Wendy Williams appointed guardian sues Lifetime over doc, says star was too 'vulnerable'

Wendy Williams' guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, has charged in a new lawsuit that producers of the controversial Lifetime documentary, “Where is Wendy Williams,” were exploitive and did not pay Williams fairly for her participation.

“Where is Wendy Williams” debuted over two nights in February. Williams, listed as an executive producer of the documentary, was paid $82,000.

“This case arises from the brutally calculated, deliberate actions of powerful and cravenly opportunistic media companies working together with a producer to knowingly exploit (Wendy Williams), an acclaimed African-American entertainer who, tragically, suffers from dementia and, as a result, has become cognitively impaired, permanently disabled, and legally incapacitated,” states the suit, filed Sept. 16 in New York Supreme Court.

A&E Television Networks, Lifetime Entertainment Services, EOne Productions, Creature Films and its executive producer, Mark Ford, are named in the suit, according to court documents.

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Williams, a 60-year old Ocean Township and Asbury Park native, also suffers from Graves’ disease and has Lymphedema on her feet. In the documentary, she didn't recognize her brother Tommy Williams, calling him Kevin; didn’t know that the Oscars were Academy Awards; and had trouble recognizing where “The Wendy Williams Show” was filmed during its 10-plus year run.

All aspects of her life, including financial and living arrangements, are decided by Morrissey, a court-appointed guardian. In 2022, Williams’ bank, Wells Fargo, claimed Williams was “the victim of undue influence and financial exploitation” after staying with her family in Miami.

The documentary drove the point that Williams’ family believes they should be her guardians.

“I think that the guardianship system is broken,” said Williams’ sister, Wanda Finnie, a former New Jersey Assistant Deputy Public Defender, in the doc. “If this is how it works, then it’s broken.”

More: Wendy Williams loses access to her millions of dollars; bank says she is being exploited

Morrissey unsuccessfully tried to stop the show from airing.

“As is patently obvious from the very first few minutes of the program itself, (Wendy Williams) was highly vulnerable and clearly incapable of consenting to being filmed, much less humiliated and exploited,” the 75-page suit states.

Williams was a star on the radio before she became host of “The Wendy Williams Show” TV show from 2008 to 2021.

The Williams family has deep roots at the Jersey Shore. Mom Shirley Williams, who died in 2020, was a member of area civic groups ranging from the Monmouth County Council of Girl Scouts to the Central Jersey Club of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women.

Dad Thomas Williams was a former teacher and football coach at Asbury Park High School, and he was the first Black principal at the former River Street School in Red Bank in 1969.

Wendy Williams visited Asbury Park in the documentary, hitting the Silverball Museum on the bardwalk, and the family’s former home on Central Avenue.

Reps form Lifetime and Morrissey did not reply to requests for comments.

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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at cjordan@app.com

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Wendy Williams appointed guardian sues Lifetime over documentary