A new trailer released by Lifetime for the upcoming documentary Where Is Wendy Williams? shows that the ex-daytime talk show host, whose beloved show was cancelled in 2021 amidst reports of Williams’ declining health, is clearly struggling. In the clip, Williams’ family expresses concern that her team is taking advantage of her court-appointed financial guardianship and vulnerability. Williams herself, who in the trailer footage often appears confused and distressed, says that she’s in dire financial straits.
“I have no money,” Williams says in a talking head interview. “I’m gonna tell you something, if it happens to me, it could happen to you.”
In February of 2022, Wells Fargo petitioned a New York judge to appoint a financial guardian for Williams after the bank determined that the talk show host was an “incapacitated person.” In August of the same year, Williams announced that she was married to an NYPD officer, and a month later reportedly checked into rehab to address alcohol abuse issues.
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Her talk show, The Wendy Williams Show, ran for 14 seasons and was beloved by fans for the host’s biting takes on pop culture. Williams has battled a 10-year addiction to cocaine, as well as complications from Graves’ disease and hyperthyroidism, at separate times in her career.
“She always talks about how she wants to work, but I feel as though she’s worked enough,” Williams’ son, Kevin Hunter Jr., says in the trailer.
In another alarming scene, Williams’ manager, Will Selby, holds up an empty liquor bottle and asks the talk show host, “Did you drink this whole thing today?”
“Keep it there, keep it there,” Williams, lying in bed, answers. Later, shown being driven around New York City, Williams says she’s unsure where she is.
Leading up to the cancellation of her show in 2021, producers on Wendy Williams had to text executives at their parent company, Debmar-Mercury, “at least 25” times asking whether she was sober to film, according to reports at the time.
Lifetime has produced two other projects centered around Williams’ personal battles: 2021’s Wendy Williams: The Movie, which documented the aftermath of Williams filing for divorce from her husband, Kevin Hunter, in 2019 after multiple reports of Hunter’s infidelity. Lifetime also released the documentary Wendy Williams: What a Mess that same year.
In June of 2023, Selby told Entertainment Tonight that Williams had returned to a wellness treatment facility—she’s logged several stints in recent years—and was “doing her best to be her best.”
