Wendy Williams makes rare public appearance and pleads for freedom from ongoing guardianship
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY: Wendy Williams is pleading for freedom in her first public sighting since February as she remains involved in an ongoing court-ordered guardianship case that began in early 2022.
The 62-year-old TV personality was seen walking around New York City on Wednesday, August 19, with a male companion and a few shopping bags. When a paparazzi asked what she wanted to tell fans about “what she is going through,” she responded, “I want out!”
Wendy Williams’ legal battle amid health challenges
Williams was placed under a conservatorship in May 2022 after financial services company Wells Fargo raised concerns in a letter to a New York Supreme Court judge, claiming she was an “incapacitated person” and needed a “temporary guardian” to ensure her “affairs are being properly handled.”
That same month, Sabrina E Morrissey, a New York-based attorney, was appointed as her legal guardian. She opposed the arrangement and told 'Good Morning America', “They say that I need somebody to handle my accounts, and I don’t want that. I want all my money.”
She further added, “I want to see all my money that I worked hard for my entire life. My entire life. I don’t lie, and I don’t cheat, and I don’t steal. I am an honest, hardworking person.”
At the time, she had also been open about her battle with Graves’ disease, which led her to take a hiatus from 'The Wendy Williams Show' in 2020. The program ultimately ended in June 2022 after 13 seasons amid her health issues.
Graves’ disease is a lifelong autoimmune disease that causes the thyroid to make too much thyroid hormone. In 2024, Williams’ frontotemporal dementia and aphasia diagnoses were revealed following a series of tests the previous year.
A press release said the conditions led her to “lose words” and “act erratically.” Following her diagnosis, she was placed in a treatment center where her family was unable to reach her.
Wendy Williams continues efforts to end guardianship
Williams has continued speaking out about her circumstances. In March 2025, she tossed a paper to paparazzi outside her New York City-based assisted living home window that read, “Help! Wendy!!” She had also signed legal documents seeking to end her conservatorship in February, but the filing was denied.
Her ex-husband, Kevin Hunter, who she was married to from 1999 to 2020, intervened in June 2025 by filing a $250 million lawsuit seeking to end her guardianship. Hunter claimed the conservatorship had “become a weapon, not a shield” and alleged she was “being abused, neglected, and defrauded under the care of court-appointed guardians.”
In November, sources told Page Six that Williams could not leave the assisted living facility without her guardian’s permission, with Morrissey having to “sign off.” Her attorney pushed back against several of the claims, describing them as “untrue, inaccurate, incomplete or misleading,” per TMZ.
Later that month, doctors walked back her frontotemporal dementia diagnosis after she underwent additional testing. Following the development, her attorney, Joe Tacopina, sought to have Williams released from the conservatorship by the end of 2025, but the attempt was unsuccessful.
During Wednesday’s outing, Williams wore a black T-shirt, high-rise jean shorts, and black boots, accessorized with a red handbag. She was accompanied by a male companion whom she was seen chatting with as she entered a building.
