Wendy Williams Documentary Producers Say It Would’ve Been Nixed If They Knew About Her Dementia
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Producers for the Where Is Wendy Williams? documentary have revealed that they would’ve ceased production if they were made aware of her dementia prior to filming.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, producer Mark Ford and executive producer Erica Hanson opened up about the challenges they faced while filming the doc (streaming here).
“At a certain point, we were more worried about what would happen if we stopped filming than if we continued,” Ford told the outlet.
He added, “We tried to be as transparent as possible, and the making of the film is as much a story in some ways as Wendy’s story itself. And that’s why we intentionally left a lot of the questions in — we wanted people to understand the journey of the filmmakers and how upsetting it was for all of us in certain instances and also how outrageous in some ways the situations were […] But, of course, if we had known that Wendy had dementia going into it, no one would’ve rolled a camera.”
Regarding the documentary itself, Ford lated noted, “It was supposed to follow her journey back into her career doing a podcast. We thought it was a great idea, and we were hopeful that Wendy’s story would be redeeming and we’d be able to document this journey. But as we filmed, it became evident that this wasn’t really going to be a career comeback story, that this was going to be a deeper story, and that there was something ultimately disturbing going on in Wendy’s life.”
The four-part series premiered on Lifetime on Feb. 24 and spotlighted a haunting look into the radio and television icon’s life, including her struggles with alcoholism.
Hanson recalled, “You just follow your instinct, and it was a sensitive, complex situation of what felt right and what felt wrong. And then there were times where Wendy made it clear when she was done for the day.”
She revealed, “We were constantly struggling with that, because there were moments that were painful and very emotional. And I’d also point out that a lot of people on our little team had been touched in their own worlds by dementia and addiction, so everyone from the field to post had this deep sense of caring and a great sense of moral responsibility. And there were times where we really felt like if we stopped, what would happen? Would she just continue?”
Just days prior to the documentary’s premiere, Williams’ team confirmed that she’d been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia.
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