[ad_1]
Wendy Williams, a former daytime talk show host, is the focus of an explosive documentary that some critics call exploitative.
In Lifetime’s new two-part docuseries, “Where’s Wendy Williams?”, the former host often appears disoriented and in one clip fails to recognize her manager. In another scene, the same manager confronts her about empty liquor bottles found in her apartment.
One of those people, Shawn Zanotti, who appears in the docuseries, criticized the producers behind it in an exclusive interview with NBC News.
“I felt like (Williams) was being exploited,” said Zanotti, who began working as Williams’ publicist in 2021. “She thought we were focusing on her career comeback… She would be mortified. There’s no way that You can convince me that it would be okay for her to look at herself and see herself that way.”
Zanotti said the project was first approached by Creature Films and eOne Television in 2022. The same production company was behind another Lifetime documentary about the host’s life, “Wendy Williams: What a Mess!”
“When I mentioned (doing a documentary) to Wendy, she immediately said, ‘Yes, I’d love to do it. I would love to be able to spread my story,’” Zanotti said.
But what aired is not what Zanotti said was agreed upon.
“That’s not the project (Williams) signed up for. That’s not the project they (the producers) brought me. I didn’t tell him it would be about that,” Zanotti said.
“There were a lot of good moments. None of those good moments showed,” he added.
Just one day before the documentary aired, Williams’ management team announced in a statement that she is in a treatment center, diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. Zanotti, who has not spoken to Williams since she entered a treatment center in April, said she still works as her publicist.
Tune in to Top Story with Tom Llamas on NBC News Now Wednesday night for the full interview.
in a interview with TODAY.comThe filmmakers said they were unaware of Williams’ diagnosis during production, although they acknowledged that “some days, Wendy was very Wendy. Other days, she wasn’t.”
They moved forward with the project because, according to showrunner Erica Hanson, “we all felt it was a complex and delicate story to tell, and we all felt a great responsibility to do so with dignity and sensitivity.”
But Zanotti doesn’t believe it.
“I don’t think (the diagnosis) would have stopped them at all. The producers were asking questions the whole time; they were asking questions that she seemed somewhat confused about, and I feel like it was done intentionally at that moment in time to make their history,” Zanotti said. “Once again, this was presented to her as a documentary, but to me it seemed like a circus reality show, a circus for her downfall.”
The producers and Lifetime did not respond to requests for further comment.
Zanotti said he even expressed his concerns to Williams’ guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, during production.
“I didn’t agree with what was happening with this documentary,” he said. “I made it very clear to the tutor. The producer was aware of this. No… I didn’t agree with the way this thing moved and shook. And instead of dealing with me, they decided to ignore me. “They ignored me from that moment on and I never heard from them again.”
Morrissey did not respond to requests for comment.
The day Williams’ dementia diagnosis was announced, Morrissey filed a now-sealed lawsuit to prevent the series from airing. A judge dismissed the case, citing the First Amendment.
Mark Ford, the executive producer of the docu-series, told TODAY.com that “Wendy was a partner, along with her guardian, her manager, all of our attorneys — everyone signed on and was privy to everything we were filming.”
However, Zanotti said, he believes the series was about creating a show for money and ratings, not about showing Williams in the best light.
Zanotti said she also feels misrepresented in the series, specifically objecting to a scene in which Williams scolds her on the couch.
“Even though you saw those horrible components of what he did in the way he treated me, there were great, beautiful moments that happened after that,” Zanotti said.
Speculation about Williams’ health began after she fainted live on air in 2017.
Williams, who hosted ratings juggernaut “The Wendy Williams Show” from 2008 to 2021, had been open about her struggle with addiction.
In 2019, he told viewers that he was living in a sober house after seeking treatment for drug abuse. Months later, she revealed that she would be taking time off due to Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disorder.
Williams was also absent from their program in 2021 and 2022 due to health reasons. Reported variety. Sherri Shepherd took over the time slot in 2022, before “The Wendy Williams Show” was ultimately canceled.
It was while Williams was off the air that her bank, Wells Fargo, requested that she be placed under financial conservatorship, claiming she was “incapacitated” and a “victim of undue influence and financial exploitation,” claims Williams later rejected.
Since then, Williams has largely remained out of the public eye, and Zanotti said the series is not how he would like fans to remember it.
“That’s not the project she signed up for,” Zanotti said. “My concern right now is: What is really going on? Who really has her best interests at heart?