses herself prior to informing manufacturers she does not wish to movie with Williams’ press agent.

“This is my aunt, and I don’t need her in the room. I’m not doing that. I don’t even know who this person is,” Alex states prior to breaking right into splits.“This is all very jarring. Like, what is going on?”

Alex determines to ask her auntie simply that after Zanotti reasons herself when her efforts to comfort Williams’ niece aren’t obtained. Alex is listened to whispering under her breath, “I don’t need your fake, using behind in the middle of my relationship,” prior to Zanotti leaves.

Alex after that transforms her interest to her auntie, whom she informs candidly, “I’m just trying to understand. Like, what you pay her and, she’s your friend?” When Williams responses in the affirmative, Alex tries to factor with her.

“I’ll be honest with you. It’s no secret that there have been random people around you getting money, getting paid, whatever the case may be. I’m just trying to figure out your friend that you’re saying is your friend that you’re also paying. It’s giving a little desperate energy. You are an A-list celebrity. You are bigger than this. You are better than this. You are smarter than this. You are stronger than this. The Aunt Wendy that I know, that has instilled in me how to navigate this crazy business that we’re in, this isn’t it,” Alex states prior to later on including,“Listen to the people in your life that are not taking a dime.”

Williams’ family has actually constantly wished to be her guardian

Partly 4, the Williams’ family makes it clear that they have actually constantly wished to supervise of her treatment and had assumptions that they would certainly as a matter of fact be.

“The decision to bring her to Florida was between us and the show,” Williams’ nephew Travis Finnie states of Williams’ browse through to Miami in 2021 in the doc.“It was a group decision. The decision to keep her in Florida, extended, was a family decision and that’s where the show and the family started to disagree and the financial advisor. They saw that she was down here for too long, and our priority wasn’t just to dust her up and then put her back on stage, it was to actually focus on long-term recovery, and that’s when they started fighting this.”

Still, after Williams was called back to New york city in April of 2022 for court process pertaining to prospective guardianship, her family thought she would certainly stay in their treatment.

“When the whole process started, all members of this family were contacted about Wendy and what we needed for her,” Wanda explains.“My feeling as her sister was that Wendy needs to have somebody with her 24 hours a day for the next few months. I was asked, would I consider being a guardian? And I said, ‘I don’t know what being a guardian involves.’ I was told that it involved taking some kind of class, and I said, ‘Yeah I’ll do it.’ I said, ‘Whatever I gotta do, I’ll be focused on Wendy’s health.’ And then all of a sudden, the wall came down and there was nothing.”

Williams’ family keeps that when she went back to New york city, points obtained gradually even worse, with her nephew claiming that as soon as when he flew to New york city to go to, Williams would certainly simply “sit in bed all day with bottles of vodka.”

“I think that the guardianship system is broken,” Wanda later on states in the episode.“If this is how it works, then it’s broken.”

Her comments emphasize comparable sensations Seeker Jr. shares in component 3 of the docudrama.

“I feel like the guardian has not done a good job of protecting my mom, and I feel like Will is a jeweler at the end of the day,” he states of her supervisor, Shelby.“I think he’s trying to do his best. At the same time, dealing with my mom is a very intense job to have that a lot of people can’t handle.”

Asked by manufacturers what his problems are if something drastic does not alter, Seeker Jr. confesses,“I’m afraid that she could die.”

When offered a last opportunity to establish the document directly concerning the court’s effects that her family had not been efficient in caring for Williams, Wanda informs manufacturers,“I don’t know what not capable means. You’ve had people in the family from the beginning saying that we would take responsibility with regard to guardianship and personal needs to ensure that she was healthy and taken care of.”

Highlighting her family’s pure intents, Wanda includes,“I’m not talking about her money. You put money over here. They’re people in this family that care more about the well-being of my sister than anyone. All I want is for my sister to be healthy.”

Williams’ location are presently unidentified by her family

As the docudrama’s title foreshadows, the concern of where Williams is presently is one her family is not able to respond to.

“I don’t know the exact location of where she is, but I know that she is in an environment that is helping her to heal, emotionally, psychologically and physically,” Wanda states when penetrated by manufacturers.“That’s what I hope happens when she gets home.”

Asked where home is, she confesses,“I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on with the apartments in New York.”

In among the last scenes in the docudrama, the house which Williams was displayed in throughout the totality of the insulation is seen uninhabited. When the manufacturers, that quit recording in April of 2023 in the middle of problems for Williams’ wellness, ask Alex if she realized that her auntie’s house was cleaned and sell while she remained in a health center, she admits that she had not been. Wanda likewise states that she hasn’t had call with Williams’ guardian in over a year which accessibility to her sibling is occasional.

“I communicated with her in July,” she states.“She will call me and then all of a sudden there is no communication.” [Finnie also spoke about this on The View last week.]

The family is enthusiastic concerning her diagnosis, however. Their understanding on her health and wellness relatively lines up with the declaration that was launched by her group on Thursday, in which they asserted,“Wendy is still able to do many things for herself. Most importantly she maintains her trademark sense of humor and is receiving the care she requires to make sure she is protected and that her needs are addressed.”

Shelby, at the end of the docudrama, states that Williams is presently sober and returning to her old self, which Wanda shows up to have actually seen proof of via phone interaction.

“Wendy’s in a more positive place and in a stronger place than she was a year ago,” she states in the doc. “It’s almost like I’m talking to Wendy from years ago. It really is. She said, ‘Family is very important, Wanda. I realize that I need to be with my family. I’m ready to move on.’ “Her resilience is unparalleled, it’s unmatched,” Wanda includes via splits.“I know people go through a lot of stuff every day. She has withstood attack after attack after attack. She is my hero because even now with what she’s going through, to be able to withstand it and still come back, to still have conversations, that takes a special person. So she will always be my hero. I will do whatever has to be done to help her be healthy.”

Completion title card for the collection states that, at the time the docudrama was finished, Williams’ family was still not able to see her personally. Including that, per New York City State Mental Health Legislation, Write-up 81.31, the court needs to carry out an evaluation of her guardianship annually.

Check out the most significant discoveries from evening among Where Is Wendy Williams?