The queen of radio and former talk show host, Wendy Williams, 60 candidly spoke about her conservatorship in an exclusive interview with the Breakfast Club on Power 105.1 FM. Her niece, Alex Finnie, attended the exclusive phone interview led by radio hosts Charlemagne Tha God, DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, and Loren LaRosa. “For the last three years I have been caught up in this system,” said Wendy Williams. Finnie shared that Williams can only call her family, but her family cannot call her.
Multiple news reports and outlets said Williams is “incapacitated” and “cognitively impaired” amid the documentary’s release. “I am not cognitively impaired. But I feel like I am in prison,” Williams said in the interview. “I’m in this place where the people are in their 90s and their 80s and their 70s. There’s something wrong with these people here on this floor.”
Wendy Williams received support from her niece, Alex Finnie, who often advocates for Williams. Finnie has visited shows such as “Good Morning America” and “The View.” “She’s there in New York; this place is essentially… a luxury prison.” She said, “The thing about this apartment is it’s small. She has a bed, a chair, a TV, a bathroom, and she’s looking out [of] one window at buildings across the street.”
Williams’ niece, Finnie, said their family was not allowed visitation to see her for nearly a year, as the filming process of her documentary “Where is Wendy Williams?”, took place from August 2022 – April 2023. The guardianship to make her inaccessible. The documentary aired on Lifetime in February 2024. The Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM interview is Williams’ first since her documentary.
Williams has to check in with her guardianship handler, Sabrina Morrissey, in order to gain access to her money, according to Williams. She said that she only had “15 dollars” to her name. “What do I think about being abused? Listen…This system is broken. This system that I’m in has falsified a lot,” said Williams.
Williams also said that Morrissey has orchestrated reports to the media, claiming that Williams isn’t capable of caring for herself. “For three years, this is the reality; this has been our lives,” said Finnie. “She can’t call us; we can’t call her. That’s been the reality since 2023. She’s there every day, all hours of the day, every week, every month; she’s not getting proper sunlight.”
She continued. “I went to New York in October to visit her. And the level of security and the level of questions that there were in terms of ‘Who am I? Why am I here? What’s the purpose?’ I mean, it was absolutely just horrible.”
Williams also went on to discuss, with her niece’s support, how her personal cellphone has been confiscated and is in the hands of her guardian, Morrissey. She also said that her two “twin” cats had been given away without her knowledge and that she feels she is being punished and reprimanded.
She began to cry in the interview when she discussed how visiting family is always a task. Williams shared how her father is 94 years old, how she wishes to buy him cologne, go shopping with him, and spend time. “At 94, the day after that is not promised.”
The hosts asked Williams if she feared retaliation from Morrissey for speaking out publicly about the alleged wrongdoings of her conservatorship. Finnie answered, as her advocate, speaking about a conversation she had with the former “Wendy Williams Show” host. “I said, ‘You know, we do this; you’re ready for what’s on the other side?’ And as she said, ‘I have to do this. There’s nothing else I could do at this point,’ Finnie said.
In November of last year, Morrissey filed a lawsuit against A&E Networks. In the court documents, she attempted to shut down A&E and Lifetime from airing the documentary due to Williams being ‘cognitively impaired and permanently incapacitated,’ therefore not able to properly consent to being filmed.
A&E Television and Lifetime Entertainment Services responded to the suit, alleging Morrissey was simply interested in damage control to protect her image.
According to the document, “It was only when Morrissey realized that the documentary would question the quality of her own guardianship of Williams that Morrissey suddenly decided to try to ensure the documentary would never be released.” Finnie and Charlamagne The God urged supporters of Williams to join a social media campaign called #FreeWendy. Finnie also said a Change.org petition is available to support Williams.
