Wendy Williams Shares Aphasia and Dementia Diagnosis Ahead of Doc Release

Jackie Strause
·5 min read
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Wendy Williams has gone public with her diagnosis two days ahead of the release of what has promised to be a revealing Lifetime docuseries centered on the former talk show host.

A press release sent out Thursday claiming to be on behalf of Williams and her care team, shares that, in 2023, after undergoing a battery of medical tests, Williams was officially diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

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Aphasia, a condition that affects the ability to understand or express speech, and frontotemporal dementia, a progressive disorder impacting behavior and cognitive functions, “have already presented significant hurdles in Wendy’s life,” reads the statement. Bruce Willis recently went public with his frontotemporal dementia diagnosis.

“As Wendy’s fans are aware, in the past she has been open with the public about her medical struggles with Graves’ Disease and Lymphedema as well as other significant challenges related to her health,” the statement continues. “Over the past few years, questions have been raised at times about Wendy’s ability to process information and many have speculated about Wendy’s condition, particularly when she began to lose words, act erratically at times and have difficulty understanding financial transactions.”

The statement credits the care team at Weill Cornell Medicine, noting that “receiving a diagnosis has enabled Wendy to receive the medical care she requires.”

The news was sent out by Jennifer Hanley Ridge Hill Group one day after a People cover story revealed that Williams is currently living inside a facility under the financial control of a court-appointed guardian, as her family has been essentially shut out of her life. Her sister, Wanda Williams, and niece Alex Finnie, shared that they cannot reach Williams directly, she can only call them. Williams is only reachable by her guardian, whose identity is not revealed in the upcoming Lifetime doc, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

When reached by THR following the press release on William’s diagnosis, Lifetime said Williams’ family had no comment and that they were not aware of the origins of the statement or that it was being released Thursday.

On Feb. 24, Lifetime is set to debut Where Is Wendy Williams?, a two-night docuseries that began filming Williams following the June 2022 cancellation of her hit daytime talk show. They stopped filming Williams when she checked into the facility in April 2023. She remains a credited executive producer on the project, as she has a three-picture deal with Lifetime.

Williams had been remarkably candid as she struggled with her health and addictions over the years, but her condition in the final days of her talk show and after remained a mystery. Her manager Will Selby says in the four-part documentary, which airs Feb. 25, that she has “cognitive issues.” Her son, Kevin Hunter Jr., says in the film that Williams’ issues have been linked to her alcoholism by physicians.

When a producer asks Hunter Jr. why his mom came to stay with him and his family in Miami in the fall of 2021, he reveals that doctors told him she was suffering from alcohol-induced dementia, THR has confirmed. “From taking her to appointments and things like that, I was able to really learn more about things going on with my mother internally,” Hunter Jr. says in the film. “They basically said that because she was drinking so much it was starting to affect her headspace and her brain.”

Williams’ niece, TV anchor Finnie, shares she found out about her aunt’s diagnosis through her family one year later in the fall of 2022. “All I know is that it was dementia,” she says 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.”

In the doc, Williams’ family cites the financial guardianship that was granted in 2022 as a turning point to losing access to their family member, as they say it was pushed through the legal system without input from the family and the court records were sealed. “All I know is that Wendy and her team walked into the courtroom one way, and they walked out, and the family is completely excluded,” Wanda told People.

In the release, the statement said Williams decided to share her diagnosis to combat stigma and raise awareness.

“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. She is appreciative of the many kind thoughts and good wishes being sent her way,” the statement concluded.

Finnie appeared on The View on Wednesday shortly before the diagnosis was made public. Co-host Sunny Hostin said that after watching the four-part documentary, she relates the situation to the Britney Spears conservatorship case. “All of a sudden, there was just this wall that went down and the family was blocked out. It was in April 2022 and the contact from that point on has been so limited,” said Finnie of her aunt being under legal guardianship, and the guardian being appointed without the family having say. After a recent four-hour conversation, after not speaking for months, Finnie said Williams now “sounds really good” and spoke about “the possibility of getting back to work.”

Finnie also pushed back on claims that Williams is being exploited by the family with the doc. “I was not paid. Sitting here today, I haven’t taken a dime. I’m not getting paid off of this. This is just literally a labor of love and fighting for your family,” she said of aiming to expose the guardianship.

Brande Victorian contributed to this report.

Feb. 22, 11 a.m. This story has been updated with The View segment.

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