Wendy Williams, the former talk show host who dominated daytime television for over a decade, is now living in an assisted living facility under court-ordered guardianship while battling frontotemporal dementia and aphasia. Diagnosed in 2023, Williams has spent the past two years fighting to regain control of her life, claiming she’s not cognitively impaired while medical evaluations reportedly confirm her diagnosis. The 61-year-old media personality, who celebrated her July 2025 birthday, declared her only wish was freedom from guardianship, which represents a growing controversy about elder care and legal control.
Who Is Wendy Williams?
Before health issues dominated headlines, Williams built a reputation as one of broadcasting’s most fearless personalities. She started in radio during the 1990s, working at stations like Hot 97 and WBLS in New York City, where her confrontational interview style and celebrity gossip earned her the shock jock label. Her radio success led to induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2009.
The Wendy Williams Show launched in 2008 and ran until 2022, making her a household name through her “Hot Topics” segment. She dissected celebrity news with brutal honesty, asked uncomfortable questions, and never apologized for her opinions. Her signature purple chair, catchphrases like “How you doin’?” and her willingness to discuss her own struggles with addiction and marriage problems created a loyal audience that watched her navigate public divorces, health scares, and personal dramas in real time.
Williams authored multiple books, launched fashion and wig lines, and became one of daytime television’s highest-paid hosts. Her influence extended beyond entertainment into cultural conversations about body image, relationships, and Black women in media.
Wendy Williams’ Health Journey: From Graves’ Disease to Dementia
Williams’ health problems didn’t appear overnight. She publicly battled Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disorder affecting the thyroid, and lymphedema, which causes painful swelling in the limbs. Both conditions forced her to take breaks from her show, but she always returned.
The more serious decline began around 2021. Production of The Wendy Williams Show concluded in 2022 due to her ongoing health issues. By 2023, doctors diagnosed her with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia.
The Multiple Diagnoses Explained
Primary progressive aphasia destroys your ability to communicate. You forget words, struggle to speak clearly, and eventually lose language comprehension entirely. Frontotemporal dementia, one of the most common forms of dementia for people under 60, attacks the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, affecting personality, behavior, and decision-making.
These aren’t conditions that improve. They progress, often rapidly.
In August 2025, cognitive tests reportedly confirmed Williams still has frontotemporal dementia and aphasia, supporting her original 2023 diagnosis. Williams disputes this, telling The View in March 2025 that she got an independent evaluation showing she doesn’t have incapacitation.
How Alcohol Affected Her Cognitive Decline
Williams openly discussed her decades-long battle with cocaine and alcohol addiction. She achieved sobriety multiple times but relapsed, particularly during stressful periods like her 2019 divorce from Kevin Hunter.
Persistent alcohol use can result in irreversible neurodegenerative damage. Her son Kevin Hunter Jr. indicated that struggles with alcohol addiction impacted her mental state, contributing to doctors diagnosing her with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. Whether alcohol caused or accelerated her dementia remains unclear, but the connection between substance abuse and cognitive decline is well-documented.
Williams stated in March 2025 that she is “easily going on with my life alcohol free”, though the damage may already be permanent.
The Guardianship Controversy: What Actually Happened
Guardianship strips away your legal rights. Someone else makes your medical decisions, controls your money, decides where you live, and determines who you can see. Courts grant guardianships when they believe someone can’t manage their own affairs due to incapacity.
Williams was placed under court-ordered guardianship in 2022 after her Wells Fargo financial manager raised concerns about her health and alleged her finances were being mismanaged. The bank froze her accounts, triggering a legal process that ended with attorney Sabrina Morrissey appointed as her guardian.
Williams’ health advocate claims she requested guardianship without realizing how strict it would be, thinking the court would assign someone to manage her money while she remained independent. Instead, she lost control of her entire life.
In November 2024, legal documents filed by Morrissey described Williams as “cognitively impaired, permanently disabled, and legally incapacitated”. Williams and her family vehemently disagree.
