by Thinus Ferreira
The former American talk show host Wendy Williams now claims its her son Kevin who stole her money - something that led to her bank freezing her account - that he was involved with a woman her age, and that she is "suffocating" in a small room in the "memory care unit" of her senior assisted living facility she can't escape from.
Wendy Williams (60) was placed under guardianship three years ago and is speaking out in a new interview from the facility in New York City where she's locked up and can't leave unless someone someone has the elevator key and open it for her.
Wendy Williams has been living in the senior care centre's "memory unit" looking after patients suffering from Alzheimer's Disease and dementia for seven months after an eye-popping Lifetime documentary last year Where is Wendy Williams?.
The documentary tracked what happened and led to Wend Williams' finances and her life to be placed under guardianship in March 2022 of Sabrina Morrissey - also called a conservatorship - and revealed Williams' battle against alcoholism and substance abuse.
Wendy Williams was diagnosed with aphasia and Frontotemporal dementia, as well as Alcohol-related brain damage with the guardian who said she is now "permanently incapacitated".
Wendy Williams doesn't have access to a cellphone, a computer or laptop or tablet but has a landline - a phone she can make calls from, but on which she can't receive calls. She also can't leave her floor and nobody can visit her.
The American gossip site TMZ's owner Harvey Levin hatched a plan to do the latest interview with Williams from inside her "imprisonment" on the 5th floor, since he has been friends with Williams and she had his number.
TMZ set up a camera in one of the opposite buildings, and then filmed Wendy Williams standing for an hour at the window, as Harvey Levin conducted a stand-up-sit-down interview with Williams who called on the landline and help the phone to her ear.
The interview, TMZ: Saving Wendy, is now available on Tubi. Tubi is like YouTube and no registration or account is required to access the site but Tubi is geo-locked and not yet available in South Africa.
South Africans who want to watch TMZ: Saving Wendy, need to use a VPN selecting one of the countries where Tubi is already available, like the United States, to watch the interview.
Here are five of the most startling new revelations:
1. Isolated
Wendy Williams told Harvey Levin "The place where I am, the people are older. They are in their 80s and 90s. They call this the memory unit. I am part of the memory unit. In other words, what? Somebody who doesn't remember crap? Are you serious? The memory unit is suffocating. I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in my bedroom."
"There's a bathroom, there's a closet, and the TV which was purchased by me through the guardian person.
2. Cats gone, clothes off-limits
"My guardian person got rid of my cats," Wendy Williams said.
"I don't know where my cats are now. They're twins. I've had these cats for years. And the guardian person told me that I can't go to storage. Everything's in storage. My clothing. Yes, there's clothing here but the majority's in storage."
"There's some stuff from my dad that I'd like to get. There's stuff for me that I would like to get. I'm denied going to storage."
3. Son allegedly stole her money
Wendy Williams claims she now knows why bank Wells Fargo froze her account before she was placed under guardianship and that it is because large withdrawals were made from her account by her own son Kevin Hunter.
"My son, he overstepped his boundaries and he was inappropriately using my money without telling me. Is he stealing from me? That's when my money got frozen at Wells Fargo, thank God. No more money stealing from my son and the other people."
"I was: What is going on with my money? Where is my phone Kevin? Where is my phone? Why are you keeping my phone? And there was nothing that I could do without my phone. And who am I going to call? So my son is overspending."
4. 'Horrible' son involved with woman Wendy's age
Wendy Williams broke down and started crying, telling Harvey "my son is a really good person but at this point in time he was a horrible person to me".
"The way he moves with other people - and what's going on with these other people at my apartment in Miami? What are you doing?"
Wendy Williams said "my son is not the only one involved with my money. Somebody pretended to be me - and it wasn't anybody in my family. It happens to be a person that I was introduced to by my son. And it's a woman, approximately my age."
"This woman called on the phone, pretending to be me. Red flag Wells Fargo, red flag, red flag! And so red flag thank God, they stopped all of the money that had been stolen from me by these people. Fortunately, I still had money left."
"In the process, the guardian gets to look after my money and I'm stuck here for three years. What kind of money is she making from me?"
5. Luxury prison
Wendy Williams noted that she feels "like I'm in prison. I'm in a luxury prison".
