Wendy Williams spoke out against her guardianship in a bombshell live interview on The Breakfast Club Thursday morning, saying she feels like she is “in prison” while being “trapped in a conservatorship.”
On Thursday, Jan. 16, the former Wendy Williams Show host, 60, spoke out in her first major interview since the 2024 Lifetime documentary Where Is Wendy Williams?, giving people a look into her life today after being placed under a guardianship in 2022.
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Last year, Williams’ care team announced that she had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and aphasia, which affect language and communication, but the former daytime host said on The Breakfast Club that is not true. “Do I seem that way, god damn it?” she asked hosts DJ Envy, Charlamagne Tha God, and guest host Loren LoRosa.
“I am not cognitively impaired. But I feel like I am in prison,” Williams said. “I’m in this place where the people are in their 90s and their 80s and their 70s. There’s something wrong with these people here on this floor.”
Charlamagne, who co-hosted a radio show with Williams in the 2000s, said his former colleague was calling into the show because she was “trapped in a conservatorship” and could not leave where she is staying. Williams and her niece Alex, who was also on the call, said that the former radio host can only make calls in the high-security facility, not receive them. “They won’t allow you to leave or have visitors,” she continued. “So you can’t even leave and take a walk if you wanted to, or take a trip or visit family members.”
Williams was last seen in public in December after her legal issues became public in 2024. The TV and radio personality called out the guardianship system as “broken,” calling her treatment “emotional abuse.”
Asked about the Lifetime documentary, which sparked a lawsuit from her guardian, Sabrina E. Morrissey, trying to prevent its release, Williams responded, “She was the one who wanted to do [the documentary], you understand what I’m saying?” She added, “What do I think about being abused? Look, this system is broken, this system that I’m in. This system has falsified a lot.”
The Wendy Williams Show‘s final episode aired in June 2022 after a string of guest hosts filled in for Williams. Last year, Williams’ care team released a statement announcing her diagnosis. “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 press release read.
“The decision to share this news was difficult and made after careful consideration, not only to advocate for understanding and compassion for Wendy, but to raise awareness about aphasia and frontotemporal dementia and support the thousands of others facing similar circumstances,” the release added. “Unfortunately, many individuals diagnosed with aphasia and frontotemporal dementia face stigma and misunderstanding, particularly when they begin to exhibit behavioral changes but have not yet received a diagnosis.”
