Beloved talk show host Wendy Williams has been having health issues since 2023. Following a diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia and aphasia, Wendy was placed under legal guardianship. A judge ordered her moved to a locked facility for dementia patients.
Recently, the star of The Wendy Williams Show filmed a documentary with TMZ about her situation. I happened to watch it just the other day. She seemed rational and coherent, although understandably frustrated with her situation.
But the judge in her guardianship case seems to have taken Wendy’s documentary personally. Judge Lisa Sokoloff says she’s tired of Wendy’s “behavior” and wants her moved to another, likely more secure, facility.
Wendy Williams facing scrutiny from Judge Lisa Sokoloff despite mental competency test results
Admittedly, Lifetime’s Where Is Wendy Williams? documentary didn’t show her in the best light.
TMZ’s Saving Wendy documentary shows Wendy confined to her apartment in an assisted living community, the Coterie. She did all of her interviews for the documentary by phone from behind the window of her fifth-floor apartment, which she calls a “luxury prison.”
In her current facility, Wendy is not allowed to have a cell phone and cannot receive calls. There is no internet, and she’s rarely allowed visitors. Most residents on her floor are much older and sicker than she is, so she has little human interaction. She gets no fresh air and eats all her meals in her room alone. It is cruel to keep anyone confined under such harsh conditions.
My mother had dementia the last years of her life. She lived in a locked dementia unit, but she was kept active and engaged. I could visit and take her to lunch often, which she really enjoyed.
After viewing the documentary, Judge Sokoloff emailed Wendy’s legal team. She wants the talk show host to move to a new facility. “I have always contended that [Wendy] will be given the independence she can handle,” she wrote. “I question how well she has handled the independence she has been given.”
Wendy Williams passed a mental competency test “with flying colors” at Lenox Hill Hospital
Wendy’s lawyer quickly responded that moving her to an even more restrictive facility wouldn’t be right. The isolation surely has an impact on her mental and physical health.
Multiple insiders believe the judge is angry about Wendy speaking to the media. The judge has repeatedly warned Wendy not to talk to the media. Why not? Has Wendy suddenly been stripped of her First Amendment rights?
The judge’s reasoning was revealed in another recent email to Wendy’s attorney: “Tell your client that if she wants a jury she should refrain from trying to poison the jury pool.”
On March 10, Wendy was taken to the Lenox Hill Hospital, when police were called after Wendy’s niece took her to dinner. Wendy reportedly passed a mental competency test “with flying colors.”
Still undergoing testing, Judge Sokoloff wants Wendy returned to the Coterie. “The hospital wants to discharge her,” she wrote. “[Wendy’s guardian] has facilities who, despite her behavior, are willing to assess her. She needs to go back to the Coterie until a new facility can be found.”
Sources close to Wendy say she’s terrified of losing even more of her limited independence. They call the judge’s reaction to her talking about her situation “pure retaliation.”
TMZ Presents: Saving Wendy is now streaming on the free service Tubi.
