Wendy Williams Doc Is an ‘Exploitation of a Vulnerable Woman,’ Lawsuit Claims

Wendy Williams‘ legal guardian claimed that the talk show host was unable to consent to her participation in Lifetimes’ Where Is Wendy Williams? documentary that aired last month, according to an unsealed lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone.

Sabrina Morrissey, acting as Williams’ guardian, filed the suit in February just days before the docuseries aired. Morrissey filed the suit, which was sealed until Thursday, in New York seeking to block the project’s release — though it aired as planned on Feb. 24 and 25.

In the complaint, Morrissey claimed that Williams, referred in the suit as W.W.H., had signed the contract for the documentary in January 2023, just four months before she was diagnosed with dementia, rendering her incapable of consenting to the project. Williams’ team announced the diagnosis two days before the documentary aired.

“W.W.H. is contending with very serious medical issues that have rendered her effectively incapacitated,” the complaint said. “She should be allowed to carry out her life and receive required care with peace and dignity, and to work, to the extent she is capable, in a nurturing, supportive and dignified environment. She was not, and is not, capable of consenting to the terms of the documentary Contract, and no one acting in W.W.H.’s best interest would allow her to be portrayed in the demeaning manner in which she is portrayed in the Trailer for the documentary.”

Morrissey said the defendants — Entertainment One Reality Productions and Lifetime’s parent network A&E — were “unconscionably exploiting” Williams “for perceived entertainment value” and the “prurient interest of television viewers.” She added, “This blatant exploitation of a vulnerable woman with a serious medical condition who is beloved by millions within and outside of the African American community is disgusting, and it cannot be allowed.”

In a statement to Rolling Stone, a spokesperson for A&E said they “look forward to the unsealing of our papers as well, as they tell a very different story.”

An attorney for Entertainment One didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Williams hosted her eponymous daytime talk show on Fox for over a decade from 2008 until 2021, with her health a growing question among fans in the final years of the show’s run. A Rolling Stone review of the doc called the series “a devastating watch.” “Seeing the vibrant, hilarious, and iconic figure no longer be herself is a tough pill to swallow,” Brittany Spanos wrote.

Days after the documentary aired, the Where Is Wendy Williams? producers said in an interview that they wouldn’t have shot the doc had they known about the dementia diagnosis.

“Of course, if we had known that Wendy had dementia going into it, no one would’ve rolled a camera,” producer Mark Ford told The Hollywood Reporter.

Fellow producer Brie Miranda Bryant added: “The diagnosis that was announced was not the information that any of us had going into it. So, people were watching the journey with information that we didn’t have in those first two hours, and I think that’s part of the confusion and the upset and outrage.”