Wendy Williams’ son reveals his mother’s dementia is ‘alcohol-induced’

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By Francesca Bacardi

Wendy Williams’ son revealed that his mother’s frontotemporal dementia is due to her alcoholism.

Kevin Hunter Jr. explained in the two-part Lifetime documentary “Where is Wendy Williams?” that alcohol negatively affected the former daytime talk show host’s “mental space and brain.”

“I really got to learn more about the things that happen internally with my mom,” the 23-year-old shared on Sunday’s episode.

“(The doctors) basically said that because he was drinking so much, it was starting to affect his mental space and his brain. “So I think they said it was alcohol-induced dementia.”

Williams, 59, first learned of his brain damage in 2019 when he entered a Florida rehabilitation center, but did not receive the official diagnosis of dementia and aphasia until 2023.

The niece of former shock jock Alex Finnie said she learned of her aunt’s diagnosis in 2022, but suspected she was unwell when she began forgetting memories and events.

“But after seeing my aunt and spending time with her in the state she is in now, I quickly realized that things just weren’t normal,” he said in the document.

“It’s heartbreaking.”

Finnie also said the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of Williams’ mother and her divorce from Kevin Hunter Sr. worsened her condition.

The docuseries showed Williams drinking constantly despite his well-known substance abuse problems, but his former manager Shawn Zanotti dismissed the concern, saying the media personality “knows his limits.”

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Meanwhile, Williams’ former lawyer cast doubt on the star’s diagnosis and instead blamed the court-ordered conservatorship ahead of the show’s premiere on Saturday.

LaShawn Thomas posted an old video on Instagram of Williams looking healthy while sitting on a bed and saying she likes working out at the gym.

“You can clearly see the difference between Wendy’s well-being during her stay here in Florida with her son caring for her and her lack thereof in New York under this ‘guardianship,'” Thomas wrote in the caption.

“These Wendys are not the same. How did her health deteriorate so quickly and why is her only son not allowed to be by her side? “She wasn’t like that when he took care of her.”

The Miami Entertainment Law Group attorney alleged that she filmed Williams two weeks before the court ordered her to return to New York to be placed under conservatorship, which takes effect in 2022.