What Is Wendy Williams Doing Now? All About Her Life After Her Talk Show

Lifetime’s Wendy Williams documentary answers a big question about the famed TV talk show host: What is she doing now?

Where Is Wendy Williams?, which premiered in February 2024, highlights a dark period in Williams’ life and career following the cancellation of her eponymous talk show due to alcohol addiction and several health issues.

Filmed between August 2022 and April 2023, the new documentary was meant to follow Williams’ comeback as she prepared to launch a new podcast. However, it quickly evolved into something entirely different, as the crew captured Williams (who served as an executive producer on the project) in the throes of alcohol addiction and difficulties with her health.

Since the end of her talk show, Williams has stayed largely out of the spotlight. In May 2022, she was placed under a legal guardianship and recently she has been staying in a facility to address cognitive issues.

Nearly a year after the documentary’s premiere, Williams told The Breakfast Club that she is “not cognitively impaired” and feels like she is “in prison” while living in the facility and under a conservatorship.

From her personal life to her recent medical diagnosis, here’s everything to know about what Wendy Williams is doing now. 

Why did The Wendy Williams Show end?

In June 2022, it was announced that The Wendy Williams Show was coming to an end after 14 years, with the final episode airing on June 17. The news came after Williams had dealt with various health issues over the final few seasons. 

In October 2021, ahead of the talk show’s 13th season premiere, Williams’ breakthrough COVID-19 case and her ongoing health issues tied to Graves’ disease delayed her return to the show several times.

Williams previously had gone on hiatus from the show in March 2018 and again in May 2020, due to complications with her Graves’ disease and hyperthyroidism. She also took a six-week break in early 2019 after fracturing her shoulder. She later revealed that she was quietly focusing on her sobriety during the leave of absence. 

In June 2022, directly following the end of her talk show, Williams told Extra’s Billy Bush about what she planned to do next, including a new podcast with iTunes. She also clarified that she was on good terms with The Wendy Williams Show‘s producers and that they had all agreed it was time for the show to end.

However, during an interview with The New York Post in July 2022, Williams said that “there was nothing I liked” about her show’s end, which aired without her appearance. “[The show’s syndication company] didn’t ask me to do [the finale], so I didn’t,” she said at the time. “I sat in my apartment and I watched it. And [I was] like, ‘Eek!'”

When was Wendy Williams’ last public appearance? 

As her hit talk show came to a close, Williams put her focus on her new podcast, The Wendy Experience. In August 2022, she teased her return to the spotlight as she posted a promo for the new project on Instagram alongside a message for her fans. “Co-hosts, I’m famous, and I’ll be back, trust me,” Williams says in the clip. She shared similar sentiments in the caption of the post, writing, “TRUST ME I will be BACK! #wendyexperiencepodcast #welcome #back #stay #positive #cohost #nyc”

That same month, Williams’ rep William Selby told PEOPLE that the star is happy in both her personal and professional life following the conclusion of The Wendy Williams Show in June.

“Wendy is excited about everything new in her life and her main priority is her health and shooting her first episode of her podcast,” Selby said. “That’s the focus right now.”

In November 2022, she made a rare public appearance as she attended WBLS 107.5 FM’s Circle of Sisters event at Resorts World in New York City. The event came one month after she was released from a wellness facility.

During the interview, Williams got emotional over fans’ support as she told the audience, “I have tears of laughter but also sincere [tears]. Just thank you all so much for being here today.”

Williams made a few more appearances in New York City in the following months, including Daniel’s Leather Fashion Show on Feb. 15, 2023, and a private dinner in the Big Apple later that month. 

In December 2024, Williams was spotted again when she attended son Kevin Hunter Jr.’s graduation from Florida International University. At the time, she was photographed in a motorized scooter and was dressed up for the occasion in a sparkly black dress.

What health issues does Wendy Williams have? 

After a brief stint at a wellness facility to treat “overall health issues” in late 2022, per a press release from her publicist Shawn Zanotti at the time, Williams entered a new facility to treat “cognitive issues” in April 2023. At the time, Williams had been dealing with several health issues, including Graves’ disease, lymphedema and alcohol abuse.

In February 2024, Williams’ medical care team revealed that she had been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). According to a press release, Williams received her diagnosis last year and her medical team said the conditions “have already presented significant hurdles in Wendy’s life.”

“Wendy is still able to do many things for herself,” the team said in a statement. “Most importantly she maintains her trademark sense of humor and is receiving the care she requires to make sure she is protected and that her needs are addressed. She is appreciative of the many kind thoughts and good wishes being sent her way.” 

According to Mayo Clinic, aphasia “robs you of the ability to communicate” and “can affect your ability to speak, write and understand language, both verbal and written.” The group adds that the condition “typically occurs suddenly after a stroke or a head injury. But it can also come on gradually from a slow-growing brain tumor or a disease that causes progressive, permanent damage (degenerative).”

In a statement exclusively obtained by PEOPLE, Williams thanked fans for their “overwhelming” support in the hours following the news. “I want to say I have immense gratitude for the love and kind words I have received after sharing my diagnosis of Aphasia and Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD),” she said. “Let me say, wow! Your response has been overwhelming. The messages shared with me have touched me, reminding me of the power of unity and the need for compassion.”

“I hope that others with FTD may benefit from my story. I want to also thank the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration for their kind words of support and their extraordinary efforts to raise awareness of FTD,” Williams added. “I continue to need personal space and peace to thrive. Please just know that your positivity and encouragement are deeply appreciated.”

Where is Wendy Williams now? 

Since April 2023, Williams has been staying in a facility receiving treatment for cognitive issues. Her family members say they don’t know the location of the facility, though they have had contact with her.

Speaking with PEOPLE ahead of the Lifetime documentary, her sister Wanda Finnie and niece Alex Finnie said Williams is in a better place physically and mentally.

“I speak with her very regularly when she reaches out to me. She is, from what I understand, in a wellness, healing type of environment,” Wanda said. “We cannot reach out to her, but she can reach out to us,” Wanda added, claiming a lack of communication with Williams’s legal guardian. (The guardian has not commented.)

While her family isn’t aware of what treatments are taking place at the facility, they say whatever’s happening, Williams seems much better.

“I don’t know what is working, but I do know that when she did reach out to me, it was a person who is remarkably different than what we see in that documentary,” said Wanda.

“She sounds really great,” added Alex. “To hear my aunt now in terms of just how clear she is, just how focused she is on the importance of family and the reality in terms of facing and understanding where she’s at physically and mentally and emotionally, it is like a 180.”

In January 2025, Williams and Alex called into The Breakfast Club to speak about her life under her conservatorship, claiming that she had been “caught up in the system.”

Williams said she spends her days in her room, watching TV, and isn’t able to receive calls, though she can make outgoing calls. She compared the staff members at the facility to a “nursemaid,” claiming they feed her pills regularly.

“I don’t know if I’m able to fly to Miami to say ‘happy birthday’ to my dad,” Williams said. “That person who is holding me hostage, I don’t know if she’s going to let me see my dad for his birthday. …. I’m exhausted thinking about what if I can’t see my dad for his birthday. At 94, the day after that is not promised. It’s not promised.”