Wendy Williams talks guardianship, gives health update on 'The View'

By Mason Leib

Wendy Williams discussed the latest on her recent hospital visit and her guardianship with "The View" this week.

In an interview that aired Friday, Williams told "The View" co-hosts that she needed a "breath of fresh air" when, according to sources, she was taken by ambulance Monday from an assisted living facility in Midtown Manhattan to Mount Sinai West hospital.

"I just needed a breath of fresh air. I needed to see the doctors," Williams told host Joy Behar about her decision to go to the hospital.

"While I was at the hospital, I also got blood drawn for my thyroid, but most importantly, at the hospital, it was my choice to get an independent evaluation on my incapacitation. Which I don't have it," she added.

Williams has been in a court-ordered guardianship since 2022. In February 2024, a press release from Williams and her medical team revealed that Williams was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia in 2023.

Frontotemporal dementia, or FTD, is a neurodegenerative disorder that is "characterized by loss of intellectual functions, such as memory problems, impaired abstract thinking, reasoning, and executive function, that are severe enough to hamper activities of daily living," according to StatPearls, an online library published in the National Library of Medicine.

There is currently no cure for FTD, according to the National Institute on Aging, and no treatments to slow or stop its progression. However, there are ways to help manage symptoms, the agency states.

Johnny Nunez/WireImage via Getty Images, FILE

In this Feb. 15, 2023, file photo, Wendy Williams attends an event in New York.

Primary progressive aphasia is a neurological syndrome that "affects a person's ability to use language to communicate," according to the Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center, a database from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. "This includes loss of ability to understand or express speech," the center states.

Primary progressive aphasia "is a specific type" of FTD, GARD states, and is "caused by a loss of tissue (atrophy) in the area of the brain that is responsible for producing language."

Williams spoke on Friday about her past struggles with substance abuse, saying she is "easily going on with my life alcohol free" these days.

Persistent alcohol use can also result in irreversible neurodegenerative damage. A study published in the journal Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences in 2021 found that "excessive alcohol use often produces both structural and functional deficits in neural circuits," which can in turn "contribute to a host of rare neurodegenerative diseases."

The study authors also noted that "a history of alcohol abuse can also lead to alcohol-induced dementia, in which alcohol exposure is the primary etiological factor." Alcohol-related brain damage and frontal lobe dementia both cause personality changes, impulsivity, and executive dysfunction, but alcohol-related damage may sometimes improve with abstinence and nutrition, while frontal lobe dementia is progressive and irreversible, according to studies.

After visiting the hospital on Monday, Williams said she had dinner with her niece, who had flown in to visit her, before returning to her assisted living facility. "Why am I here ... where people don't remember anything?" she asked, referring to her current living area on the memory unit floor.

"I stay in the bedroom the majority of the time," she said, adding that she is not permitted to have friends visit her without permission.

A statement from the lawyer for Williams' guardian provided to TMZ on March 11 was read to Williams on "The View." The statement said the guardianship was created by a judge who declared Williams legally incapacitated after a diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia.

The lawyer claimed Williams has not been kept from her family and she is receiving excellent medical care.

"I'm a college-educated woman, I'm a globally international person from radio to television. I've been doing important things all of my life," she said, referencing her guardian and judge. "I need them to ... get off my neck."

Ginalisa Monterroso, a health care advocate who joined the interview with Williams, explained the guardianship first came about to protect Williams' money.

"I didn't mind it at that time ... but at this point in my life, I want to terminate [the] guardianship and move on with my life, if that's possible at all," Williams added.

In response to Williams' recent media appearances, in which she says she is not incapacitated, her guardian sent a letter to the court requesting that Williams have another comprehensive evaluation to assess her mental capacity. That request was granted by the judge in early March and the results are expected sometime this spring.

The former talk show host also revealed Friday that her iconic purple chair, used on "The Wendy Williams Show" is currently in storage and will remain hers for life.