Wendy Williams, the former talk show host and media personality, is contesting claims that she is incapacitated, as legal battles over her guardianship intensify. Williams, 60, was removed from her New York assisted-living facility this week following a welfare check by police, after expressing concerns that she was being unjustly confined. The New York Police Department confirmed it responded to the facility after receiving a call, and Williams was taken to a hospital for an independent medical evaluation.
"I told them, 'I am not incapacitated,'" Williams said during a call-in interview with The Breakfast Club on Tuesday. "The floor that I live on is the memory unit-the people who live there don't remember anything, unlike me. Like, why am I here? What is going on? It's a cry for help."
Williams has been under court-appointed guardianship since 2022, following a legal dispute with Wells Fargo that resulted in her assets being frozen and her being deemed "incapacitated." Last year, her caretakers announced that she had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and aphasia, a neurological condition that affects communication. However, Williams and some of her associates have pushed back on these claims, questioning whether she truly needs to be under such strict care.
Ginalisa Monterroso, a healthcare advocate assisting Williams, said she had contacted Adult Protective Services (APS) and requested an investigation into the circumstances of her care. "Yesterday morning, during our morning call, I told Wendy, 'We will be calling the police and we will be speaking to police, and we were telling them that you are isolated,'" Monterroso said. "We have a guardian telling the whole building and the world she's incapacitated."
Once police arrived, Monterroso requested that Williams undergo an independent medical evaluation, a request that was initially resisted by the assisted-living facility. The NYPD eventually called an ambulance, transferring Williams to a hospital. Her lawyer was also notified and drove from Long Island to meet her there.
Williams' legal team and her guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, reportedly engaged in a dispute over whether she should be evaluated independently. "There was a little back and forth as to whether [Morrissey] was going to allow Wendy to get evaluated," Monterroso said. "The doctor saw there was a difference between the guardian's opinion and her lawyer's opinion, and had to go to his legal department from the hospital to clear it."
According to Monterroso, Williams performed well in the competency test administered at the hospital. "The tests, which indicate competency that a person is able to make decisions, were passed with flying colors," she said, claiming that Williams answered 10 out of 10 questions correctly.
Williams' housing situation remains unresolved, as she continues to challenge the guardianship arrangement that has kept her in assisted living. "She's climbing the walls and ready to be free yesterday," an unnamed source told RadarOnline.com. "But she isn't allowed out until the medical reevaluation is complete, and that's dragging on."
The controversy over Williams' guardianship has sparked frustration among her family and supporters. "Wendy is angry and confused," a source said. "They won't let her out-except for special occasions like her father's birthday. But that's not enough. She needs to feel fresh air on her skin, but her handlers are keeping her locked away. They say it's for her own safety, but her loved ones aren't buying that."
Monterroso accused Morrissey of deliberately manipulating public perception of Williams' condition. "I call it an old Jedi mind game," she said. "She really just wanted the world to believe that Wendy was incapacitated. She had her locked up. Yeah, she gave her a phone where she can receive calls. And her big mistake was that she didn't realize who Wendy Williams was."
