Wendy Williams denies she's 'cognitively impaired,' says guardianship feels 'like I'm in prison'
2025-01-16
Category: entertainment

Wendy Williams sobbed on the phone from the New York care facility where she is currently residing, detailing the duress she's been under since entering into a guardianship, in a new interview. "I am not cognitively impaired, you know what I’m saying," she said in an interview on iHeartRadio's "The Breakfast Club" Thursday morning, where she was joined by her niece, Alex Finnie. In February 2024, Williams' team announced she'd been diagnosed with both progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). "I feel like I’m in prison," the 60-year-old admitted on the radio program.&nbsp; WENDY WILLIAMS EMERGES FOR FIRST TIME IN OVER A YEAR AFTER DISCLOSING DEMENTIA AND APHASIA DIAGNOSIS  "I’m in this place where the people are in their 90s and their 80s and their 70s," she continued. "There’s something wrong with these people here on this floor."&nbsp; She detailed the extreme supervision she was under, sharing that while she could make outgoing phone calls, people were not allowed to call her.&nbsp; "Where I am… you have to get keys to unlock the door to press the elevator to go downstairs, first of all. Second of all, these people here, everybody here is like nursemaids, so to speak," she said, explaining that staff just doles out medicine. Williams admitted she isn't privy to what she's taking. "Excuse me, doctor, can you tell me what this pill is for?"  LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS "For the last three years, I have been caught up in the system," Williams added, saying that she'd spent her last three birthdays alone. "This is what is called emotional abuse." The conversation took a turn when Williams expanded on restrictions, starting to sob at the thought of not being able to travel to Miami to celebrate her father's 94th birthday next month. "At 94, the day after that is not promised." She said through tears, "My life is like f---ed up?"  CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER In February, Williams' team publicly shared the depths of her health struggles. "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," a public statement from her team read. Williams had taken several absences from her talk show, "The Wendy Williams Show," beginning in 2017 after fainting on air. During an episode in 2019, she revealed she was living in a sober house.&nbsp; "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 continued. "In 2023, after undergoing a battery of medical tests, Wendy was officially diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and&nbsp;frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Aphasia, a condition affecting language and communication abilities, and frontotemporal dementia, a progressive disorder impacting behavior and cognitive functions, have already presented significant hurdles in Wendy's life."  CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Days later, Lifetime aired a documentary called "Where Is Wendy Williams?" which followed the talk-show host after her show had been canceled in pursuit of starting a podcast. In the documentary, she detailed her issues with substance abuse, condemned her guardianship and progressively became "more aggressive" in interactions with others. In Thursday's interview, Williams confirmed that she had seen the documentary – something her guardian had suggested. Throughout the interview, she balked at the notion she was "cognitively impaired and incapacitated." "How dare? Do I seem that way? God d--- it," she said. A representative for Williams did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.