(NEWSnet/AP) — “Where is Wendy Williams?,” which premiered on Lifetime, includes numerous scenes of the former talk show host unsteady, belligerent, confused and drunk. Producers say they were unnerved by her behavior during filming, but didn’t know at the time that Williams has battled dementia, a diagnosis made public last week.
“We all became very concerned for her safety. To be honest, I was so concerned she would fall down the stairs and for numerous different reasons,” said Erica Hanson, an executive producer who can be seen and heard speaking to Williams at some points during the series.
Hanson said soon after she and the filmmakers were told by Williams’ son about her dementia, they turned off cameras.
“We decided to stop filming as a team. We kept hoping that she was going to get better, but it became apparent to us that she was not and that she really needed help,” Hanson said.
“Where is Wendy Williams?” debuted two days after her care team released a statement saying she has been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia.
Its two episodes aired after attorneys for Lifetime successfully averted an effort by Williams’ guardian to stop the broadcasts.
Throughout the documentary, Williams appears unsteady and has trouble walking without assistance. Her emotions fluctuate between sweet to irritable to belligerent to weepy or frustrated.
In April 2023, the film crew followed Williams to Miami to visit her son Kevin, Jr. and other family. During the trip, Williams’ son told the filmmakers that his mother suffers from a form of dementia caused by alcohol.
“We didn’t find out the diagnosis until Kevin Jr. shared that with us,” said Brie Bryant, Lifetime’s senior vice president of non-scripted programming.
The project was intended to be a follow-up to Lifetime’s 2021 “Wendy Williams: What a Mess!” documentary and biopic “Wendy Williams: The Movie.”
Williams’ self-titled daytime talk show ended in 2022 due to health issues with Graves’ disease that kept her from filming. Sherri Shepherd, a guest host for Williams, was given her own show.
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