Lifetime has brought a documentary series of American media personality and writer Wendy Williams, which was recently released in the United States on February 24, 2024.
Did you know that this documentary follows Wendy Williams’ attempt to make a career comeback after the sudden cancellation of her hit show?
Where is Wendy Williams? The show’s producers recently explained some revelations shedding light on the filming of the show in which producers also said that they continued making films ‘out of worry’ amid the star’s struggles.
What Where Is Wendy Williams? Producers said about the Filming of the Show
When Wendy Williams’ primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia diagnosis was revealed by her care team on February 22, the team behind the Lifetime’s documentary series “Where Is Wendy Williams?” learned about this news at the same time as the public.
In a recent interview with People, the show’s executive producer, Mark Ford, said:
“We were shocked, of course, and saddened, but I think looking back, we can all see that there were signs along the way,” “We were asking along the way about a lot of these signs, but it’s just devastating and heartbreaking.”
Mark Ford
Concurring, other executive producer and showrunner Erica Hanson said:-
“I was surprised, and it was really very sad for me,” “It did make me think a lot looking back over those weeks that we were with Wendy.”
Erica Hanson
Erica Hanson and Ford say they haven’t seen or spoken to Williams, 59, since filming ends in 2023. In the documentary series, Williams’ 23-year-old son, Kevin Hunter, revealed that his mother was diagnosed with “alcohol-induced dementia” by doctors.
Just two days before the documentary was released, the care team released news about the diagnosis. The care team said the conditions
“have already presented significant hurdles in Wendy’s life.”
The show’s executive producer continued, telling People she explains:-
“We had no idea that she had dementia when we started filming [in August 2022], or we wouldn’t have filmed,”
“I think the documentary really illustrates our journey of trying to understand what was happening. It sheds light on that period of time in Wendy’s life where she was under care of a guardianship and living a very isolated life in New York, in that apartment.”
Erica Hanson
She further added:-
“We all really did have concerns for her,”
“We’ve often thought: ‘What would’ve happened if we weren’t there?’ It’s interesting to see the reaction from fans and viewers since the documentary aired, and especially understanding why we stayed. A lot of it was out of concern.”
When one of the documentary crew found Williams in the apartment with her eyes rolled back in her head, they immediately stopped filming and met with Wendy’s manager, Will Selby, to urge the guardian to get her help.
Hanson claimed and stated:-
“We never spoke to the guardian — I tried reaching out numerous times — but in the end, the guardian did put her in a place where she apparently is getting the right care,” “We really were concerned and would often talk about that with Will. In the end, she did end up in a place where she’s safe and seemed to be getting the right care.”
Erica Hanson
While Mark Ford said:-
“By the end of the documentary, the priority really became about Wendy’s safety and her care. We left her when we knew she was in a safer place getting the care that she needed.”
Mark Ford
Ford added:-
“The family is really happy that she’s getting that care, they just wish they could know a little bit more,” “I can say that the family had no idea about that specific diagnosis and no one shared it with them prior to the statement going out. I think they would just like to have a little more transparency and a little bit of a say in how their mother, sister, aunt is being treated.”
Williams’ fans point to Selby’s advantage while Ford believes Selby has his best interests at heart.
Ford and Erika continued their discussion and added other points, such as Ford not quite understanding the level of cognitive issues on the journey of discovery with Wendy.
Ford also revealed that at the time of filming with Wendy, there was a court-appointed conservatorship in place to oversee her finances and her medical care.
Ford told people about Wendy’s health he said:-
“As Wendy’s health worsened, our priorities shifted to getting her into a safer place and getting her back in touch with her family who she had been cut off from,” Ford says. “Then, after that, it was about, ‘Okay, let’s tell the truth here. What is really going on in Wendy’s life?’ Wendy said from the beginning, ‘There are no boundaries. You can ask me anything.”
“We can go anywhere you want to go with this.’ This was the truth of her life. The truth was no longer that she was going to resurrect her career in her podcast. The truth was she needed to get safe and she needed to get back in touch with her family. These issues needed to be raised and addressed, and people needed to be aware of the suffering that she and her family were going through.”
Mark Ford
Ford explained that filming was challenging, emotional, complex, and heartbreaking.