Wendy Williams has been dealt a setback in the quest to end her court-appointed guardianship.
The former talk show host recently underwent a medical evaluation, involving “a significant number of tests, both medical and neuropsychological,” according to legal documents obtained by People on Tuesday, Aug. 12.
The documents said the tests included scans and brain imaging, leading doctors to determine Williams should be re-diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and aphasia.
Aphasia is a condition affecting speech, writing and speaking, according to the Mayo Clinic. Frontotemporal dementia is a progressive disorder impacting behavior and cognitive functions.
Related: Guardianship Judge Leaves Wendy Williams ‘Hurt’ With Comment About Her Future
In response to the new evaluation, an attorney for Williams’ guardian Sabrina Morrissey requested the court continue the guardianship for at least another three months, until Nov. 5, 2025.
The former Wendy Williams Show host’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, is questioning the test results.
On Wednesday, Tacopina told TMZ, the diagnosis is “false,” adding that details about the tests are “being spread by a party with a vested interest in keeping Wendy trapped under this excessive and restrictive guardianship.”
Initial Diagnosis
Williams, 61, was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia in 2023, her caregivers said. But they did not publicly announce the diagnosis until Feb. 22, 2024, two days before Lifetime aired a documentary series titled Where is Wendy Williams?
The film was shocking, and showed Williams spending her days in bed, drinking vodka after her daytime talk show was canceled in 2022. Williams did not appear on a single episode of the final season of the talk show because of health problems.
Lifetime said the docuseries was intended to document her comeback after her talk show ended, but the focus changed when the crew filmed her “in the throes of alcohol addiction.” The movie crew stopped filming in April 2023, when Williams entered a treatment facility.
Williams’ guardian filed for a restraining order to prevent Lifetime’s parent company A&E Networks from releasing the film, but failed and it premiered as scheduled on Feb. 24, 2024. The guardian later sued A&E Networks and the film’s producers. They responded by filing a countersuit.
At some point after returning from the treatment facility, Williams moved into an assisted living building.
Declared Incapacitated
In November 2024, attorneys for Williams’ guardian filed court papers saying the former TV host was “cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated.”
Williams’ family hit back and said she was doing much better than the guardian wanted the public to know.
“She is more clear now than she’s ever been throughout the guardianship, which is a problem for some,” a family insider said at the time.
Earlier this year, Williams did a round of high-profile interviews on The View, TMZ, Don Lemon’s YouTube Show, and “The Breakfast Club,” to refute claims that she was “incapacitated.”
Media Blitz
Williams called into “The Breakfast Club” and spoke with Charlamagne tha God, with whom she worked early in her career. During the January 2025 telephone interview, Williams said she felt like she was “in prison.”
She explained that her apartment is on a floor in the assisted living building for residents with “memory care” issues. A security key is required to access the floor, and Williams said she’s not allowed to go outside without prior consent.
“I feel like I’m in prison,” she said. Williams broke down in tears during the interview and insisted, “I am not cognitively impaired.”
In February, she appeared in the documentary TMZ Presents: Saving Wendy and said: “I want my rights back, I want my freedom back!”
She also revealed that her son Kevin Hunter Jr.’s lavish spending prompted Wells Fargo to go to the courts, triggering her guardianship ordeal.
“He overstepped his boundaries and he was inappropriately using my money without telling me crap about it,” Williams told TMZ’s Harvey Levin.
Levin brought up an incident where Kevin Jr. told his mother he was going to pay $1,500 to rent a boat for his birthday, instead he spent $113,000. Kevin blamed Wells Fargo, claiming the bank wanted that for him, which Levin said didn’t make any sense and Williams agreed.
In March, Williams threw a piece of paper from her 5th-floor apartment down to the paparazzi outside that read, “Help! Wendy!!” Someone notified authorities and several outlets published pictures and video of police officers arriving at the building to do a wellness check.
Williams was recorded walking outside, surrounded by NYPD officers. She got into a waiting ambulance and was taken to Lennox Hill Hospital for an evaluation.
On March 10, TMZ reported Williams was given a “capacity test” by a psychiatrist at the hospital, who declared her “mental capacity is fully intact.” Williams “scored 10 out of 10” on the test, the outlet said it was told by sources.
The next day, Williams spoke by phone with the hosts of The View and said, “I went to the hospital. I was having a little angina.”
She confirmed she was given the “capacity test” by a mental health professional and said she was fine.
“How dare they say I have incapacitations! I do not,” Williams said.
How Guardianship Began
In 2022, Wells Fargo filed a petition with a New York state court to have Williams placed under guardianship amid concerns that she was a “victim of undue influence and financial exploitation.”
At the time, the multi-millionaire was locked out of her accounts. She criticized her financial advisor, Lori Schiller. Williams also blamed her former manager Bernie Young and accused him of using her credit card to hire an attorney to file a legal petition against her.
The issues of Williams’ mental health and financial issues gained more attention when the 2024 Lifetime docuseries aired.
Williams was surrounded by handlers and staff in the film as a camera crew recorded her daily life, but there was no food in her home. She cried, said she was depressed, and felt lonely because her family members lived in Florida.
Williams said she hadn’t seen her son Kevin Jr., who was 23 at the time, in eight months. “I love vodka,” Williams said, adding that her son “hates liquor,” and her sister “hates that I love alcohol.”
Her family members were interviewed in Florida.
Her nephew Travis revealed Williams was found unresponsive and nearly died from alcohol poisoning during COVID lockdowns in May 2020.
“Kevin was her medical proxy and called an ambulance,” Travis said before revealing Williams needed “three blood transfusions” to save her life.
Kevin Jr. revealed he took his mom in for medical testing in 2021, and she was diagnosed with alcohol-induced dementia.
In another part of the film, a male employee retrieved a nearly-empty alcohol bottle from Williams’ bedroom and asked, “Did you have a liquid lunch?”
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