Daytime TV doesn’t look quite the same as it did just a few years ago, due in part to the headline-making fall from the spotlight suffered by Wendy Williams. The longtime talk show host, celebrated and derided for her behavior while on the air (from live TV farts to seemingly disrespectful death announcements), has been almost completely absent from public life more than two years after her eponymous series was ended, though a new Lifetime docuseries aims to tackle the myriad rumors that have surfaced regarding her alcohol abuse,rehab stints, health issues, financial struggles, family strife, and more.
Despite being one of the most popular daytime TV hosts for years on end, Williams’ personal ups and downs began garnering more attention over time, with her 2017 on-air collapse as one of the first attention-grabbing red flags, leading into her later publicly revealing her Graves’ disease diagnosis. Williams entered a healthcare facility in April 2023 as treatment for mental issues reportedly caused by alcohol use (per her son in the documentary), at which point the Lifetime docuseries filmmakers wrapped filming. She’s apparently been in that facility ever since, and her family has raised concerns about being unable to directly contact or communicate with Williams themselves. At this time, reportedly the only person allowed to reach out to her at any given time is a court-appointed guardian.
Here’s how Wendy Williams’ sister Wanda Finnie put it, per People:
The people who love her cannot see her. I think the big [question] is: How the hell did we get here?
That’s precisely one of the questions that the docuseries, which will air four installments across two days, will attempt to answer with the months’ worth of footage filmed between August 2022 and April 2023. The project features moments that will no doubt shock and dismay viewers, such as a segment where Williams is being driven around in her car, and she asks her driver to swing by the studio where The Wendy Williams Show was filmed, not remembering that they’d already just done so. CinemaBlend previously reported on her alleged memory problems.
Williams’ driver was also interviewed for the documentary series, and it seems like he was just as out of the loop and concerned as anyone else in her life. As he put it:
I don’t know what the hell is going on. I think she’s losing memory. She doesn’t know who I am sometimes.
It’s no doubt a troublesome time for Williams’ family and friends who aren’t always fully aware of what she’s up to or how she’s feeling. Not that things were always going smoothly beforehand, as the talk show vet was prone to suspicions and accusations in recent years. In the documentary, for instance, she calls out her financial guardian, whose identity hasn’t been publicized, for stealing money from her. However, no evidence of such crimes was made available, and no one else backed her claims.
It was in the fall of 2021 when Wendy Williams’ TV troubles first arose, with Season 13’s start being delayed on multiple occasions due to behind-the-scenes issues. The show later began filming with guest hosts taking her spot, which remained the case for the rest of the season, one that now stands as the final year of The Wendy Williams Show, even though she wasn’t part of it. It doesn’t seem like she’ll ever get back to the job that made her a household name, but hopefully some answers will come out of this docuseries.
Check out the trailer for the new project below!
Where Is Wendy Williams? will make its debut with back-to-back episodes on Lifetime on Saturday, February 24, at 8:00 p.m. Episodes will also be streaming with a Philo subscription or Sling subscription.
