'Get Off My Neck.' Wendy Williams Pre-Taped An Interview With The View And Opened Up About Being Put Into A Memory Care Unit

Wendy Williams appears on The View.
(Image credit: ABC)

It’s been an uncharacteristically quiet year from Wendy Williams, after it was revealed that the former talk show host had been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia and was living in a memory care facility. She’s certainly been talking recently, though, as she returned to the 2025 TV schedule to speak with her friends at The View, and she had some strong words for her guardian as she begged to regain control of her life and her money.

Wendy Williams has been planning a return to The View for years, and she finally got that chance, as a pre-record phone call aired March 14 between the co-hosts and the beloved media personality. Williams, speaking with her advocate Ginalisa Monterroso, first addressed reports that she was taken to the hospital for cognitive tests, confirming that she went to get bloodwork done for her thyroid condition and said she requested the cognitive tests. Williams said during a segment on the talk show:

I needed a breath of fresh air. I needed to see the doctor, so that’s why I went to the hospital… Most importantly, it was my choice to get an independent evaluation on my incapacitation, which I don’t have it. How dare they say I have incapacitation? I do not.

The former host of The Wendy Williams Show went on to describe the assisted living facility where she's lived for almost a year and previously referred to as a “luxury prison.” She said she is not allowed to leave the floor or have visitors, so she generally just stays in her room. In Williams’ words:

I am not permitted to do anything but stay on this floor, the memory unit floor, where the people are 90 and 80 and 70. Look, I’m 60. Why am I here? Where people don’t remember anything? So I stay in the bedroom the majority of the time.

At this point in the phone call, Sunny Anderson read a statement from the lawyer of Wendy Williams’ guardian, Sabrina Morrisey, saying the guardianship was established after a judge declared her “legally incapacitated” following the dementia diagnosis. The statement refuted Williams’ claims that she has been kept from her family and said the former talk show host is “receiving excellent medical care.”

Wendy Williams then said she wanted to be freed from Sabrina Morrisey’s care, referencing her guardian and the judge as she said:

I've been doing important things all of my life and these two people don't look like me, they don't dress like me, they don't talk like me, they don't act like me, and I venture to say they will never be me. I need them to get off my neck.

Wendy Williams said it’s been over three years since the court-appointed guardianship began, and she wants to be given control of her life and her money.

Advocate Ginalisa Monterroso said this week that the 60-year-old was undergoing testing in hopes of getting her into a “less restricted environment.” We’ll have to see what happens after the test results come back, but for fans, it was certainly good to hear that familiar voice again, and we just hope the decisions that are made are in Wendy Williams’ best interest.

Heidi Venable
Content Producer

Heidi Venable is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend, a mom of two and a hard-core '90s kid. She started freelancing for CinemaBlend in 2020 and officially came on board in 2021. Her job entails writing news stories and TV reactions from some of her favorite prime-time shows like Grey's Anatomy and The Bachelor. She graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a degree in Journalism and worked in the newspaper industry for almost two decades in multiple roles including Sports Editor, Page Designer and Online Editor. Unprovoked, will quote Friends in any situation. Thrives on New Orleans Saints football, The West Wing and taco trucks.

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