Wendy Williams receiving treatment for cognitive issues

Entertainment

By Michael Starr

Former talk show host Wendy Williams is in an unnamed facility to treat cognitive issues — and has very little contact with her family, according to People.

Williams, 59, the subject of the upcoming Lifetime docuseries “Where Is Wendy Williams?,” does speak to her sister and niece — but only if she calls them, since they don’t know where she’s being treated.

“I spoke with her yesterday and I speak with her very regularly when she reaches out to me,” her sister, Wanda Finnie, said. “She is, from what I understand, in a wellness, healing type of environment.”

“Where Is Wendy Williams?,” which will run in four parts on Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m., shows Williams in the throes of alcohol addiction and struggling with her mental health, memory and ability to effectively communicate, according to People.

She is under the care of a court-appointed legal guardian who oversees her finances and health decisions.

“We cannot reach out to her, but she can reach out to us,” Finnie told People. “And she is in a healing place emotionally.

“She’s not the person you see in this film,” she said of the Lifetime documentary.

Williams’ niece Alex Finnie — an executive producer on “Where Is Wendy Williams?” — told People that she’s proud of Williams “for taking control of her narrative, because my aunt has always been such a public person and has been an open book, and we’ve all seen the images over the last few months and really few years of what has been like a spiral … So for her to actually put her voice in here and take ownership of what’s happened, where she’s at present day … I think it’s powerful.”

“I don’t know what is working, but I do know that when she did reach out to me, it was a person who is remarkably different than what we see in that documentary,” Wanda said.

Added Alex: “She sounds really great. To hear my aunt now in terms of just how clear she is, just how focused she is on the importance of family and the reality in terms of facing and understanding where she’s at physically and mentally and emotionally, it is like a 180.”

Williams hosted the highly rated “Wendy Williams Show” from 2009 to 2022, when she left amid erratic behavior and multiple health issues.

In late June 2022, Williams revealed to TMZ that she lost about 95% of the feeling in her swollen feet due to her battle with lymphedema while also battling Graves disease, an immune disorder that causes an overproduction of thyroid hormones. 

Williams first went public with her Graves diagnosis in 2018, after fainting on-air during an October 2017 live taping (which she then returned to and finished out the show).

In April 2019, Williams filed for divorce from her husband of 22 years, Kevin Hunter, 49, amid revelations that he was expecting a baby with his longtime mistress Sharina Hudson.

“The Wendy Williams Show” was replaced by “Sherri,” hosted by Sherri Shepherd, which airs 10 a.m. weekdays on WNYW/Channel 5.