New York authorities have launched two separate investigations into the circumstances surrounding Wendy Williams' guardianship ... TMZ has learned.
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00:00We have a lot to talk about today.
00:03We're gonna get into the ridiculousness
00:07of what just happened with the Menendez brothers today.
00:09But before we do, there is a ton of activity
00:13in the Wendy Williams case.
00:15We are talking about the NYPD paying Wendy a visit
00:20to do a welfare check to see why she's stuck
00:23on the fifth floor of a residential facility,
00:27the memory unit where she can't get out.
00:30Adult Protective Services is making phone calls
00:33to find out about Wendy's cognitive functions.
00:37And check this video out.
00:39Wendy did leave the memory unit just a few minutes ago.
00:44And you see the NYPD there as well,
00:47which went to figure out why she's in there,
00:50why she's in this guardianship.
00:52They're looking at that.
00:53But Wendy is on her way to the hospital
00:56to get an evaluation of her cognitive functions
01:01to see if she's well enough that the conservatorship,
01:04the guardianship, makes sense.
01:06And when some people hear
01:08Wendy's being taken to the hospital,
01:09they might think that that's some sort of emergency.
01:11This is actually good for Wendy.
01:13This means that this could help her case
01:16in terms of getting out.
01:17And I know you've been in contact, right?
01:19Oh, I talk to her all the time.
01:20Yeah.
01:21And as a matter of fact,
01:23I got a call from the NYPD this morning.
01:25What'd they say to you?
01:26Well, they were in her room
01:28and Wendy had mentioned the documentary
01:32that we did, Saving Wendy on Tubi,
01:36and also that I had been talking to her.
01:38And they started asking me,
01:40what's her cognitive function like?
01:42What do you know about it?
01:44And I know this sounds totally shameless,
01:47but I did tell them to watch the documentary.
01:49Well, because it's relevant.
01:51I mean, the documentary is relevant
01:52because she goes through this whole thing.
01:54I wasn't doing it.
01:55I was not doing it for clicks.
01:57I wasn't doing it for clicks.
02:00It's a shameless plug, but it's a good one, Harvey.
02:02This is for a good cause.
02:03And this is a huge development
02:05because now that the New York agencies are involved,
02:07the NYPD, the Adult Protective Services,
02:09it could really bend in her favor.
02:11Now, the evaluation is everything, right?
02:13If this goes well for Wendy,
02:15I think the wheels are really set in motion
02:17for her to get out of this guardianship.
02:18If it goes poorly though, this could backfire.
02:21What's Wendy's headspace right now?
02:23She's a combination of hopeful
02:27because all of this stuff is happening.
02:29Plus, Joe Tacopina is somebody she's in touch with,
02:32huge, huge criminal defense lawyer,
02:35but just a great trial lawyer
02:37who I think is gonna ultimately end up taking her case.
02:40Yeah, and he did Donald Trump.
02:42He did A$AP Rocky.
02:44So, look, I mean, she's hopeful in that respect.
02:48She's also really scared.
02:50I mean, it is really interesting.
02:51She's so fearful of retaliation by the guardianship.
02:58Now, whether that's based in fact or not,
02:59she's afraid things are gonna get even more restrictive
03:03because they're getting aggressive now
03:05trying to get her out of this thing.
03:07And I will say, even, look,
03:09they have diagnosed Wendy before this
03:13with something called frontotemporal dementia.
03:16That is a condition that Bruce Willis has.
03:19It does not get better, ever.
03:22Look at the Lifetime documentary,
03:23and this was shot more than a year ago,
03:25a year and a half ago,
03:26where you see Wendy sprawled out, drunk.
03:30See vodka bottles all around.
03:32And you look at her then
03:34where she couldn't put a sentence together.
03:36And look at her now.
03:37Look at the documentary and watch her.
03:39And I have spent hours on the phone with her,
03:42as have Charlamagne, Rosanna Scotto from Good Day New York,
03:47her niece, Alex, her caregiver, Gina.
03:50Everybody has the same opinion.
03:52She's back to who she was.
03:54It doesn't make sense this is frontotemporal dementia
03:58because she's gotten better.
03:59Yeah, well, but could the Guardian say
04:01part of the reason she's gotten better
04:02is because we've kept her clean and sober,
04:04and so maybe this is working?
04:06But it's not about clean and sober.
04:08See, you're right that if it's alcohol-induced dementia,
04:12that gets better.
04:13And when it gets better,
04:15you don't have a guardianship.
04:16You get a sober coach.
