The 2024 Lifetime documentary, “Where is Wendy Williams?” gave fans a glimpse inside Wendy Williams’ life living under the care of a court-appointed guardian since she stepped away from her purple chair in 2022. But since that two-part series aired, it’s been a while since we’ve heard from the straight-talking talk show host herself. That changed this morning when she sat for a revealing interview with journalist Don Lemon.
But before we get to all the tea, we got a chance to speak exclusively with Don Lemon after his interview to get his take on how he thinks Williams is doing these days.
When asked if he believed Williams’ condition was as bad as her guardian wants us to believe, Lemon said he believes that’s something her fans can decide.
“The question now, is does ‘Free Wendy’ become the new trending thing like ‘Free Britney?’ I think only the public can answer that. The other question is does Wendy seem lucid? Does she seem incapacitated? We don’t know. And we don’t know if this guardian is protecting her against something. No one knows. So I think there needs to be transparency around this process. There needs to be more transparency around it because you can actually hold someone hostage. I’m not saying the guardian is doing that because I haven’t spoken to them.”
Lemon said that from his point of view, Williams seemed to be lucid during their chat, adding that he believes she deserves to be living with people who are acting in her best interest.
“Does Wendy sound like the same Wendy when I was on her show? Honestly, no. Does Wendy sound like the Wendy who visited me and stayed with me during COVID? No. But to me, does Wendy sound lucid? Yes. And that’s from a layman’s point of view. Can she be in control of her finances? I don’t know. But I think a process can be worked out that is fair to all parties, and someone needs to figure out how to do that because Wendy, whether she’s incapacitated or not, deserves to live her life with some degree of autonomy and happiness around her family.”
Now, on to Don Lemon’s exclusive interview with Wendy.
Lemon told viewers he first got to know Williams as a frequent guest on her show and began filling in for her for a time when her health issues forced her to step away from work. But the pair got closer as Williams spent time at Lemon’s home during the COVID pandemic. It was then that she started sharing some of the issues she was having with her now ex-husband Kevin Hunter.
“That’s how she started sharing with me about how she felt,” Lemon said on his January 16 show. “She really didn’t have a lot of people to talk to, so that’s why I sort of befriended Wendy.”
Wendy Williams: “I Feel Like I’m in Prison”
Lemon’s interview got off to a scary start when Williams didn’t call at their agreed start time of 7:30 am – something that caused her niece, Alex Finnie, who also called in to Lemon’s show, to worry that someone had taken her phone away.
When Williams and Lemon finally connected, she shared that even her phone is not her own these days.
“My phone is with the guardian person. The phone that we’re talking on is a phone where I can call you, but you can’t call me. I’ve never heard of a phone like this in my life,” she explained.
Williams went on to say that in the three years that she’s been under the watch of her guardian, she’s been mostly isolated from friends and family, even eating meals alone in bed while watching television.
“My life is ridiculous. I’ve been with this guardian person for three years,” Williams said. “I feel isolated. I feel like I’m in prison. I can’t go out. All I can do is look out the window and anytime I go out, I’m going with the person the guardian has assigned to me.”
And while most people believe she’s living in a luxurious New York apartment, she confirmed that she’s living with people in their 70s, 80s and 90s.
“This is not an apartment. I don’t even know what you call this place. This is an old age home,” she said.
What Is Wendy Scared About?
When Lemon asked Williams to confirm her guardian’s statement that she was incapacitated and has dementia, she responded “Hell f*ing no!” but said she couldn’t go into much more detail for fear she’d be separated from her family forever.
“I don’t know how much I can talk without being punished, and I won’t be able to see my dad and I won’t be able to do anything and I’ll be stuck in this prison for the rest of my life.”
Niece Alex Finnie chimed in confirming many of the details about Williams condition that she shared in her January 16 interview with Charlamagne Tha God on “The Breakfast Club,” adding that a lot still can’t be shared for fear of legal retaliation.
“My aunt wants to talk. She wants to get her messaging out there, but it has become extremely difficult because she has to be so careful with what she says because there is this worry, there is this fear that A, she’s going to say the wrong thing and B, there might be some sort of retaliation as a result of that,” Finnie told Lemon.
Wendy Wants to Get Back To Work
Williams ended the interview by saying she thinks the best place for her to live and work right now is in Florida with her family. But adds that she wants to work on her own terms.
“I don’t want to work five days a week. I want to pick and choose what kind of work I want to do because that’s the kind of person I am now,” she said.
Lemon’s interview has quickly gone viral, receiving over 110,000 views as Williams’ fans leave messages of support on his YouTube channel.
“Wendy sounds fine. She needs to be with her family. Set her free!!!!” wrote someone in the comments.