Last week, former talk show host Wendy Williams’ team announced that she was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and aphasia late last year. Wendy has basically disappeared from the public eye in the last few years as her show ended amid various struggles with her personal life and her health, especially her issues with alcohol. She is now the subject of a new documentary series, Where is Wendy Williams?, on Lifetime that details what has been happening in her life during this time. On the show’s latest episode, her son Kevin Hunter Jr. revealed that her condition could be due to her addiction.
Wendy's addiction may be playing a part in her illness.
“I was able to really learn more about things going on with my mother internally,” 23-year-old Hunter said. “[Doctors] basically said that because she was drinking so much, it was starting to affect her headspace and her brain. So, I think they said it was alcohol-induced dementia.”
She has been open about her substance abuse issues.
Wendy has had a well-documented struggle with alcohol over the years. In 2019, she revealed on her show that she was living in a sober living facility, which she left to film and do other activities.
Page Six reported that it was during that time she learned about her brain damage, but it was only recently that she received her diagnosis of dementia and aphasia.
Her family is opening up about the experience.
Alexis Finne, Wendy’s niece, said she learned of her aunt’s diagnosis in 2022, but she thought something was wrong before that because of Williams’ forgetting things like memories. “After seeing my aunt and really spending time with her in a state where she’s in right now, I quickly realized that things were just not normal,” she says in the doc.
Multiple factors have worsened Wendy's condition.
Alexis also thinks that the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of Wendy’s mother in 2020, and her divorce from Kevin Hunter Sr. all contributed to her aunt’s condition worsening.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she said.
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Others claim her problems are being overblown.
In the docuseries, Wendy can be seen drinking alcohol despite her time in the sober living house and other stints in rehab. Her former rep Shawn Zanotti, however, dismisses any concerns, claiming that Wendy “knows her limits.”
