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Wendy Williams’ Family Breaks Silence on Her Health Issues: ‘A Spiral for My Aunt’
Wendy Williams’ family has spoken out about the former talk show host’s recent struggles and admitted they’re worried for her.
“We’ve all seen the images over the last few months — and, really, few years — of what has seemed like a spiral for my aunt,” Wendy’s niece Alex Finnie told People during an interview published on Wednesday, February 21. “It was shocking and heartbreaking to see her in this state.”
Alex, 33, appears in Lifetime’s Where Is Wendy Williams? documentary that premieres on Saturday, February 24. The documentary initially set out to follow Wendy’s comeback as she was set to debut a new podcast. However, it quickly transformed into something entirely different as the cameras watched Wendy, 59, struggle with alcohol addiction and her health, including Graves disease. The disease is an autoimmune disorder that causes swelling in the hands and feet and bulging of the eyes.
People also reported that the documentary showed Wendy dealing with memory loss as she asked her driver to take her by the studio where The Wendy Williams Show used to be filmed even though he had just driven her past it moments earlier.
“I don’t know what the hell is going on,” the driver said in the documentary. “I think she’s losing memory. She doesn’t know who I am sometimes.”
Wendy entered a facility to treat “cognitive issues” in April 2023, according to her manager Will Selby, where she remained at the time of publication. At the same time, cameras halted filming. Wendy’s son Kevin Hunter Jr. said that doctors believe her alcohol use is what caused her current issues.
Wendy’s sister, Wanda, said that she and her family have no way of contacting Wendy at this point, although she does have the ability to call them if she chooses.
“The people who love her cannot see her,” Wanda, 65, said. “I think the big [question] is: How the hell did we get here?”
After The Wendy Williams Show announced Wendy wouldn’t return for the rest of the season, control of Wendy’s finances were appointed to an independent legal guardian. But Wendy’s family doesn’t know how the court came to that decision.
“All I know is that Wendy and her team walked into the courtroom one way, and they walked out, and the family is completely excluded,” Wanda said.
Fans have been concerned about Wendy for some time. Before her show ended in 2022, audiences saw Wendy faint while hosting live. The mom of one later credited the incident to Graves disease. However, show sources later said that Wendy was struggling with alcohol behind the scenes.
“She would be drunk on air,” a source told People. “Slowly, we started being like, ‘What’s going on with her?’”
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