Wendy Williams’ Legal Guardian Sues Lifetime Parent Company A+E Networks Ahead of Documentary
Two days before a major documentary chronicling Wendy Williams’ deteriorating mental state was scheduled to premiere on Lifetime, the beleaguered former talk show host’s court-appointed caregiver has filed a lawsuit against Lifetime parent company A+E Networks.
Sabrina Morrissey filed the sealed lawsuit for injunctive relief on Thursday in New York Supreme Court. The suit reportedly says that Morrissey — whose identity as the individual appointed by the court in 2022 to look after Williams had been unknown publicly and to Williams’ family — is “acting in her capacity as Temporary Guardian.”
The complaint, which reportedly also seeks a temporary restraining order, names A+E Networks, the parent company of Lifetime, and Entertainment One Reality Productions, which produced the 4.5-hour documentary set to air over two nights, this coming Saturday and Sunday.
Morrissey’s lawsuit reportedly seeks injunctive relief to stop the distribution of the film. Records indicate that on Friday, A+E Networks filed an appeal. The judge has ordered the documents in the case temporarily sealed but has set a court date for next week on the matter, TMZ reports.
Filmed between August 2022 and April, the two-part Where is Wendy Williams? chronicles the former shock jock turned daytime sensation as her health and mental state spiral downward. Williams’ representatives disclosed on Thursday that she has been diagnosed with primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia; Williams also has the autoimmune disorder Graves’ disease and lymphedema, which is the buildup of fluid in soft body tissues; along with her alcohol addiction, these ailments are documented in the Lifetime film.
Williams is an executive producer on the raw documentary, originally conceived as a behind-the-scenes look at the relaunch of her career via a new podcast. The production crew began to follow the former radio shock jock and host of The Wendy Williams Show in late August 2022, but given her physical and mental state, the focus pivoted to her struggles with addiction and autoimmune disorders.
Morrissey was appointed caregiver for Williams amid her public downfall; the TV personality’s then-financial adviser alleged in late 2022 in a New York court that she was of “unsound mind,” leading the bank Wells Fargo to petition to have Williams placed under temporary financial guardianship.
Williams remains in a facility under Morrissey’s care today and is still unreachable by anyone other than the heretofore publicly unknown woman. A call placed by The Hollywood Reporter to Morrissey was not immediately returned.
