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A brand new documentary specializing in and starring Wendy Williams has been the topic of intense criticism from followers — and even members of the star’s personal PR staff — who branded the venture exploitative and uncomfortable.
The two-part docuseries, The place Is Wendy Williams, aired Saturday and Sunday on Lifetime.
Two days forward of the discharge, Williams, 59, and her staff printed a press release that stated the star was recognized in 2023 with major progressive aphasia (a language-related dysfunction that impacts dialog and literacy) and frontotemporal dementia (a mind dysfunction that impacts persona and behavior, in addition to reminiscence).
The now-public data of Williams’ psychological decline made the documentary a troublesome watch for a lot of, together with Shawn Zanotti, who started working as Williams’ publicist in 2021.
Zanotti, who seems within the documentary, advised NBC Information on Wednesday she felt Williams was “being exploited” by producers.
“She thought we have been specializing in the comeback of her profession,” Zanotti stated. “She can be mortified. There’s no approach you possibly can persuade me that she can be OK with wanting and seeing herself in that approach.”
The episodes, whereas highlighting the cultural affect of Williams’ discuss present profession, present the star in plenty of weak moments.
All through the documentary, lots of Williams’ relations claimed they’d been reduce off from contacting Williams, who the household stated was surrounded solely by individuals on her payroll. Within the second episode, Williams’ supervisor, Will Selby, finds an empty vodka bottle by the star’s mattress and confronts Williams about alleged heavy consuming.
Within the documentary, Williams is commonly agitated, weepy and confused.
Zanotti advised NBC Information that the ultimate product of The place is Wendy Williams? is just not what was initially agreed upon.
She stated she advised Williams’ guardian (who was court-appointed in 2022) that she “didn’t agree with what was happening with this documentary.”
“I made it very clear to the guardian. The manufacturing firm was conscious of that,” Zanotti recalled. “I didn’t agree with the way in which this was shifting and shaking. And as a substitute of them coping with it with me, they determined to disregard me. They ignored me from that second, and I by no means heard from them once more.”
In 2022, Williams was appointed a authorized guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, who would oversee the star’s funds and well being selections. The guardian was appointed after Wells Fargo froze Williams’ accounts and advised the courts there was sturdy purpose to imagine that Williams was an “incapacitated individual” who’s “the sufferer of undue affect and monetary exploitation.”
Morrissey sued Lifetime’s father or mother firm, A&E Tv Networks, forward of the documentary’s launch in an try and bar it from airing, USA As we speak reported. The lawsuit was dismissed over First Modification rights.
“My concern at this level is: What’s actually happening? Who actually does have her finest curiosity at coronary heart?” Zanotti questioned.
Morrissey has not commented publicly in regards to the documentary or being Williams’ guardian.
‘We didn’t know she had dementia,’ say filmmakers
The place is Wendy Williams? was filmed between August 2022 and April 2023. Producers on the venture stated they have been, on the time of filming, unaware of Williams’ cognitive points.
In an interview with As we speak, government producers Mark Ford and Erica Hanson, who can be showrunner, stated they perceive why a few of Williams’ followers have moral considerations in regards to the documentary.
“We formed the documentary, finally, in a approach that we felt may benefit Wendy, her household and the world at massive,” stated Ford. “What began as a narrative about Wendy and her biography became one thing very totally different. (It turned) extra about what it’s like when your member of the family, who you care about, is positioned beneath authorized guardianship and also you don’t have any entry to her anymore?”
“We didn’t know that she had dementia,” added Hanson. “Some days, Wendy was on and really Wendy. Different days, she wasn’t. All of us felt this was a posh and delicate story to inform, and all of us felt an awesome duty to do it with dignity and sensitivity.”
The pair claimed to haven’t spoken to Williams since filming wrapped in 2023.
Ford stated he felt Williams would have been effective with utilizing clips that confirmed empty liquor bottles and take-out orders in her dwelling as a result of “it’s simply the reality of what she was going by means of.”
“Wendy was a accomplice in addition to her guardian, her supervisor, all our attorneys, everyone’s signed off and was conscious all of the methods by means of what we have been filming,” he continued. “There was by no means something that was finished behind her again. She was very forthright and open about all the pieces.”
Regardless, lots of Williams’ followers and viewers of the documentary thought the endeavour was slimy and conscienceless.
Williams hosted The Wendy Williams Present from 2008 to 2021, profitable admiration and an excellent bigger following of followers who appreciated her sincere, typically dramatic, recounts of popular culture moments and her personal historical past of dependancy and struggles with Graves’ illness and lymphedema.
The Wendy Williams Present was cancelled in 2022, and the primetime discuss present slot taken by Sherri Shepherd.
Lifetime didn’t reply to a International Information request for remark earlier than press time.
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