According to investigative journalist Diane Dimond, Williams was initially placed on the third floor of the care facility after her guardianship began. “Wendy was on the third floor in this care unit, where she had access to the hallways, to the elevators,” Dimond said in the documentary.
She continued, “And on her birthday, she decided to get in the elevator and see where she could go. Well, it went all the way up to the rooftop bar, and it being her birthday, she ordered a drink, and then another one, and another. Who knows how many, but she will admit to you that she got drunk, she had a relapse.”
The incident reportedly resulted in her being transferred to a more restrictive setting. “Her treatment is to be sent to a much more restrictive ward,” Dimond noted. “And that was the fifth floor, the memory care unit, where she has a room with a bathroom and a television, and she is locked into that floor 24/7 unless the guardian gives her permission to go out once in a while.”
Wendy Williams, 59, has been under guardianship since 2022 and publicly addressed the relapse earlier this year. In a March appearance on The View, she acknowledged celebrating her birthday but affirmed her sobriety. “[My] relationship [with substances] is fine and is wonderful… I am easily going on with my life, alcohol-free,” she said to PEOPLE.
In 2023, Williams was diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). However, the new documentary raises doubts about the diagnosis. Brain disorder expert Dr. Daniel Amen stated, “Alcohol is one of the main causes of cognitive decline and dementia. In fact, I believe that alcoholic dementia is the second most common cause.”
Adding to the controversy, her court-appointed guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, earlier this year requested a new medical evaluation. This followed an interview on The Breakfast Club where Williams claimed she was “not cognitively impaired.”
In a February court filing, Morrissey wrote, “The issue of whether [Williams] has the capacity to assess what is in her own best interests deserves renewed careful consideration by qualified experts, and should not be left to careless speculation in tabloids, radio, or on the Internet.”
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