[ad_1]
By James Gordon for Dailymail.com
05:25 February 25, 2024, updated 06:38 February 25, 2024
- Wendy Williams, 59, admitted to consuming an entire bottle of vodka amid a revealing documentary that followed the former talk show host for nearly a year.
- On Thursday it was revealed how Williams had been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia.
- The film highlights Williams’ erratic behavior in couples with family concerns and legal interventions including the appointment of a financial guardian.
Wendy Williams admitted to drinking an entire bottle of vodka in the first part of a disturbing new documentary in which a film crew followed the former talk show host for the better part of a year.
On Thursday, it was revealed how the 59-year-old had been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia just days before the four-hour Lifetime documentary aired.
But on Saturday night, doctors’ formal diagnosis went some way to explaining Wiliams’ often irrational and erratic behavior, which left her sleeping in bed all day, before lashing out at staff and family members for the most part. minimal transgression.
The documentary went from one confrontation to another as Williams’ workers, including his manager, personal assistant and driver, along with members of his own family, were berated and verbally belittled by the once-popular television personality.
At times, it was all too much for Williams, who rambled incoherently before bursting into tears when she had a moment of self-awareness and perhaps a moment of realization that she could never appear on American television screens in the same way. Never more.
Either way, it’s clear that something is seriously wrong.
In one of the most shocking incidents in the documentary, which details her struggle with alcohol abuse and mental health in recent years, Williams confronts her manager Will Selby, who asks her why she has a nearly completely empty bottle of vodka. In his bedroom.
‘So, did you eat anything or have a liquid lunch?’ Because I walked into your room and suddenly, out of nowhere, I noticed one of your special items. Did you drink all this today? —Selby asks.
“Yes,” Williams responds before quickly saying “no.”
“I don’t know if you need this right now,” Selby continues confidently.
‘I’m not drunk!’ Williams protests.
“I never said you were drunk, but I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Selby continues. ‘So, you think you’re perfectly fine having all the drinks you want?’
“Perfectly,” Williams answers bluntly. ‘Fuck you!’
“I’m going to leave it down to keep it cool,” Selby suggests.
‘Keep it there!’ Williams demands, making sure to get a visual view of the alcohol.
‘I don’t know how much alcohol he consumes, but I threw away the damn liquor. And I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t know if that will stop her,” Selby tells the camera immediately after the encounter.
‘I never feel helpless, but I do feel like I need help because I can’t do this alone. I’d be lying to you if I thought I could beat alcoholism on my own.’
Williams is then asked directly if he plans to stop drinking.
“No,” Williams responds. ‘Will (Selby) drinks. We all drink. Because I can not? he says, justifying his position.
The film shows Williams in what should have been the ideal opportunity for a career resurgence as she prepared to launch a podcast shortly after the cancellation of The Wendy Williams Show, which aired from 2008 to 2022.
Instead, the film serves to capture her struggle with alcohol abuse, along with her increasing cognitive difficulties and the utter confusion of the world around her.
Williams seems virtually unable to answer the producers’ repetitive questions and often breaks down in tears when the themes of alcohol abuse and her financial worries keep returning.
Later in the documentary, some members of Williams’ family appeared, including his nephew Travis Finnie and his 23-year-old son, Kevin Hunter Jr.
In May 2022, the New York State court system appointed an independent guardian to manage Williams’ finances.
The conservatorship began when Williams’ bank, Wells Fargo, froze her accounts after her financial advisor at the time allegedly expressed concern that she was “of sound mind,” according to Williams’ subsequent court papers.
Wells Fargo then asked a New York court to place the talk show host under conservatorship, which a judge later approved in January 2022.
At the time, the bank claimed it feared Williams’ “cognitive problems” put her at risk of being financially exploited.
Her son, Kevin, was accused of charging $100,000 to his American Express card, but he defended himself and clarified in the documentary that he had never spent a cent without his mother’s consent.
—Do you think your mother should have a guardian? The show’s producer asks Hunter Jr.
‘I think my mother should have a family. The family version of the story has not been told, so there is a gray area left over who is really telling the truth or what is really going on. I have always wanted the best for my mom. You know, I just stay strong,” Hunter Jr. said.
“No matter how many times someone may fall, you have to get them back up, but I feel like the situation they’re in right now isn’t really the best for their journey of trying to heal.”
In another bizarre moment, Williams, who turns 60 in July, can be seen admiring her slender figure in a bedroom mirror.
‘Oh Lord! All he did was say: Oh my God, I look so sexy. Look, a gap in the thigh. Look, even when I do this, do you see a gap in the thigh? And I have tears. In a good way. I love my family.’
Williams is then asked if she still supports her son, but the question sends her into a spiral of emotional turmoil.
‘First of all, asking: ‘Support?’ is the wrong word. Who the hell are you? Williams asks the documentary’s producer as he breaks down in tears.
“I didn’t mean to bother you,” the filmmaker says apologetically.
‘Leave me alone. Leave!’ Williams orders. ‘This is the third time I’ve cried. And I cried the other day, and I’m not a cryer. I have a lot of money. I want it for my son,” Williams says through tears.
During the second hour of the documentary, Williams is seen taking a tour of his old stomping grounds near the Chelsea television studios, which were his home for 13 years.
Williams looks completely confused as she instructs her driver to keep driving around the block as they twice pass the studios where Sherri Shepherd has now taken her place.
Williams then instructs his driver to stop at a tobacco store he knows so his assistant can buy him a vape pen.
‘I don’t see my place. Uh, this doesn’t look familiar at all when I go on ‘The Wendy Williams Show.’ Why did it take so long?
A several-minute discussion ensues in which members of her team argue with Williams about whether they have purchased the correct vaporizer for her.
Meanwhile, Williams appears to become increasingly erratic and agitated before filming finally stops completely.
‘He had a beautiful personality. Now it’s like, I don’t know what the hell is going on,” his driver Jammail tells the camera, caught up in Williams’ emotional turmoil.
‘I don’t know what he’s going through, but it’s getting very intense, whatever he’s going through, I think he’s losing his memory. She just goes blank.
You will talk to her and she will go blank. Sometimes she doesn’t even realize who I am. I’ve picked her up many times and she says, ‘Hey, who are you?’ Dealing with something like this is very difficult. You know, being around Wendy every day has to be a big paycheck.
On Friday, Williams broke her silence for the first time after her recent health diagnosis was revealed.
‘I want to say that I have immense gratitude for the love and kind words I have received after sharing my diagnosis of aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Let me say, wow! “Their response has been overwhelming,” she shared in a statement.
Wendy ended her statement by writing: ‘I still need personal space and peace to thrive. Please know that we deeply appreciate your positivity and encouragement.”
The statement noted that Williams had been diagnosed in 2023. The talk show host has reportedly been living in a treatment facility since April 2023.
Her team also revealed that her health issues “have already presented significant obstacles in Wendy’s life” and have behavioral and cognitive impacts, according to their statement.
The two-part documentary filmed Williams from August 2022 to April 2023, when Williams entered the treatment center where he remains to this day.