Where Is Wendy Williams Producers Defend Documentary From Criticism (Exclusive)
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00:00 The Guardian filed a lawsuit trying to stop this from airing,
00:04 and it still aired as scheduled on Lifetime.
00:08 Who is the driving force behind this guardianship,
00:12 and why did they want to stop this documentary?
00:14 That's a question we don't fully know,
00:16 because all of the court proceedings are completely,
00:19 you know, kept dark and away from public view.
00:23 So the only person we know is, you know, who the Guardian is,
00:27 and they act, you know, on behalf of the courts, you know.
00:30 The courts in New York State determine, you know,
00:33 who is the Guardian and the level, you know, of the care,
00:37 whether it's financial or whether it's medical.
00:41 It's no secret that there have been random people around you,
00:47 getting money, getting paid, whatever the case may be,
00:51 stealing money from me.
00:52 This is the reality of what the world-famous Wendy Williams
00:56 life was under a guardianship in New York City.
00:59 She was, for the most part, alone in her apartment,
01:03 without constant care, and you see the people that were around her,
01:07 you know, and who all honestly had good hearts, have good hearts.
01:14 And I don't question that their intentions for Wendy,
01:17 you know, are, you know, positive,
01:20 but they were also very overwhelmed and confused
01:23 by the situation that they were put into.
01:26 Do you think that they were taking advantage of Wendy?
01:28 Because let me just say this, you say good hearts,
01:31 but a person with a good heart would say,
01:35 "I've got to get you as much help as I can get you.
01:38 I can't walk in your apartment and see a vodka bottle.
01:40 I can't be out with you and let you drink."
01:42 Do you think they have her best interest at heart?
01:45 It's interesting that that's the reality of a guardianship, right?
01:49 Like, you don't always have the information.
01:52 And so this is the reality of a time span, you know,
01:55 in which Wendy was under a guardian's care in New York,
01:58 and this is the truth of what happened.
02:00 And we know it's not easy for a lot of people to watch,
02:04 but once we were in it, we felt like we were more scared
02:07 about what would happen if we stopped filming than if we continued.
02:11 Kevin, any of you? Take one. Marker.
02:15 How do you feel about this documentary?
02:17 Well, I've never met someone who's been on camera,
02:19 so being in this has never been my thing.
02:23 But I feel like the whole idea of what this is supposed to be about
02:26 is supposed to be about her getting better.
02:28 We spent a lot of time with the family,
02:30 and it really was important to, you know,
02:34 understand their point of view and their concerns,
02:38 and as they learned along the way as well, you know,
02:40 because they also hadn't been spending a lot of time with Wendy.
02:45 And so I think it was quite eye-opening.
02:47 Did the family have any say in this?
02:49 Very much so.
02:51 You know, it's interesting because it was our understanding
02:54 that we would start with the family,
02:56 but it took us a little time to make them comfortable.
02:59 So it was several months into filming that we finally started
03:02 having conversations with the family,
03:04 and the family was then able to reveal their side of the story,
03:08 which made it even more important for us to keep filming
03:11 so that we could continue to explore all the questions that they were raising.
03:15 I'm going to be doing such fun things on my new TV show.
03:19 And I'm going to have, you know, I don't want to just write it
03:23 because it will get off, you know what I'm saying?
03:27 So I have like a paint thing.
03:30 Yeah, just to paint.
03:33 Okay.
03:34 In the documentary, it was revealed that she has dementia
03:37 and that she is really struggling with it.
03:40 What did you see while you were shooting?
03:42 I think it was confusing for all of us
03:44 because Wendy would have moments of clarity
03:47 where she seemed fine, like the old Wendy we knew,
03:50 and then there were times when she was completely a different person.
03:54 And we were asking all of these questions from the very beginning.
03:58 What's really going on?
04:00 We saw this on TV, kind of, her erosion of her memory and her struggles.
04:05 I'm a little confused when you say,
04:08 "Well, some days were good days.
04:10 We weren't really sure what it was, whether it was drinking or dementia."
04:14 And there were some good days where she was all there,
04:20 you know what it's like when someone's there.
04:22 And then other days when she wasn't as clear.
04:26 We discovered she was drinking.
04:28 We were concerned she wasn't safe, to be honest.
04:31 And I think that's one of the reasons we stayed.
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