Did the filmmakers behind the Where is Wendy Williams? docuseries deliberately try to exploit the TV star?
That question is at the center of a civil lawsuit filed by Wendy Williams’ court-ordered guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, against Lifetime and the production companies involved in the four-part series, which debuted in February. Morrissey has been overseeing the TV presenter’s care since May 2022, after her bank deemed her a “disabled person” in need of guardianship.
In the latest court filings from the case, obtained by Yahoo Entertainment, Williams’ legal team reveals that the Wendy Williams show host has become “permanently disabled and incapacitated” amid her dementia diagnosis.
The argument being made on Williams’ behalf is that the filmmakers – who shot the documentary between August 2022 and April 2023 – were “fully aware” of the fact that Williams was incapacitated and “nevertheless attempted to film and exploit it.” [her] cognitive and physical decline… for their own financial gain.” The series, for which Williams was also a producer, looked at her life after her daytime talk show was canceled in February 2022.
The defense legal team, which has filed a counterclaim against Morrissey, said they were unaware Williams had dementia, which was officially made public in February. They point to Morrissey, claiming that she “isolated” Williams from her family, a subject that was part of the docuseries’ narrative, and “[failed] to protect her client.
What is the lawsuit about?
Williams’ guardian first filed a lawsuit against A&E Networks, Lifetime’s parent company, and Entertainment One Reality Productions on February 22, seeking to stop the “blatant exploitation of a vulnerable woman” in the four and a half-hour documentary that would premiere two days later. Executive producers Mark Ford and Erica Hanson said the docuseries showed Williams’ experience in a guardianship, and how she was separated from her family and living alone – with access to alcohol while recovering from her addiction, and no food.
While a New York judge initially issued a temporary injunction blocking the broadcast of Where is Wendy Williams?it was overturned on appeal, with the judge citing the First Amendment, and aired as planned.
In September, Morrissey refiled her lawsuit, adding defendants Lifetime Entertainment Services, Creature Films and the producer Ford. In addition to claims of exploitation, the company claimed that there was “no evidence” that Williams signed the contract to film the project, and that Williams was only paid $82,000 for the docuseries, while the network made “millions.”
What are the latest developments in the case?
Morrissey’s legal team wrote in a Nov. 15 filing that filmmakers “intentionally and cruelly took advantage of [Williams’s] cognitive and physical decline from ‘filming the project when she was’ very vulnerable and clearly unable to consent to being filmed. They claimed that “defendants were fully aware of this at all relevant times [Williams] was incapacitated,” as her health issues were in the news in 2021 and it was widely reported in 2022 that a court had appointed a temporary guardian to manage Williams’ affairs.
The docuseries depicts Williams “in a demeaning and humiliating manner,” Morrissey’s legal team wrote. “It opens with [her] stating ‘I love vodka!’ after being pressured by defendants about alleged alcohol abuse. Shortly afterwards… [Williams] says she’s happy to ‘show my boobs’ and then pulls down the front of her top, grabs her nipples and gives the middle finger. The rest of the four-hour program does not improve.”
Morrissey’s lawyers questioned the validity of her contract for the project, saying the signature presented does not appear to be Williams’s. They argued that although Williams was touted as an executive producer on the project, she did none of the work an EP should do, and had not approved the film. They also claimed that filmmakers did not obtain permission from Morrissey to have Williams film and that Morrissey was not aware of a talent deal until March 2023, seven months after filming began. When Morrissey told producers that Williams was in no position to be filmed, “they agreed” [Williams] would be seen in a positive light.”
In response, attorneys for the network and filmmakers said the documentary “was conceived with [Williams’s] consent, input and participation, long before she was diagnosed with any form of dementia and before she had a guardian who had any say over her professional contractual obligations.” They denied that Williams was paid $82,000 and said she was “generously compensated” with $400,000. They also said Morrissey “was aware” of the talent deal and “took no step to quit.” [it] of execution.”
The defense said the case stems from Morrissey’s own “misguided attempts … to excuse her own failure to protect her neighborhood.”
What have we learned from the files about Williams’ health?
Morrissey’s legal team says Williams – who was officially diagnosed with dementia in 2023 and remains in an inpatient treatment facility – has become “cognitively impaired, permanently disabled and incapacitated” as a result of the dementia.
The lawyers said producers “intentionally manipulated and aroused” Williams – who is “unable to effectively regulate her emotions due to her dementia” – during on-camera interviews to elicit strong emotional responses and obtain embarrassing images.
What happened inside Where is Wendy Williams?
The docuseries was supposed to update fans on what happened to the TV star — who did not host the final season of her eponymous talk show, leading to its cancellation in June 2022 — amid a comeback. Leading up to that, there were nonstop headlines about Williams’ divorce, vague stories about treatments at “wellness centers,” and Williams being placed under guardianship in 2022 after her wealth manager at Wells Fargo deemed her a “disabled individual.”
However, the documentary proved to be a sad look at Williams’ life after the show, and a Variety review, calling it “disturbing and exploitative”, noted: “Clearly there is something very wrong” with Williams. The film was shot over seven months, when the star lived alone. Bottles of alcohol were hidden in her apartment (even in her bed), and she was clearly confused and slurred her speech. However, Williams’ team took the incoherent star to business meetings and she talked about her comeback.
In the docuseries, Williams’ son revealed that she had been diagnosed with alcohol-induced dementia, but continued to drink. The timeline of that first diagnosis was vague.
Williams was transferred to an inpatient treatment center in April 2023, ending filming of the docuseries. In February 2024, her guardian announced that Williams had been officially diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in 2023.
Williams’ sister Wanda Finnie, an attorney, told People in February that she was at one point asked to serve as the star’s guardian. But after she said yes, the wall “fell down” and she was left out. The family has complained about limited access to Williams due to court-ordered custody.
Where is Wendy Williams? it reportedly attracted more than 6 million viewers the weekend of its debut. Lifetime described it as the biggest nonfiction debut in two years.
