NEW YORK — The tragic cognitive decline of trailblazing talk show host Wendy Williams is now being detailed in a court dispute between her legal guardian and media companies that earlier this year released a documentary series about her decline, "Where is Wendy Williams?"
The longtime host of The Wendy Williams Show was diagnosed with dementia in May 2023, and court filings from this month state she is now "cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated."
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Numerous reports in the last couple days have since highlighted the Nov. 12 letter to a federal judge that used that specific phrase. But there's much more to the case -- here's what we know.
Wendy Williams documentary lawsuit | What we know
- The lawsuit was originally filed in February on behalf of Wendy Williams' guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, in New York courts: It was first filed seeking an injunction against the release of "Where is Wendy Williams?" That element of the suit did not succeed, and the documentary series was indeed released in four parts on Feb. 23 and Feb. 24.
- The lawsuit was re-filed in September: It makes several strong accusations against the companies behind "Where is Wendy Williams?" -- A&E Television, Lifetime, Entertainment One Reality Productions, Creature Films, and the documentary's director, Mark Ford. This time, the lawsuit seeks an injunction against the documentary further being broadcast as well as a declaration that the documentary was filmed without a valid contract and unspecified monetary damages. It asserts the contract was invalid because Williams was incapacitated at the time she entered into agreement on it.
What the lawsuit says: "This case arises from the brutally calculated, deliberate actions of powerful and cravenly opportunistic media companies working together with a producer to knowingly exploit (Wendy Williams), an acclaimed African-American entertainer who, tragically, suffers from dementia and, as a result, has become cognitively impaired, permanently disabled, and legally incapacitated... Eager to sensationalize and profit from (Wendy Williams') cognitive and physical decline, Defendants took advantage of (Wendy Williams) in the cruelest, most obscene way possible for their own financial gain, in a manner that truly shocks the conscience." It asserts Williams was "highly vulnerable and clearly incapable of consenting to being filmed" during the production of "Where is Wendy Williams?" and Morrissey, the legal guardian, "discovered Defendants' true intentions were to portray (Wendy Williams) in a highly demeaning and embarrassing manner." See the suit in full at the bottom of this page.
What the lawsuit says about Williams' cognitive decline: It claims she and her family were first told by healthcare professionals she was "suffering from brain damage" as early as January 2019 at a Florida rehab facility. It further states her "cognitive functioning and physical condition only continued to decline" from there, citing press reports on rumors of "early-onset dementia" in 2021, and that by the fall of that year she was "so cognitively impaired, and had lost so much executive capability, that she was no longer capable of managing her own personal and business affairs." Her talk show was canceled in February 2022, and in May 2023 she was diagnosed at Weill Cornell Medical Center with frontotemporal lobe dementia and primary progressive aphasia, the lawsuit states.
- The case was moved to federal courts: This happened in mid-October. It was removed -- the legal term -- from the jurisdiction of the New York Supreme Court to the Southern District of New York federal court.
- Defendants respond: In filings from Nov. 15, A&E Television, Entertainment One Reality Productions, Creature Films and Mark Ford all provided similarly-constructed responses to the lawsuit. They dispute that Wendy Williams was incapacitated at the time they entered an "On-Camera Talent Agreement" on Jan. 25, 2023. Entertainment One (referred to as "eOne" in court documents), the production company, says it presented a draft contract in late 2022, and that it was reviewed by two attorneys for Wendy Williams as well as her manager "and that they understood" it had been approved by Williams' guardian, Morrissey (who has brought the lawsuit).
What the responses say: eOne says it was told in April 2023 "well into filming the documentary, and as the documentary shows" by Williams' son that she had "a preliminary diagnosis of alcohol-induced dementia." The company "denies it was aware of any dementia diagnosis until near completion of the documentary" and "denies that there had been any reliable reporting prior to the documentary being filmed that (Wendy Williams) was suffering from dementia."
Counter-allegations: The media companies assert the lawsuit is really a product of "the misguided and unjustified efforts by (Morrissey) to exceed the scope of her judicial authority over her ward (Wendy Williams), attempt to excuse her own failure to protect her ward, supplant (Wendy Williams') wishes with her own, and deny (Wendy 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 — all in an effort to prioritize (Morrissey's) own reputation, and deflect scrutiny of her own inaction and indifference."
- What's next: Several matters of potentially sealing documents are before the court, and some have been temporarily placed under seal by Judge Ronnie Abrams' order pending a full decision there. In a Nov. 19 order, a schedule was laid out for a motion by Morrissey to dismiss the defendants' counterclaim by Dec. 13; their opposition to that motion should be filed no later than Jan. 13, and Morrissey's reply should be filed no later than Jan. 31. on Nov. 22, Morrissey filed a demand for a jury trial. That is the latest entry in the case's record.