Wendy Williams’ controversial guardianship has sparked concern and resistance from the public with hashtags like #FreeWendy that are reminiscent of Britney Spears’ conservatorship.
The “Wendy Williams Show” host has gone on a press tour in recent months, advocating as to why she should be free from the legal restrictions — but her guardian has claimed she is “incapacitated.”
Below is an explainer on how Williams ended up in a guardianship in the first place and what it will take for her to be completely free.
How long has Williams been in a guardianship?
A New York judge ordered Williams to be placed in a court-appointed legal guardianship in May 2022.
A guardianship, which is referred to as a conservatorship in different states, is a legal arrangement in which a court “gives a person or organization the legal right to make decisions for another person who is unable to make all or only certain decisions for themselves,” according to NYCourts.gov.
Why was Williams placed in a guardianship?
In early 2022, Williams’ bank, Wells Fargo, put a freeze on her accounts due to suspicious activity.
“We are concerned about [Williams’] situation,” attorney David H. Pikus wrote on behalf of the bank in a letter to New York Supreme Court Judge Arlene Bluth at the time, claiming they believed she had been a “victim of undue influence and financial exploitation.”
Wells Fargo also recommended the guardianship in that same letter, stating via Pikus, “It is our hope that the Guardianship Part [of the court] will imminently appoint a temporary guardian or evaluator to review the situation and ensure that [Williams’] affairs are being properly handled.”
Who is Williams’ legal guardian?
Sabrina E. Morrissey, was appointed Williams’ legal guardian by the court. According to her bio on her firm’s website, she is a New York-based attorney who focuses on estate planning, administration, and litigation and guardianships.
“Sabrina advocates for vulnerable New Yorkers and their families, as they struggle to provide appropriate care,” the bio further reads. “She is committed to making complex issues — including insurance, Medicaid and Medicare — easy to understand and implement.”
Morrissey got her bachelor’s degree in economics from West Georgia College, her master’s degree from New York University and went to Brooklyn Law School.
Aside from her legal accolades, she “created two start-up businesses to provide corporate health and wellness services on-site.”
What illnesses has Williams been diagnosed with?
Williams has battled Grave’s disease and substance abuse issues for years, but it’s her alleged mental health issues that have been a point of contention in her legal guardianship.
In Feb. 22, 2024, it was announced via a press release that Williams had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and aphasia, which had caused her to “lose words” and “act erratically.”
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a group of disorders that occur when nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain are lost. FTD can affect behavior, personality, language and movement, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Aphasia is a disorder that affects how you communicate, per the Mayo Clinic.
Two days after the announcement, a documentary titled “Where Is Wendy Williams?” was released and prompted concern over the beloved talk show host as she exhibited unusual behavior in the series.
Morrissey has since filed a lawsuit against A&E Networks, claiming they exploited Williams in their documentary for financial gain when the host was in a vulnerable state. The network countersued, claiming the guardian took issue with the series because it was critical of the guardianship.
Williams has since said that she has no issues with A&E and blames Morrissey for not “protecting” her.
What has Morrissey said about William’s mental health?
In November 2024, an attorney for Morrissey wrote a memo to a judge amid the ongoing A&E Networks suits, claiming that Williams had become “cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated.”
“[Wendy Williams Hunter], an acclaimed entertainer who, tragically, has been afflicted by early-onset dementia and, as a result, has become cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated,” it read.
Morrissey also asked via her lawyer in that letter that the judge redact “sensitive information” to protect the ex-radio DJ’s “health, familial relationships, and finances.”
She also said she was in favor of sealing “the entire record to protect the incapacitated person’s privacy.”
What has Williams said about the guardianship?
Williams has opposed her guardianship from the start, telling “Good Morning America” in 2022 after Wells Fargo made their recommendations, “I don’t want that. I want all my money.
“I want to see all my money that I worked hard for my entire life. My entire life. I don’t lie, and I don’t cheat, and I don’t steal. I am an honest, hardworking person.”
In “Where Is Wendy Williams?,” which was filmed between August 2022 and April 2023, the former talk show host continued to break down over her finances and the state of her life under guardianship.
She was still living at her New York City penthouse during most of filming but was then transferred to an assisted living facility called Coterie in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards neighborhood sometime in 2023.
Williams’ visits, outings and phone calls were closely monitored since then, which prompted the former shock jock to take to the airwaves in January 2025 to break her silence in a bombshell interview.
She told “The Breakfast Club” over the phone at the time that she felt “trapped” in the facility, which she referred to as a “prison,” and said she felt like a victim of “emotional abuse.”
“I am not cognitively impaired, but I feel like I am in prison,” Williams said. “I am definitely isolated. To talk to these people who live here, that is not my cup of tea.”
Can Williams freely leave her assisted living facility?
According to the terms of a guardianship, the individual who is under the guardianship must receive permission from their legal guardian to leave the facility, go outside, and interact with friends and family.
However, Morrissey has denied that she is keeping Williams like a prisoner in Coterie, writing in a letter to TMZ that the latter’s depiction of the facility “untrue, inaccurate, incomplete or misleading.”
Morrissey’s legal rep also claimed to the outlet that Williams can call and see her family members whenever she wants, referencing two recent trips to Florida that the host made.
However, after Williams visited a New York City hotspot in March 2025 with her niece, Alex Finnie, and without her guardian’s permission, Coterie filed a police report for kidnapping against Finnie.
The facility claimed Williams’ niece had “evaded staff by taking Wendy out of the building.”
Finnie and other family members have also alleged multiple times publicly that they are unable to contact the ex-radio DJ directly and can only speak to her when she calls them.
What are the next steps for Williams’ guardianship to end?
Williams has not just told the media that she wants her guardianship to end — she told a judge.
The former talk show host signed an affidavit in February 2025, telling the court that she wants Morrissey removed as her legal guardian and insisting she had “regained capacity” to function independently.
Morrissey has not yet issued a response to the affidavit but has requested that Williams be ordered to undergo a new medical exam that will help determine whether the host is battling dementia or not.
Per a court filing, the new medical evaluation that “will involve comprehensive neurological and psychological testing by a specialist in the field.”
On March 10, 2025, Williams was taken to a nearby hospital in an ambulance, where doctors conducted a psych evaluation test that she reportedly passed with “flying colors.”
Page Six exclusively learned that the test Williams took on March 10, however, was not the same exam Morrissey ordered, as that one is much more in-depth.
A source told us at the time that the host will still be required to undergo MRI scans to determine whether she’s had any deterioration in her frontal lobe, an evaluation by a neurologist and a dementia expert.
The termination of Williams’ guardianship is ultimately pending the court’s decision, and a judge in the case is reportedly upset with how the former daytime diva is handling the situation.
Judge Lisa Sokoloff said in an email, obtained by TMZ, that she questions how well Williams has been handling “the independence she has been given.”
She reportedly told Williams’ lawyer, “Tell your client that if she wants a jury she should refrain from trying to poison the jury pool” by speaking out.
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