04:18But you don't lock somebody in a room
04:20and tell them they can't have internet,
04:21they can't have visitors,
04:22they can't have people call them.
04:24You don't do that.
04:25You don't want people to be in a guardianship
04:27when they function fine.
04:30And if she's functioning fine because she's sober,
04:33would you put every...
04:35Sober person?
04:36Yeah, would you put every...
04:37Every alcoholic?
04:37That's right.
04:38No, you would never do that.
04:39So why do it with her?
04:41I mean, that's the argument.
04:42It's a great point, Harvey.
04:43And even if the diagnosis is the same,
04:45just having a condition isn't grounds for
04:49the extreme remedy of a guardianship.
04:51People live with frontotemporal dementia.
04:53So even if that stays the same,
04:54you still have to evaluate,
04:55can she take care of herself in some capacity?
04:58Can a sober coach help?
04:59There are other remedies short of locking her in a facility
05:02without a smartphone,
05:03without the ability to take incoming calls
05:05and treat it in this manner.
05:06So I really do think this deserves a close look
05:09and I think she'll get out.
05:10So they are going full bore here
05:13with the NYPD, with Adult Protective Services,
05:16possibly with a jury trial,
05:18which is the way this ultimately could end
05:19if Joe Tacopina takes the case
05:21and the judge still won't let her out of the guardianship.
05:24In New York, you can have a jury trial
05:26where the jury is gonna hear Wendy Williams on the stand,
05:29probably at some point, doing Hot Topics.
05:31Right, I was gonna say.
05:33But it's relevant.
05:34How you doing from this?
05:35But it's relevant because if she can do Hot Topics
05:38on the stand and she's cognitively with it,
05:42which we did in the documentary.
05:44Yeah, and there's no place where Wendy Williams
05:46is more popular than New York City.
05:48That's her base.
05:49So she has a jury of her peers,
05:50many of them presumably are her fans.
05:52I can tell you that based on what I know,
05:55Joe Tacopina has said to somebody,
05:57if he ended up taking this case,
05:59they would get a quicker verdict here than in ASEP.
06:02And that was an hour.
06:03And that was an hour.
06:05Tunis, Houston, Texas.
06:08I think it's awesome that Wendy has the withal
06:12to be able to contact APS, get her situation heard,
06:16and understand and get that case rolling.
06:18Having been a social worker and working with people
06:20in the same kind of stimulus situation,
06:22I think that it shows that she is competent.
06:24She's able to advocate for herself
06:27and also will aid in her being,
06:30well, the lawyer being able to advocate for her
06:32in that aspect as well.
06:34And it's to hopefully get this guardianship ended
06:37because she's clearly competent.
06:39She understands what's going on.
06:40She understands the severity of her situation.
06:42And hopefully the totality of the situation
06:44will not only just continue to get her
06:48to advocate for herself,
06:50but also to be able to take the next precautionary steps
06:53to just continue to help her with her health.
06:56I think this is an awesome thing.
06:58We miss Wendy in Hot Topics.
06:59We love her.
07:00We miss her.
07:01So we want her to come back.
07:02And I think that all this will be very good
07:04for her in the end.
07:05And I think everything will rule in her favor.
07:07Yeah, it feels like movement in all directions
07:09all of a sudden.
07:10And I know you talked about it self-promotionally,
07:12but you deserve some credit for this too.
07:14Because I think, no, but honestly,
07:15I'm not an employee here.
07:17Without what you guys are doing,
07:18I don't think this is as big of a thing.
07:20And congratulations for using your platform
07:23for something good here.
07:23I mean, again, this just,
07:26I mean, it feels like such an injustice
07:30to lock this woman up the way they did.
07:32And by the way, just one more thing.
07:36The Guardian did an interview last week where she said,
07:40well, I don't know where they're getting all this talk
07:42about Wendy not being able to go out.
07:46She went to Florida twice.
07:48We let her go to Florida twice.
07:49Well, that's true.
07:51But according to Wendy, when she went down to see her dad,
07:54the judge rejected it the first time.
07:56The only reason, well, the judge changed her mind
07:59after the documentary dropped and everybody saw her.
08:02But yeah, she's been to Florida
08:04for her dad's birthday for two days
08:06and her son's graduation.
08:07Aside from that, she's locked in this room.
08:10She has to get permission to even go downstairs to the gym,
08:14much less outside.
08:15She gets no fresh air.
08:18So the idea of saying,
08:19oh, well, I don't know where everybody's getting it.
08:20We're getting it from Wendy.
08:22We're getting it because she doesn't get out.
08:25Based on the evidence.
08:26It's crazy.