Wendy Williams’ legal guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, has filed an amended complaint against A&E Television Networks, the parent company of Lifetime, accusing the network of exploiting Williams’ deteriorating health for profit.
The suit claims Williams, who suffers from dementia and is under guardianship, received only $82,000 from the docuseries “Where Is Wendy Williams?” while the network made millions.
Before its air on Feb. 24 and 25, Morrissey unsuccessfully tried to halt the premiere date in court.
Suing!
The complaint, filed in New York State Supreme Court on Sept. 16, highlights Williams’ cognitive decline, which, according to the lawsuit, made her incapable of consenting to be filmed. The suit further alleges that Williams’ signature on the contract was not genuine and that her guardianship was bypassed when Lifetime moved forward with the documentary’s release.
Since 2022, Williams, 60, has been living under a court-ordered guardianship due to cognitive issues, including a diagnosis of primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. The lawsuit argues that profits from the docuseries should go toward her medical care.
The lawsuit was filed against A&E Television Networks, Lifetime Entertainment Services, EOne Productions, Creature Films and its executive producer Mark Ford.
“As is patently obvious from the very first few minutes of the Program itself, W.W.H. was highly vulnerable and clearly incapable of consenting to being filmed, much less humiliated and exploited,” the 75-page complaint charges, according to Rolling Stone. “When the Guardian discovered that Defendants’ true intentions were to portray W.W.H. in a highly demeaning and embarrassing manner, she immediately sought to protect and to preserve her dignity. But the defendants fought to move ahead… without a valid contract and released without the Guardian’s consent.”
Morrissey is represented by civil rights lawyer Roberta Kaplan, who claims the documentary portrays Williams in a demeaning manner and was produced without Morrissey’s consent. The lawsuit also calls for an end to the airing and distribution of the series.
Kaplan, by the way, won a $83.3 million jury verdict in her representation of E. Jean Carroll against former President Donald Trump.
“This case arises from the brutally calculated, deliberate actions of powerful and cravenly opportunistic media companies working together with a producer to knowingly exploit W.W.H., an acclaimed African-American entertainer who, tragically, suffers from dementia and, as a result, has become cognitively impaired, permanently disabled, and legally incapacitated,” the complaint alleges. “Eager to sensationalize and profit from W.W.H.’s cognitive and physical decline, Defendants took advantage of W.W.H in the cruelest, most obscene way possible for their own financial gain, in a manner that truly shocks the conscience.”
Lifetime insists that Williams’ attorneys and guardianship lawyers had signed off on the project.
It’s been nearly three years since Wendy Williams signed off on her long-running daytime TV program, “The Wendy Williams Show,” and, since then, the once-vocal TV personality has kept a low profile amid ongoing speculation about her health. Williams did recently resurface alongside her son, Kevin Hunter Jr., at the holistic store Bolingo Balance in Newark, New Jersey, on Aug. 19. This marked her first public appearance since March of last year.
