Where Is Wendy Williams Producers Defend Documentary From Criticism (Exclusive)(1)

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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.

04:34 [Music ends]

04:37 [Music ends]

04:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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