By: Stacy M. Brown, NNPA

Wendy Williams stunned her fans and others when she made a surprise call to “The Breakfast Club,” where she revealed deep frustrations with a conservatorship she described as “emotional abuse.” Despite her diagnosis with frontotemporal dementia and primary progressive aphasia in 2023, Williams was assertive. “I am not cognitively impaired,” she demanded. “But I feel like I am in prison.” The former talk show queen and radio host expressed her discomfort with being placed in a maximum-security care facility alongside much older residents. “I’m in this place where the people are in their 90s and their 80s and their 70s,” she told Charlamagne Tha God. “There’s something wrong with these people here on this floor.”

Williams then criticized her conservatorship. “This system is broken,” she declared. Williams then described her isolation, having lost her autonomy with her pets taken away and her finances under strict control. Her niece, Alex, also on the call, shared that Williams’ guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, retains control over Williams’ older phone and restricts her financial autonomy.

During the interview, Williams shared her longing to visit her 94-year-old father in Miami for his birthday, though it remains unclear if she will be allowed to travel. “At 94, the day after that is not promised,” Williams remarked.

Alex voiced concern about potential repercussions from the guardian following the interview, recounting a critical conversation: “I said, ‘You know, we do this; you’re ready for what’s on the other side?’ And as she said, ‘I have to do this. There’s nothing else I could do at this point.’”

The family also raised concerns about being in the dark regarding Williams’ location during the airing of the documentary “Where is Wendy Williams.” The interview concluded with Williams using her iconic catchphrase, “How you doin’?”

Charlamagne encouraged listeners to amplify the story on social media. Just one week prior to Williams calling into the show, Charlamagne had described another phone conversation he had with Williams over the Christmas holiday.

“She seemed perfectly fine to me… there ain’t nothing incapacitated about Wendy Williams,” Charlamagne told his audience. He recalled a humorous moment from that call when Williams playfully thought he was recording.

The conversation around Williams’ conservatorship has contributed to a growing national dialogue about such legal arrangements. The cases of Britney Spears and Amanda Bynes have already brought attention to potential abuses. Additionally, as reported by ESPN and NPR, the situation involving football player Michael Oher further complicated the discourse. After turning eighteen, Oher was under a conservatorship managed by the Tuohy family rather than being adopted. This allegedly led to the family profiting significantly from his earnings, including royalties from the movie “The Blind Side.”