Wendy Williams began the season 12 finale of her Wendy Williams Show on July 23, 2021, just as she had so many times before, by asking the audience her signature "How you doin'?" But as she continued, it became clear that something was off: She slightly slurred her words and had moments of confusion. Still, she ended with a promise to viewers they'd see her on TV again in just "two months and two weeks."
That day would never come. Over the past two and a half years, Williams's life spiraled into the exact kind of drama she once would have gossiped about during her Hot Topics segment. As rumors swirled about her well-being was placed under a financial guardianship in 2022 over concerns about her capacity to make decisions-the larger-than-life personality remained mostly quiet. Now her family is speaking out for the first time about what went down during this dark period to People and in a new Lifetime documentary, Where Is Wendy Williams?, premiering Feb. 24 and which she executive-produced.
"There were points where everyone in this family wondered whether that call [that she was dead] was going to come in the middle of the night," says Williams's sister Wanda Finnie.
Adds Wanda's daughter Alex: "It was shocking and heartbreaking to see her in this state." When the documentary crew began filming in August 2022, it set out to follow Williams's comeback as she prepared to launch a new podcast. The film quickly evolved into something entirely different, as the crew captured Williams in the throes of alcohol addiction and struggles with health issues including Graves' disease, an autoimmune disorder that can cause bulging eyes, and lymphedema, a condition that causes swelling in her feet. A particularly gut-wrenching scene shows Williams-who turns 60 in July-asking her driver to take her past the former Wendy Williams Show studio, forgetting that he had done so only moments earlier.
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Denne historien er fra March 04, 2024-utgaven av People US.
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ACTOR ADAM PEARSON I Don't Think 'Why Me?" I Think 'Why Not Me
THE A DIFFERENT MAN STAR, WHO LIVES WITH NEUROFIBROMATOSIS, IS CHALLENGING HOLLYWOOD TO REFRAME DISABILITY
WHAT I KNOW NOW
NOW STARRING IN REBEL RIDGE, THE ACTOR GETS CANDID ABOUT CAREER LONGEVITY (54 YEARS IN THE BIZ!), FATHERHOOD AND SURVIVING LIFE AS AN '80S HEARTTHROB
STOUGHTON OR MURDER?
SHE WAS 23 AND EXCITEDLY EXPECTING HER FIRST CHILD WHEN SHE APPEARED TO TAKE HER OWN LIFE. NOW AUTHORITIES SUSPECT FOUL PLAY BY HER MARRIED POLICE OFFICER BOYFRIEND
JAMES MIDDLETON From Despair to Hope
IN AN EMOTIONAL NEW MEMOIR, PRINCESS KATE'S YOUNGER BROTHER OPENS UP ABOUT HIS STRUGGLE WITH DEPRESSION, LIFE WITHIN THE ROYAL ORBIT AND HOW HIS BELOVED DOG ELLA SAVED HIS LIFE
KEEGAN-MICHAEL KEY TAPPING HIS INNER CHILD
FROM PLAYING WITH ROBOTS AS A KID TO VOICING BUMBLEBEE IN TRANSFORMERS ONE, THE KEY & PEELE ALUM LOVES LETTING HIS IMAGINATION RUN WILD
Ina Garten I Learned to Believe in Myself"
IN A REVEALING NEW MEMOIR, THE CELEBRITY CHEF OPENS UP ABOUT ABUSE BY HER PARENTS AND A ROCKY PERIOD IN HER MARRIAGE TO HUSBAND JEFFREY: 'DEBILITATING FEAR TAUGHT ME ENORMOUS COMPASSION'
finding peace after loss
THE NASHVILLE ACTRESS'S YOUNGER BROTHER DIED UNEXPECTEDLY JUST AS SHE WAS WORKING TO OVERCOME DRUG AND ALCOHOL ADDICTION. HOW SHE'S PICKING UP THE PIECES, STAYING SOBER AND DOING HER BEST TO LOOK FORWARD
The Substance
Demi Moore is scarily good as an actress who drinks at the wrong fountain of youth
Tito Jackson of the Jackson 5 Dies at 70
A founding member of the iconic group, he last performed on Sept. 8
HALLMARK STAR ASHLEY WILLIAMS Honoring Her Mom On & Off Screen
Ashley Williams's new movie Falling Together didn't start as an homage to her mother, Linda, who died from dementia in 2016; it began with a failed apartment building-wide chili party she threw years ago.
