Wendy Williams’ health has taken a turn for the worse amid her battle with dementia and aphasia.
The former “Wendy Williams Show” host, 60, has become “cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated,” attorneys for Williams’ guardian Sabrina Morrissey revealed in a memo filed in court earlier this month, according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY on Tuesday.
Morrissey has been pursuing legal action against A&E Television Networks, Lifetime Entertainment Services and others involved in the release of “Where is Wendy Williams?,” a docuseries on Williams’ abrupt exit from public life released in February.
Williams is an “acclaimed entertainer who, tragically, has been afflicted by early-onset dementia,” the Nov. 12 letter reads. In an amended September complaint, Morrissey accused the defendants of taking “advantage of (Williams) in the cruelest, most obscene way possible for their own financial gain.”
Wendy Williams’ guardian, not pictured, gave an update on the former talk-show host’s health battle in a recent letter to the court.
USA TODAY has reached out to a representative for Williams for additional details on her condition.
Elsewhere in the memo, Morrissey’s attorneys also requested the removal of Williams’ personal information from the defense’s portion of a joint status letter. The details pertain to a guardianship proceeding that Williams’ bank Wells Fargo initiated in January 2022 to help protect the TV personality’s finances. The filing for that proceeding was later placed under seal.
“The proposed redactions are very narrowly drawn and do not undermine the public’s ability to understand the core facts and legal arguments at issue in this litigation or to otherwise monitor the federal courts’ execution of their judicial function,” Morrissey’s attorneys argue.
Williams’ representatives revealed in February that she was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia in 2023. In a follow-up statement to USA TODAY at the time, they said Williams is “able to do many things for herself” and was involved in the selection process for her care team.
Background: Wendy Williams Lifetime documentary will air despite her guardian’s lawsuit, judge rules
Wendy Williams’ Lifetime documentary airs despite guardian’s lawsuit
In a February lawsuit, Morrissey attempted to block Lifetime’s broadcast of “Where is Wendy Williams?” which included footage of the former talk-show host and interviews.
Morrissey sued for injunction relief and a temporary restraining order, both measures that can be used to keep a party from doing a certain action. However, an appellate judge ruled in the TV network’s favor, arguing that such a ban would be an “impermissible prior restraint on speech that violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”
Lifetime previously aired a biopic about Williams’ life, “Wendy Williams: The Movie,” and a documentary, “Wendy Williams: What a Mess,” both in 2021. In a statement at the time, the network said the docuseries “provides a raw, honest and unfiltered reality of Wendy’s life after she was placed under financial guardianship, shedding light on the vulnerabilities that has turned Wendy into the Hot Topic herself.”
‘Stomach-turning’: Wendy Williams received small sum for Lifetime doc, lawsuit alleges
In an amended complaint filed in September, Morrissey claimed Williams was not capable of consenting to be filmed for the documentary, despite being credited as an executive producer on the project. Additionally, Williams allegedly received around $82,000 for the “stomach-turning” four-episode series.
“This is a paltry sum for the use of highly invasive, humiliating footage that portrayed her ‘in the confusing throes of dementia,’ while Defendants, who have profited on the streaming of the Program have likely already earned millions,” the complaint read.
In response, Morrissey requested to the court that profits from the documentary go to Williams, as she will need “significant funding to provide for proper medical care and supervision for the rest of her life.”
Contributing: Taijuan Moorman, Brendan Morrow and Jay Stahl, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wendy Williams health: Former TV host is ‘permanently incapacitated’