Where Is Wendy Williams Living in 2025?
Williams resides at The Coterie in Hudson Yards, a luxury assisted living facility charging $15,000 per month. While upscale compared to standard care homes, Williams calls it a “luxury prison.”
She describes high-security conditions where she cannot have her own phone, can only make outgoing calls, needs approval for almost any activity, and was separated from her cats, Chit Chat and My Way, without her knowledge. Her niece, Alex Finni, said Williams doesn’t receive adequate sunlight or time outside the facility, and family members weren’t allowed to see her during filming of her documentary.
During her March 2025 View appearance, Williams explained she’s in the memory unit for people with memory difficulty, saying, “Look, I don’t belong here at all. This is ridiculous”.
Public sightings paint a different picture than the confined patient her guardian describes. In July 2025, Williams celebrated her 61st birthday at Delmonico’s steakhouse in New York City, dressed elegantly and accompanied by two attorneys and her former executive producer. She was spotted at Columbia University in July 2025, looking healthy alongside her designer friend Mel Maxi. She attended her son’s graduation in Miami in December 2024.
These appearances fuel her argument that she doesn’t need guardianship.
Her Fight for Freedom: Legal Battles and Public Pleas
Williams refuses to accept her situation quietly. In January 2025, she called into The Breakfast Club radio show to speak about the guardianship, describing it as “emotional abuse” and comparing it to prison. Her niece, Alex Finnie, retained an attorney in January 2025 to petition the court, addressing all issues related to the guardianship.
A GoFundMe campaign titled “Support Wendy Williams’ Fight for Independence” aims to raise $50,000 for legal expenses and court costs, with over $42,000 raised by late January 2025. The #FreeWendy movement gained traction on social media, with supporters arguing she appears lucid in public appearances.
In June 2025, Williams’ ex-husband, Kevin Hunter, filed a lawsuit on behalf of Williams against the judge in her case and her legal guardian, citing abuse, neglect, and fraud. Hunter, who managed Williams during her career and whose infidelity contributed to their divorce, now positions himself as an advocate for her freedom.
Williams’ guardian requested another comprehensive evaluation to assess her mental capacity after Williams made media appearances claiming she isn’t incapacitated, and the judge granted this request in early March 2025. Those results, reported in August 2025, allegedly support the dementia and aphasia diagnosis.
The Lifetime documentary “Where Is Wendy Williams?” aired in February 2024 despite attempts by Williams’ guardian to block its release. The two-part series showed Williams confused and forgetful, raising ethical questions about filming someone with cognitive decline without proper consent.
What Comes Next for Wendy Williams?
Williams’ future depends on her cognitive tests and court decisions. If evaluations continue confirming dementia, her guardianship will likely remain. Frontotemporal dementia doesn’t improve, and most people diagnosed live seven to 13 years after symptoms begin.
If she wins her freedom, Williams hopes to stay in New York, return to her talk show, and get back on the dating scene. Those ambitions may not align with her actual capabilities. Even if she’s more functional than court documents suggest, producing a daily talk show requires stamina, mental sharpness, and the ability to manage complex business relationships.
Her family and attorneys continue fighting for either a modified guardianship with fewer restrictions or complete release. The case highlights broader problems with guardianship systems in America, where once someone loses their rights, getting them back proves nearly impossible, regardless of improvement.
Williams and her supporters call for guardianship reform, arguing the system is broken and too easily traps people in arrangements they cannot escape.
Williams built her career on truth-telling, even when uncomfortable. Now she’s the subject of a story where the truth remains unclear. Is she a victim of a system that stripped away her autonomy too quickly, or is she a woman whose cognitive decline prevents her from recognizing she needs help?
Her case forces us to confront difficult questions about autonomy, aging, and who decides when someone can no longer make their own decisions. At her July 2025 birthday dinner, when asked what she wished for, Williams said without hesitation: “out of guardianship”. Whether that wish becomes reality depends on medical evidence, legal arguments, and a court system trying to balance protection with freedom.