For the last three years, Wendy Williams has been under a court-appointed guardianship. Since then, the former talk show host has rarely been seen in the public eye or by her friends and family, a retreat that sources say is instigated by her court-appointed guardian, Sabrina Morissey.
“[Wendy Williams] can’t go anywhere without Sabrina signing off, and [the bodyguard] being there,” a source told Page Six.
On Wednesday (Nov. 19), Williams was supposed to have dinner with friends to celebrate neurologists clearing her of a previous frontotemporal dementia aphasia diagnosis. Unfortunately, the former radio host reportedly never made it to dinner because she couldn’t reach her bodyguard.
“She couldn’t get in touch with her bodyguard. She thinks Sabrina may have dismissed him,” the unnamed source explained. “[The Guardian] has done this before. She’s fired a previous bodyguard. They don’t keep her in the loop. [Morrissey] doesn’t want her to go out,”
Williams has been living in the memory unit of a luxury living facility, where she is reportedly not allowed to leave without the permission of Morrissey, the presence of her bodyguard or unless her niece Alex Finnie comes to visit. Earlier this year, Williams described her conservatorship as “emotional abuse,” explaining in a separate interview that she’s not allowed to have visitors or receive calls on the landline she has access to.
“I am not cognitively impaired. But I feel like I am in prison,” she said in a phone interview with the Breakfast Club. “This system is broken.”
In light of her recent health updates, Williams’ legal team reportedly filed a motion requesting a hearing to end the guardianship, and if denied, is prepared to demand a jury trial in an effort to get Williams her freedom. Despite Williams sometimes frequenting restaurants to escape the facility and attending church to stay grounded, her power of attorney, Joe Tacopina, says the star “is not being protected.”
“She’s being punished. What should’ve been a safeguard became a system of control that limited her voice, her choices, and her dignity,” he said, per Page Six. “No guardianship should ever feel like a sentence.”
