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Earlier this year, Lifetime released Where is Wendy Williams? The docu-series followed the former talk show host in her post-fame life. Shortly before the series aired, it was revealed that she was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Many people were shocked to see the once glamorous TV icon looking and acting the way she was. Now, new court documents have uncovered Wendy Williams‘ health status and why the docu-series should’ve never happened.
Wendy’s Guardian Says She Was Taken Advantage Of
Where is Wendy Williams? was highly controversial for several reasons. First, many people questioned if the Lifetime producers really had the right to come in and film these extremely vulnerable moments in Williams’ life. Much of the series was raw and emotional, the other half was downright hard to watch.
Second, with her FTD diagnosis in mind, viewers asked whether it was ethical to have Williams on camera like she was. Did she even have the wherewithal to give consent for filming?
Well, her court-appointed guardian Sabrina Morrissey is saying no, she didn’t. In the latest documents filed in her battle against Lifetime, Morrissey shared Wendy Williams’ health status and how the production team took advantage of her. Her FTD diagnosis has left her “cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated.”
Morrissey claims that Williams did not “have the capacity to consent to being filmed. As is patently obvious from the very first few minutes of the Program itself.”
She went on to state that Wendy Williams “was highly vulnerable and clearly incapable of consenting to being filmed, much less humiliated and exploited.”
Wendy Williams’ Health Status Was Unknown to Producers
There are a few things that Morrissey is trying to accomplish in the lawsuit against the Lifetime producers. Many parts of the suit have been redacted for privacy, but Morrissey is requesting compensation and punitive damages on behalf of Williams. She is also requesting that the series be pulled from television.
In the suit, she claims that Wendy Williams only earned $82,000 from the Lifetime project, while the producers have profited greatly.
Producers on the Where is Wendy Williams? project have remained adamant that they didn’t have any knowledge of her FTD diagnosis until the documentary was nearly complete. However, they have maintained that they believe it is important for the former TV host’s story to be shared.
A&E Television Networks, Lifetime Entertainment Services, EOne Productions, Creature Films, and the executive producer of the series Mark Ford have filed a counterclaim against Morrissey.
It reads, “This case arises from the misguided and unjustified efforts by Plaintiff to exceed the scope of her judicial authority over her ward [Williams], attempt to excuse her own failure to protect her ward, supplant [Williams’] wishes with her own, and deny [Williams] perhaps one of her last chances to exercise her autonomy and honestly reach her fans in exactly the frank and unfiltered manner that was the hallmark of her career.”
They have also argued that lawsuits like the one Morrissey is pushing infringe on free speech. Not to mention, neither Sabrina Morrissey nor Wendy Williams attempted to stop production until the trailer for the series was released.
