Wendy Williams’ Guardian Sues A&E Over ‘Humiliating’ Documentary

On Monday, Sabrina Morrissey, the legal guardian to Wendy Williams, filed a lawsuit against A&E Television Networks, Lifetime Entertainment Services, EOne Productions, Creature Films and executive producer Mark Ford on behalf of the ex-talk show host.

Williams, 60, has been court-ordered guardianship since May 2022, in which both her finances and health are controlled. In May 2023, Williams was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia.

Morrissey’s complaint comes seven months after the February 24 premiere of Lifetime’s documentary Where is Wendy Williams. Morrissey’s filing declared, “W.W.H. was highly vulnerable and clearly incapable of consenting to being filmed, much less humiliated and exploited.”

The complaint argues that as a consequence of the emotional distress and humiliation the documentary caused, the networks should pay for Williams’ medical care and supervision for the rest of her life.

The complaint, over 75 pages, continued, “When [Morrissey] discovered that Defendants’ true intentions were to portray W.W.H. in a highly demeaning and embarrassing manner, she immediately sought to protect and to preserve her dignity. But the defendants fought to move ahead… without a valid contract and released without the [Morrissey’s] consent.”

The complaint said, “This case arises from the brutally calculated, deliberate actions of powerful and cravenly opportunistic media companies working together with a producer to knowingly exploit W.W.H., an acclaimed African-American entertainer who, tragically, suffers from dementia and, as a result, has become cognitively impaired, permanently disabled, and legally incapacitated… Eager to sensationalize and profit from W.W.H.’s cognitive and physical decline, Defendants took advantage of W.W.H. in the cruelest, most obscene way possible for their own financial gain, in a manner that truly shocks the conscience.”

Among many breaches of privacy, the file also claimed that footage in the documentary was aired without permission, such as imagery in which Williams is losing her hair, which she supposedly would have “never, ever consented and allowed.”

The documentary, originally advertised as an homage that would cover William’s impressive career, became preoccupied with her health issues and zeroed in on her addiction, Graves disease and lymphedema.

The documentary’s showrunner, Erica Hansen, previously said that they “had no idea” Williams had dementia when they began shooting in August 2022, “or we wouldn’t have filmed.”